The doctorate has as its matrix the central and interdisciplinary themes of Communication Sciences and has the following priority thematic areas of research: strategic communication (organizational and societal level); communication and citizenship; crisis communication; communication and health; communication and tourism; political communication; diplomacy and communication; ethics and deontology in communication; media studies (in the applied context of journalism and strategic communication); journalism and society; literary journalism; media representations of vulnerable audiences.

In each curricular unit, the evaluation is done by individual work, presented and discussed orally, requiring:

Demonstration of Mestrado Degreey of the concepts associated with methodology, methods and techniques of advanced research, project design and implementation;
Demonstration of systematic understanding of the scientific domain, specifically subjects that constitute the "state of the art" of Communication Sciences;
Development of systematizations and empirical analysis on the main paradigms of study of the communication phenomenon, including theories and epistemology, the various aspects of Communication and its relationship with organizational strategy, with the public and public spheres, with the political power and with the media.