Food Design

Curricular Program
barra-artigo-topo--site-eshte-20

 

Coordinator

Nélson Félix: nelson.felix@eshte.pt

 

Associate Program Coordinator

Professora Maria José Pires: maria.pires@eshte.pt

 

Associate Program Coordinator

José Pestana: jose.assuncao@eshte.pt

 

Accreditation of the study cycle by Decree

 

Accreditation of the study cycle

The course is accredited by the Agency for Assessment and Accreditation of Higher Education (A3ES) for five years.

Process No.: NCE/19/1900252 - A3ES

Initial registration with DGES: R/A-Cr 136/2020 of 09-09-2020 - DGES registration

 

 

MAIN OBJECTIVES

The CE program in Food Design highlights a holistic perspective on the development of food products, services, and experiences, with a particular focus on the needs and challenges of food consumption. 

Focusing mainly on the problems of the current food system, students are asked to find solutions that respond to these same challenges through processes, tools, and methodologies specialized in food design and innovation. The contribution of different disciplines with various approaches and backgrounds allows students to develop their projects.

Tourism, hospitality, restaurant, and food industry, which demand more and more critical and creative thinking, allow these students to develop new knowledge, research, ideas, and possibilities within the current food system:

  • Train future professionals in the field of Food Design to improve products, services, and food experiences, capable of exercising their professional activity in the different food systems (industry, restaurants, hospitality);
  • Explore the boundaries between design and food by combining design processes, methodologies, and tools with science, innovation, and food technology in an interdisciplinary context;
  • Promote students’ reflection and critical thinking on the food system’s specific issues, allowing them to conceive, develop, and implement projects at scale (local, regional, and global) in the development of products, services, and food experiences;
  • Adopt an approach to design as a project activity that promotes the use and consumption of food responsibly and sustainably (society, culture, environment...);
  • Create pathways for individual and group projects, centered on students, their interests, and motivations;
  • Develop Food Design projects in real-world contexts and in collaboration with public and private entities.

 

TARGET POPULATION
The following may apply to the course:

  • Holders of a bachelor's degree in the areas of hospitality, catering, marketing, culinary arts, gastronomy, communication, tourism and design;
  • Holders of a foreign higher academic degree awarded following a first cycle of studies in accordance with the Bologna Process, in the areas of hospitality, catering, marketing, culinary arts, gastronomy, communication, tourism and design;
  • Holders of a foreign higher academic degree that is recognized as satisfying the objectives of a bachelor's degree by the ESHTE Technical-Scientific Council and that confers skills in the areas of hospitality, catering, marketing, culinary arts, gastronomy, communication, tourism, and design;
  • Students who know the English language (level B2 minimum).

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This cycle leads to an understanding of the current food system and the processes inherent in the development of products, services, and food experiences through Design processes, methodologies, and tools. It allows students to know and identify the interconnections between the food system, culture, society, and the behavior of current consumers through their projects. The combination of food and design creates a food designer capable of: managing processes, sophisticated methods, and workspaces that require innovative solutions, where products are processed, distributed and consumed; manage food production from an aesthetic, communicational and representation point of view; create and develop creative and innovative methodologies to maintain equipment and tools used to prepare and consume food; manage communication and promotion of inter / multidisciplinary products, services and food experiences: 

  • Conceptualize a Food Design project in an integrated way by following a design process;
  • Understand the values, strategies, and evolution of the food system based on scientific research and analysis of case studies (society, culture, market, environment...);
  • Reflect on the paradigms of the complex organization of the food system based on a critical and creative analysis;
  • Understand and analyze food as an edible object that results from a socio-cultural context, physical and chemical composition, and its use and consumption;
  • Produce contextualized and comparative reflection on the themes addressed in this cycle.

The operationalization of the learning objectives, as well as their assessment and compliance, is mainly ensured by the articulation between the different CUs of the Cycle of a theoretical, laboratory, and project nature. The degree of autonomy that is required of students and the conclusion of the cycle is the moment of final verification of the proposed objectives.

 

 

STUDY PLAN 

The course was structured through a set of mandatory curricular units considering the defined objectives and the competencies intended to be acquired. The MFD is organized by the credit unit system (totaling 120 ECTS). It comprises the frequency (with success) of a school part and the elaboration and discussion, with approval, of an original dissertation, project work, or a professional internship, with a final report. The completion (with success) of the school part of the master’s degree (60 ECTS) confers a diploma of a specialization course (postgraduate).

 

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

The evaluation of each of the subjects of the school part of the course has an individual character, including written work (individual or group), oral presentations, and other assessment forms considered appropriate to the subjects under study. The evaluation results in each discipline will be expressed on a scale of integers from 0 to 20. The approval in each discipline depends on obtaining a final classification equal to or higher than ten values. The weighted average calculates the classification of the school part of the course according to the ECTS, based on the classifications obtained in the curricular units that constitute it. The final classification of the master’s study cycle is expressed following the provisions of Article 24 of Decree-Law No. 74/2006, of 24 March, that is, within the range 10-20 of the entire numerical scale from 0 to 20, as well as its equivalent on the European scale of comparability of classifications. The final classification will correspond to the average of the classification obtained in the school part of the course with that of the dissertation, weighted by the corresponding credits (ECTS) obtained in each of these blocks.

 

SCHEDULE

The course runs at the following times:

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 4 pm to 10 pm

Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm

Outside visits may occasionally occur on Thursdays.

 

Despite the defined base time, classes will occur on Saturdays or other days of the week, namely, experimental courses, visits, and events within the class projects’ scope.

 

CURRICULAR UNITS

 

APPLICATIONS 2026/2027

 

  • 1.st season | from 3.rd February to 15.th March 2026 - NOTICE
  • 2.nd season | from 30.th March to 1.st May 2026 - NOTICE
  • 3.rd season | from 14.th May to 19.th June 2026 - NOTICE

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ADMITTED CANDIDATES

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The results of the applications will be published according to the deadlines established in the application notice for each round, on the ESHTE website, in the tab dedicated to the course to which you are applying.

 

Telephone information: Monday to Friday – 9 am – 12:30 pm / 2 pm – 5:30 pm

Telephone: +351 210 040 700 

E-mail: info@eshte.pt

 

Formalization of Applications: 

To complete the application process, which takes place exclusively online, the candidate must access the Applications Portal. It is necessary to access the Guide for Applicants and follow precisely the examples provided (documents can only be up to 1MB).

 

Application fee | 75 €

The application fee will only be returned if the course does not open. For this purpose, the candidate must keep the respective receipt. Applications will only be considered valid if payment is made within the deadline for formalizing them.

Errors or omissions made in filling in the online application form or the application process’s instructions are the sole responsibility of the candidate.

 

Documentation:

  • Citizen Card or Birth Certificate
  • Taxpayer Card
  • Certificate of qualifications (1)
  • Duly proven Curriculum Vitae / Portfolio
  • Letter of motivation with a maximum of 500 words (mandatory)
  • Letter of recommendation (optional).

 (1) If the candidate does not have a degree certificate, he/she must attach a written declaration. Under honor, he/she undertakes to present the missing documents by the 15th of October. Consult the rules for the payment of master’s fees.

 Holders of a foreign higher education degree must present the certificate/diploma with the Hague handout.

 

Vacancies (numerus clausus)

10

 

 Ranking criteria

 The ranking criteria will be applied if the number of candidates exceeds the defined numerus clausus.

 Applications will be evaluated by the Scientific and Executive Committee of the Master’s in Food Design, which will decide on each interested party's situation, defining the corresponding credits and study plans.

 On the other hand, candidates will be selected by the Scientific and Executive Committee of the Master's in Food Design, based on the successive selection of the following criteria:

 i) Classification obtained in undergraduate or postgraduate courses, advanced training or equivalent;

 ii) Curriculum vitæ and or portfolio of the candidate, namely academic, scientific, and technical;

 iii) Letter of motivation with the statement of objectives;

 iv) Result of individual interview, when deemed necessary by the Scientific and Executive Committee of the Master's in Food Design.

 Preference will be given to former students of undergraduate and Postgraduate, Advanced Training (or equivalent) courses at ESHTE and executives from companies or public bodies with more than two years of professional experience, up to a limit of 30% available places.

In case of admission:

Registration | € 30

Registration | € 15

School Insurance | € 15

Fees | see below

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​Despacho n.º 17-PRES-ESHTE-2026 | Propinas cursos de mestrado ano letivo 2026-27