Procedures, Rules and Services from 40th Cycle

Documentation and details about the rules and procedures of PhD courses at the University of Bologna, as well as the opportunities and services provided to the PhD students, are available on the PhD Intranet Website for enrolled doctoral students. 

The UniBo general regulation for PhD courses can be found at this link: Regolamento in materia di corsi di dottorato — Normateneo (unibo.it).

The national rules on PhD courses can be found here: Normativa in materia di dottorato — Università di Bologna (unibo.it)

Specific information and documentation for Automotive PhD students is available below.

The aim of the AEIM research and training program is to provide a structured and monitorable educational path, characterized by suitable flexibility to be adapted to the different cultural needs of the specific curricula and research domains of AEIM Ph.D. students.

The program is structured as follows:

1. The research and training activities are quantified in doctoral credits (DCs).
2. Each DC is equivalent to 25 hours of research or training. A Ph.D. student must acquire 60 DCs for each year, corresponding to 1500 hours of activity.
3. In order to complete the third year of the Ph.D. course, the Ph.D. student must have acquired at least 180 DCs during his or her three-year Doctorate, including at least 144 research DCs and at least 36 training DCs, as detailed in Annex A.
4. The Ph.D. student defines his/her educational path in agreement with their Tutor. The training activities must be consistent with the research topics of the AEIM doctoral course and in line with the curriculum of the specific Ph.D. position.
5. The AEIM Academic Board verifies the student's educational path and the achievement of the requirements indicated in point 3 by the procedures reported in point 8.
6. The assignment of DCs for research activities is based on the examination of the research activity carried out and the results achieved (in particular of the research products included in the University Publications Catalogue), taking into consideration the opinion of the supervisor and co-supervisors. The DCs for research activities are formally assigned upon admission to the final exam.
7. Doctoral credits for training can be acquired by several means, including participating in theoretical or practical/lab courses, with or without a final test; participating in conferences and summer/winter schools; disseminating research results at conferences; performing supplementary teaching activities, like tutoring undergraduate students and lecturing under teaching contracts. Detailed information can be found under Annex A.
8. Procedures of verification of the research and training program:

   
   a. The assessment of the first year of the course will take place based on a report of a maximum of 5 pages, countersigned for approval by the tutor.
   
   b. The assessment of the second year of the PhD course will take place on the basis of a report of maximum 10 pages, countersigned for approval by the tutor, obligatorily attaching the list of publications produced during the first 2 years of the PhD Course (this list does not count towards the 10 pages indicated as the maximum length of the report). Furthermore, candidates must present the activities of the two-year period to the Board, having a maximum of 5 minutes at their disposal.
   
   c. The evaluation of the last PhD year will take place based on a report that the PhD students must send to the Coordinator and Vice-Coordinator. The report must contain a maximum of 10 pages in which to summarize the activity carried out during the three-year period, with emphasis on the last year, obligatorily attaching the list of publications produced during the three-year PhD program (this list does not count towards the 10 pages indicated as the maximum length of the report). This report must be countersigned by the supervisor for approval before being sent. The evaluation will also take place based on a presentation of a maximum duration of 10 minutes, to be presented by the candidate at the Board.
   
   d. Training activities are certified by providing suitable certification documents, as detailed in Annex A. Pending the availability of the archiving system of point e., students are invited to collect and keep documentation certifying their
   participation in courses, seminars, ..., and in general in all training activities that give rise to the recognition of credits, as per the tables reported in Annex A.
   
   e. To facilitate the submission of the documents indicated in points 8a, 8b, 8c and 8d, each Ph.D. student will be provided with a OneDrive personal folder; institutional credentials have to be used to access these folders and upload procedures will be indicated by the Ph.D. board

9. The Ph.D. students are required to complete a study, training, and research stay abroad of at least 3 months (a stay divided into separate periods, usually lasting no less than a month, is acceptable); the obligation can be extraordinarily waived for reasons of force majeure, such as illness, maternity/paternity and, for the case of Industrial Doctorates, lack of authorization by the employer due to unexpected changes of the working conditions in force.
10. Ph.D. students are required to publish, within their three-year doctoral course, at least 4 significant articles, two or more of which in qualified international journals (Q1 or Q2) and the rest in international conference proceedings.
11. Ph.D. students are required to constantly update the iris database (https://cris.unibo.it/) with their research results.
12. Ph.D. students are required to set-up and keep up to date their web page on the UniBO website.
13. Ph.D. students are required to fill out the annual OPID questionnaires for the opinions of the doctoral students. They are also required to fill out the Almalaurea questionnaire when uploading their final thesis.

Doctoral credits (DCs) measure the workload required of the doctoral student in research, training and teaching activities for the degree. Each DC is worth 25 hours of commitment and the PhD student must achieve an average of 60 DCs per year. The Doctorate in Automotive Engineering for Intelligent Mobility divides the total number of DCs among research, training and teaching activities, requiring research activities to be prevalent but not to exceed 80% of the total (=144 DCs), and training and teaching activities of at least 20% (=36 DCs). The Doctorate in Automotive Engineering for Intelligent Mobility has defined the minimum DC value to be achieved for each of the following activities:

• disciplinary and multidisciplinary training;
• training related to the acquisition of transversal competences;
• extra-curricular training for the growth of PhD students as members of a scientific community (summer school, PhD symposia, etc.);
• dissemination of research results;
• didactics provided.

The Course has established its own criteria for determining the number of DCs to be allocated to individual activities, in line with the practices of its disciplinary field and the University's guidelines. Lastly, the Course has established the recommended number of DCs to be acquired for training, dissemination and teaching in each year of the course, so as to ensure a balance between these activities and research activities. Doctoral students, in agreement with their supervisors and co-supervisors, customise their specific training and research paths, choosing the activities to be carried out, by type and quantity, in compliance with the constraints established by the College for each activity and year of the course. On the starting day of the doctoral cycle, the regulations and procedures for the recognition of credits are explained to the new doctoral students, together with other information relevant to the development of their doctoral career. The acquisition of the DCs is verified during the passage of the year, according to the rules and procedures defined by the College. The DCs will be applied on an experimental basis from the 40th cycle.