General information

The duration of the PhD program in Chemistry is 3 years. A new triennial cycle starts every year on November 1st. The cycle that starts in 2023 (Cycle 39) will end on October 31, 2026.

In 2023 the convention between the Universities of Trieste and Venice expired. Therefore, starting with Cycle 39, the previous Joint Doctorate in Chemistry will be replaced by two new doctoral programs, one based at the University of Trieste (Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, DSCF) and the other at the University of Venice "Ca' Foscari". What follows concerns the Doctorate in Chemistry of the University of Trieste exclusively.

 Applications are to be done on line through the website of the University of Trieste (http://www2.units.it/dott/en/). Applicants from foreign Countries are welcome. Eligible candidates must have (or obtain within the established deadline) a Master degree comparable to the Italian ‘Laurea Magistrale’.
The candidates are selected (usually in July every year) through an admission examination that requires also the submission of a research project. The selection involves first the evaluation of the CV; the candidates that score above the threshold are then interviewed by a Commission. The oral interview (by video conference, upon motivated request) includes the presentation of the research project. To be admitted to the PhD program, candidates must obtain a score above the minimum threshold. The available fellowships (triennial, currently 1534 € gross per month) are assigned to the successful candidates in order of decreasing marks. Each graduate student does his/her PhD at UniTs, in one of the Departments that participate to the PhD program.

Board of Professors and Coordinator

The PhD program in Chemistry is managed by a Board of Professors, headed by an elected Coordinator, that supervises and guarantees the scientific and didactic activities of the program. The new Board,that starts with Cycle 39, is formed by 12 professors of UniTS (most of them from DSCF), and 2 external scientists, one from the International Center for Theoretical Physics and the other from the ELETTRA Synchrotron of Trieste. The designated Coordinator is Prof. Mauro Stener of DSCF. All Board members are very active in research and fulfill all the criteria established by Anvur (National Agency for the Assessment of University and Research) for the validation of the PhD program.

Supervisor

The Board of Professors appoints a supervisor to each graduate student. The supervisor is responsible for the scientific project and also for defining, together with the student, an appropriate didactic and training program. The supervisor also provides adequate scientific facilities and financial support for the research activities of the student. All students have a small grant (corresponding to 10% of their yearly scholarship per year) to be used for cultural activities related to their program (e.g. for attending conferences).

Research and didactic requirements

The graduate students are requested to improve their knowledge on frontier topics in chemistry by attending a number of specific courses (in English, upon request) and seminars given by members of the PhD program and by academic or professional external experts in order to fulfill the requirements (see Didactic activities).
The students are expected to plan and perform personally high impact scientific projects, that will be discussed with – and constantly monitored by – their supervisor. Very often the research projects are part of international collaborations. Accordingly, the students are encouraged to perform part of their research project (min 2 months, max 18 months) in a collaborating foreign scientific institution. They are also encouraged to attend to national or international symposia, presenting scientific contributions.

Annual assessments

At the end of each year, graduate students are required to submit to the Board of Professors a written report (in English) on their research project. In addition, the students show the results of their projects and future developments in an oral presentation within a dedicated two/three-day mini-symposium organized each summer by the PhD program,attended by the Board memebrs and also by faculty members of UniTs, invited experts and students.
The Board of Professors performs a yearly assessment of the scientific achievements of each student, based on the above-mentioned report and presentation, as well as on publications, participation to Schools, Workshops and to national or international Symposia, research stages in Italian or foreign scientific institutions. For each PhD student the Board of Professors also performs a yearly assessment of the didactic accomplishments (courses taken, seminars attended). A positive evaluation of both scientific and didactic aspects is needed for being promoted to the subsequent year.

Thesis

At the end of the PhD program, each student writes a thesis, preferably in English, on the scientific results of the research project. The thesis is first evaluated by two external reviewers and then, pending positive assessments, defended in front of an external commission made by Italian, and occasionally also foreign, academics and experts. In case the reviewers request major revisions, the defense of the thesis is postponed by 6 months. Students who want to have the ‘Doctor Europeus’ certification must spend at least three consecutive months abroad and write the thesis in English. In this case, the presence of a foreign professor in the defense commission is required and the discussion is done in English.

University Regulations on Doctoral Programs

All doctoral programs of the University of Trieste abide to the Regulations (last update issuded in May 2021) attached below.