Instructions and deadlines for PhD students

Doctorate in Chemistry  
 
 
 For PhD students

Please read carefully the University Regulation on Doctoral Programs

that you find attached at the bottom of this page

On March 30, 2022 a NEW University Regulation on Doctoral Programs came into rule (from Cycle 38 on)

The new Regulation is attached at the bottom of this page, together with the previous one

1. Important deadlines

Every academic year starts November 1st and ends October 30th of the subsequent year. At the
beginning of each year you need to plan with your supervisor your research and training activities; before the end of each year you are required to write a report on those. Both the planned activities and the report need
to be approved by the Board.
The main deadlines that you have to meet are the following:

January 10th: planned research and training activity for that academic year.   
You must fill the file “template for R&T program or report” (obviously for the program part!) and upload it on your page in the Doctorate website according to the following guidelines:
-  save the form as a pdf file (size no larger than 5 MB), file-name: yourname_R&Tplan_year.pdf;
-  go to the menu "PhD Students" and log in by using your institutional username and password;
-  go to "Dati Carriera", click on "Aggiungi relazione"
-  by using "Sfoglia" select the pdf file from your computer and upload it;
-  remember to select "display" to make it visible to the steering committee;
-  press "save".  

No training activity is required for the third year students. However, if during the previous years
you did not complete the 6 courses (i.e. because you spent a few months abroad), this is the time
to attend the missing courses.  

September 10th: report of research and training activities.
You must fill the file “template for R&T program or report” (obviously for the report part!) and upload it on your page in the Doctorate website, as above:
-  a pdf file (filename: yourname_R&Treport_year ) that includes a report of your research
activity during the year (max 2 pages), and  of your training activity (attended courses and
seminars, participation to Schools, Workshops, Meetings...). Please indicate clearly if the
didactic activity is different with respect to that planned in January. If you performed research
stages in Italy or abroad, they must be recorded in the report too, specifying where, when,
and the name of the host Institution and group. The report must also contain a list of your
publications (papers, book chapters, patents, conference proceedings with ISBN or ISNN, if
any) of the year (please avoid to include papers “in preparation” or “submitted”; publications
must already have a DOI or ISSN, ISBN), and a list of poster and/or oral presentations at
Meetings (must include name, location and date of the Meeting, authors, title, format,  
presenting author).  The format of this file must follow the same rules of the program form
above.   
 
-  The powerpoint presentation (as pdf file) that you delivered at the Summer Workshop of the
Doctorate (typically held in June/July). File-name: yourname_pptpresentation_year.

In case you did not attend the Workshop, the research report must be more detailed, up to 5 pages.
 
For 1st and 2nd year students, the approval of the report is mandatory for the admission to the
subsequent year, whereas for 3rd year students, it is instrumental for the admission to the final
examination.

 
2. Training Activities
 
Please read first what reported in the specific page (Didactic Activities) of this website:
(https://web.units.it/dottorato/chimica/en/node/5245 ), where you can also find the full list of
the available courses (pdf file).
In that page there is a link to an excel file on google with the list of the specific courses of the
Doctorate (including lecturer and schedule). The title of each course is linked to its syllabus.
You have to enroll for the courses of choice by filling in your name (with your location). In the
academic year 2022-2023 all courses will be given mainly on line through MS Teams or another
platform to all premises. It is possible that students in Trieste and Venice might attend to classes in
presence, but they will be online anyway. The selection must be made at least two weeks in
advance before the starting date. After your selection, you must contact by email the professor in
order to schedule the lessons (if not scheduled already), and then copy your schedule for each
course to Dr. Guidi (dottorato.chimica@unive.it).

Students are allowed to attend courses borrowed from Master Degree Courses (i.e. corsi mutuati), not restricted to those included in the excel file on google, if such courses are consistent with the research path. Such course obviously already have a schedule.

In addition, students can attend courses organized by the Doctorate in Nanotechnology of the
University of Trieste (see http://web.units.it/dottorato/nanotecnologie/en/node/1829) and of the
Doctorate in Science and Technology in Bio- and Nanomaterial of the University of Venice (see
https://www.unive.it/pag/7726/).
Please notice that the courses on complementary and soft skills (Inter-doctorate courses typically
organized by each University) are NOT included in the excel file. If you select one of those, please
make it clear in the R&T plan (see previous point).
Each course MUST have a final assessment test. After passing it, the lecturer is requested to fill
and sign the form that you find in the folder in this page (either “modulo registrazione esame
Trieste” or “modulo registrazione esame Venezia”). After being signed also by the Coordinator or
vice-Coordinator, you MUST  upload the form on your page in this website.
 Note:
Some of the courses offered by UniVe are marked "15 h lectures +15 h practice". It is possible to
enroll either to part 1 (15h) only, or to part 1 + part 2 (total 30h). You will give a single final exam
(part 1 + part 2 together) that will be registered as "2 didactic activities" (15 + 15).

 
3. Missions: which forms need to be filled

To begin with, missions need to be approved by the Coordinator. If you ask for no reimbursement, prior to your mission you need to fill, sign and send to me by email (or bring to me) ONLY the form Modulo autorizzazione missione senza spese that you find on this webpage, under Forms for PhD students.

If your mission involves expenses, you can be reimbursed on your so-called "10% grant". The Coordinator, who is formally the responsible of this grant, will have to approve your reimbursement request. Then your request needs to be signed also by the Director of DSCF, which manages the 10% grants. For such requests at present the on-line procedure is - regretfully - not working. Thus, prior to your mission, you need to fill, sign and send me the form Nuovo modulo autorizzazione missione 2024 that you find on the webpage. In this case there is no need to fill the previous form, because by authorizing your reimbursement I implicitly authorize your mission too.

If instead you plan to be reimbursed on a grant entitled to your PhD supervisor, the Coordinator signature is required only for authorizing your mission, not for the reimbursement (for this, the signatures of your Supervisor and of the Director of your Department will be needed).

You can also ask for an advance payment of part of your expenses. If your mission is in Italy, well in advance you have to fill the form Nuovo modulo richiesta anticipo missione Italia 2024, whereas if your mission is abroad you have to fill the form Nuovo modulo richiesta anticipo missione estero 2024.

After the mission, to be reimbursed, you have to fill the form Nuovo modulo richiesta rimborso missione 2024, that then needs to be signed by the Director of your Department only.

At the moment (Feb 2024) the person in charge of the administrative aspects of missions at DSCF is Elisa Venturoli, elisa.venturoli@units.it. Her desk is in the Segreteria Amministrativa at the 1st floor of the C11 building.

Please remember that missions longer than 6 months need to be approved by the Board.

In case your mission concerns a research/study stage, either in Italy or abroad,  you are
requested to fill also the “Pre-departure form”, that can be downloaded from the website of
the PhD Office (http://www2.units.it/dott/en/?file=DottCarr.inc). Follow the instructions that
you find there. This form is very important for your insurance.  
 When you are back,  you are requested to fill also the “return form”, that can be downloaded from the website of the PhD
Office (http://www2.units.it/dott/en/?file=DottCarr.inc). Follow the instructions that you find there.
 

4. Publications

Each PhD student MUST upload the publications in the repository platform of the corresponding
University: ArTS for the University of Trieste (https://arts.units.it/, same username and password
as for the Doctorate website), and ArCa for Università Ca’ Foscari (https://arca.unive.it/). Usually
the upload is done by the supervisors, but all the students have to make sure about it.  
IMPORTANT:
-  students in locations other than Trieste MUST acknowledge the Doctorate in Chemistry of UniTS and personally upload their publications ALSO in the UniTs repository ArTS and are responsible for this.
-  students pursuing their research in Institutions other than UniTs and UniVe (e.g. CRO, IIT,
Elettra...) MUST report a DOUBLE AFFILIATION in their publications (e.g. CRO and UniTS, or
IIT and UniVe, or....).

5. Erasmus traineeship program

PhD students who are willing to spend a period of research in a foreign Institution by using the ERASMUS traineeship program have to apply to the UniTS Mobility Office following what reported in the website:
https://www2.units.it/internationalia/it/erasmusplus-out/?file=stu_out_training.html&cod=2020/2021-2021/2022
When filling the ERASMUS Learning Agreement, the sending Institution is UniTS and the sending contact person, until further notice, is Prof. Barbara Milani of DSCF.
For additional information and/or if you need help when filling the forms, please contact directly Prof. Barbara Milani, ERASMUS delegate for Chemistry at the email address: milaniba@units.it.
Students that obtain an ERASMUS grant are requested to inform the Coordinator.

6. Tutoring activities

Tutoring activities fall under paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 24 of the Regulation of Doctorates,dealing with rights and duties of doctoral students:
2)  The doctoral students may carry out, as an integral part of their training project, at no cost for the University, subject to the approval of the Board and after consulting the supervisor, up to a maximum of 40 hours per academic year:
a)  tutoring activities of students of the Degree and Master's Degree Courses;
b)  supplementary teaching activities.
3)  Doctoral students can also carry out tutoring and supplementary didactic activities, even if remunerated, outside their educational path, with the prior authorization of the Board and after hearing the supervisor, up to a maximum of 50 hours per year.
Students willing to carry out remunerated tutoring activity (e.g. assisting professors in didactic laboratory classes) MUST ask permission to the Board by sending to the Coordinator an email where they declare that their supervisor agrees to the tutoring activity and detailing: number of hours (max 50 unless there are motivated requests), name of the class, name of the Professor who teaches that class, name of the course of study (e.g. Chemistry, Pharmacy,…), semester.