Presentation

The Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution (PPG-EcoEvol) aims to qualify professionals to work on companies, government, research institutions and higher education. These professions should be able to fulfill the regional and national needs for development.

Ecology was originally a sub-field of the Graduate Program in Biological Sciences of UFG. However, in 2003 an independent and new Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution was created, and since then has been evaluated and recommended by CAPES/MEC. Back in 2003, the Graduate Program offered only Master's of Science (MSc) level degrees, but as of 2007 Doctoral degree (equivalent to Doctoral of Philosophy - PhD) are also offered.

The expected length to fulfill all the requirements of a Master's degree is 24 months. The student must fulfill at least 21 course-credits, and defend a dissertation (equivalent to a thesis in the USA). The degree of Master's of Science is issued once the candidate is evaluated and the dissertation is accepted by a committee of three members.

The expected length to fulfill all the requirements of a Doctoral degree is 48 months. The student must fulfill at least 30 course-credits, and defend a thesis (equivalent to a dissertation in the USA). The Doctoral degree is issued once the candidate is evaluated and the thesis is accepted by a committed composed of five members.

The Graduate Program may provide research assistantships, depending on availability of funds, and criteria imposed by funding agencies and by the Committee for Scholarships of the Graduate Program. Currently the Graduate Program provides scholarships funded by Brazilian agencies and government (CAPES, CNPq, FAPED and UFG).

The faculty of the Graduate Program is composed by 20 researcher-advisors: 20 are professors at the Federal University of Goiás (18 in the Goiânia campus, and 2 in the Jataí Campus), 1 is professor of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, 1 is a professor at Goiás State University, and 1 is a reseacher at the Natural History Museum of Madrid (Spain).

The number of students accepted every year to start their Graduate studies varies from year-to-year. On average, there are usually around 37 students in the Master's level, and 35 in the Doctoral level. In addition to the support provided by UFG, dissertations and thesis are also funded by UFG's Research Support Foundation (FUNAPE/UFG), by CAPES through the Excellence in Science Program (PROEX/CAPES), and by Goiás Research Foundation (FAPEG). In addition, the Graduate Program has had financial support from Conservation International (CI), Anglo American do Brasil, and O Boticário Foundation.

The Graduate Program has had increasing scores in CAPES national evaluation and rank of graduate programs. In the scale from 3 (deficient) to 7 (excellent), the Graduate Program started with a score 4 (2003-2006). In 2010 the score was raised to 5, due to academic achievements along 2007-2009. As of the last evaluation by CAPES (2010-2012), the Graduate Program holds the score 6, indicating a very high excellence in science and scientific education.