General Introduction

Language: English is the official language of the Doctoral Programme in Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering.Courses, written and oral examinations, as well as the thesis, are in English. 

Duration: 3 years

Academic year: from November to October

Education and Credits

To complete the whole programme, the student must obtain 180 credits as follows:

• 30 credits for courses and other educational activities, according to a personal Study Plan formulated by each doctoral student with the assistance of the supervisor and submitted for the approval to the Doctoral Programme Committee. This includes:

15 credits TYPE A: attendance at institutional courses proposed by the Manifesto of Studies of the Doctoral Programme (a final examination/test at the end of the course must be passed) or specialized courses of a similar level offered by Italian or foreign University institutions. In this case, the attendance of the courses must be approved by the Doctoral Programme Committee. Students are advised to obtain these credits by the end of the first year; in any case they must be achieved by the end of the second year.

15 credits TYPE B: other activities, like courses without final exam, short schools, workshops, seminars, work placements, attended at the home University and/or other institutions. The Doctoral Programme Committee evaluates the suitability of such activities with respect to the training and research objectives of the student and establishes the number of credits to award. These credits must be obtained by the end of the third year.

• 150 credits for research and writing on the topic of the final thesis, including any research sessions spent at Italian,foreign universities or research institutions.

English Proficiency

Students should give their annual examination in English. In addition, students are invited to attend the Technical/Scientific English class to improve their proficiency (valid to earn Type B credits)

For your reference, further information about the credits conversion are available on the web.

Supervisor and co-supervisors

During the PhD programme, the doctoral student is guided by a supervisor and, from the 38th cycle, at least one co-supervisor, who support the students study and research activities and ensure that good research quality is reached and maintained.

The supervisor and the co-supervisor meet the student to assess his/her progress in the programme and to provide advice on future work.

The supervisor and the co-supervisor should assist the student in defining her/his study plan as well as in defining the content of the thesis. The supervisor should report to the Committee cases in which the research work does not meet the standards of the Programme. In addition, the supervisor advises the student during the research activity and ensures that her/his conduct is respectful of the regulations of the Programme, since they are considered fundamental for the value of the Programme and for scientific and professional growth of the doctoral students.

If at any point during the course of the programme the supervisor or the co-supervisor have concerns about progress, they should inform the student in writing. The Doctoral Programme Committee can remove the supervisor and/or co-supervisor from her/his responsibility whenever she/he does not fulfil her/his obligations.

The supervisor and co-supervisor/s may be selected from outside the Doctoral Programme Committee, notwithstanding that at least one of them must be an academic. Where both the supervisor and the co-supervisor/s are not members of the Doctoral Committee, at least one of them must meet the requirements necessary to become a member of the Doctoral Programme Committee. 

Research funds

Each student is provided with a budget for research activity amounting € 4.487,00 (3.258,00 till cycle 37) which can be used only for educational and research purposes: reimbursment of travel expenses; support to research (translation, draft review, etc.); buying research tools such as data, use of equipment and equipment itself. The amount is available until the end date of the 3rd year. Students can use this budget upon approval of their supervisor.

NB: Students are responsible to keep track of all expenses related to their research, training and mobility, and to regularly update the Programme Administrators about it.