PhD Career

Duration: 3 years
Academic year: from November, 1^st to October, 31^st
Official language: English
To manage your career, please visit https://dsc.disi.unitn.it/

NB: For the regulations regarding study plan, credit recognition, admission to the subsequent years, Qualifying Exam, Final Exam, and any other procedure, please refer only and exclusively to the Manifesto of Studies available in the Download Box.

The following description is a brief abstract of the Manifesto.

1st Year

The 1st year is mainly dedicated to coursework, and research problem and research plan definition. The students are assigned their tutors/advisors.

Within 2 months of enrolling in the PhD programme, students can apply for the Transdisciplinary programmes.

Admission to 2nd Year

• ≥ 6 course credits (2 mandatory courses: Academic Writing for the Sciences and Engineering; Research methodology)
• Mandatory safety training (2 courses: General safety training; Specific safety training - Low Risk). Visit Safety training courses
• Positive assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor
  In the case of a negative assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor, the PhD Student will be admitted to the second year after passing the Qualifying exam

2nd Year

During the 2nd year, the doctoral student has to pass the Qualifying Exam, deepen his/her knowledge through coursework, and produce preliminary research results.

Admission to 3rd Year

• Qualifying exam passed
• ≥12 course credits during the 1st and 2nd years, among these, at least 6 course credits from 2 technical courses chosen among:
  
  • doctoral courses offered by the Doctoral Programme;
  • doctoral courses offered by other Doctoral Programmes of UniTrento;
  • doctoral courses offered by other universities;
  • Master’s degree courses offered by UniTrento: credits for no more than one Master’s degree course can be recognised;
  • online courses that satisfy some quality requirements

• Research plan incl. period abroad
• ≥2 ISI -/SCOPUS- indexed publications plan
• Positive assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor
  In the case of a negative assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor, a specific procedure will be activated, see Negative assessment procedure.

Students should consult the Credits recognition (web page) regulations to ensure they choose the correct courses to have their credits recognised.

3rd Year

During the 3rd year, students focus on making a personal contribution to the state-of-the-art. The activity ends with the submission of a Doctoral thesis. 

Admission to Final exam

• ≥3 seminars (offered by the DISI Department ) and ≥1 Summer/Winter school attendance OR ≥6 seminars (offered by the DISI Department )
• Completion of ≥3 months research period abroad 
• ≥2 ISI -/SCOPUS- indexed publications
• Positive assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor
  In the case of a negative assessment by the advisor and the co-advisor, a specific procedure will be activated, see Negative assessment procedure.

Final exam

The Final Exam involves a defence of the thesis before a panel of internationally renowned experts in the field.