Activities and Credit System

Research, Training, and Soft Skills

A tutor is assigned to each candidate by the PhD Program Board.
The tutor supports the student in the selection of the advisor(s) and provides coaching throughout the duration of the PhD.
The tutor must be either a faculty of the University of Genova or a member of the PhD Program Board.
An advisor(s): assigned to each candidate, provides scientific guidance to the student.
Advisors are responsible for the scientific and research training of the student and for providing the resources that are needed to carry on research activities.

Credit System 
The PhD Program offers its PhD students a large choice of topics, engaging courses and a rich schedule of seminars by scientists of high international reputation.  
The courses we organize locally are usually in a compressed format (about one week) and are open to PhD students and researchers from other institutions.  
PhD Courses and Schools organized in the current academic year are listed in the PhD Courses and PhD Schools internal pages (see also entry in the left menu).
Should you be interested, send an email to the instructors (consider that each course will be held if a minimum number of participants is reached)

Over the whole three-year duration of the program, PhD students are required to get at least 180 credits as follows:
- Research training activities (30 credits in 3 years)
- Management and organization activities (10 credits in 3 years)
- Research activities (120 credits in 3 years, i.e,. 40 credits per year)
- Writing of the thesis proposal, the progress reports and the final thesis (20 credits) 

Training activities include
A student is required to take at least 30 credits in the following categories:
- 6 credits for basic knowledge in Computer Science acquired via teaching (support) activities
- PhD courses, specifically offered by the PhD Program, other Institutes, or PhD Schools (e.g., Bertinoro Spring School for Computer Science):
- 6 credits for a 20 hours course with final exam (exam certified by the instructor)
- 2 credits for a 20 hours course without exam (attendance certified by the instructor); We admit at most 3 courses without exam.
- for other cases the number of credits must be proposed by the student and validated by the PhD Program Coordinator and by the Curriculum Coordinators.
- courses that are part of one Graduate (Corso di Laurea Magistrale) programs offered at the University of Genova.
Undergraduate courses are admissible in specific cases with the special permission
of the PhD Program Coordinator in agreement with the student’s tutor. Credits must be proposed by the students and accepted by the PhD Board.

The other 10 credits will be obtained by taking courses proposed by the PhD Board on how to do research, management of research, by attending seminars and scientific conferences,
and by participating to organization activities (organizing PhD seminars, poster sessions, schools, etc).
Each student needs to take at least one course on topics concerning management of research and/or on how to do research.

The list of the courses offered may vary over the years.  
In addition, other PhD programs might offer courses that can be proposed by the student in agreement with his/her tutor(s) and
evaluated by the PhD Coordinator and by the two Curriculum Coordinators.

Tutoring and Teaching Assistance
PhD students, as an integral part of the training project, may carry out activities of tutoring for ba- chelor/master students and, within maximum sixty hours each academic year,
activities of teaching assistance.  The previous activities must be previously authorized by the PhD Program Board and they will not entail any increase in the scholarship

Timeline

Schedule Type of course/activityCreditsDeadline
First Year    
 Courses

Basic Knowledge (teaching assistance/support)

=<6During first year
  Phd School 1 (eg from PhD Schools List)=<6"
  Elective/specific courses (eg from PhD Course List)=<6 each"
  Research Methodologies (how to conduct research, write papers, etc) =<5"
 CheckpointsPoster session After 6 months
  Talk + Thesis Proposal  (templates in Aulaweb) End of first year
  Annual report (exams, etc) (templates in Aulaweb) "
Second Year    
  CoursesElective/specific courses (eg from PhD Course List)=<6 each 
  Phd School 2 (eg from PhD Schools List)=<6 
  Research Organization (how to apply for grants/projects, teambuilding, etc)=<5 
  Poster session After 6 months
  CheckpointsTalk + Progress report (templates available in Aulaweb) End of second year 
  Annual report (exams, etc) "
Third Year    
  CoursesElective/specific course (eg from PhD Course List)=<6 
  CheckpointsAnnual report (exams, etc) End of third year
  Talk in front of a internal committee  "
  Submission of the thesis to external reviewers End of third year
  Thesis Defense Fall (Jan/Feb)
Spring(March)
Summer(May)
 
Last update 28 August 2024