PhD structure

The PhD programme in Astrophysics is organized in 3 years and is aimed at training young people to perform top-level research in Astrophysics. 

Since 2014 the PhD programme  is in partnership with the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), which yearly funds three positions. Thus all the PhD students are automatically associated to INAF and adopt the double UNIBO-INAF affiliation.

Successful candidates are selected by a committee on the basis of their CV and an oral interview aimed at verifying their background in Astrophysics.

All the offered positions are provided with a scholarship. 

PhD students are expected to attend a series of advanced courses specifically designed for them and participate  in workshops, conferences and PhD schools.   

During the 3 year PhD course, students are trained to perform original research at professional level, publish their results in peer-reviewed professional journal, and present their results in scientific talks at international conferences.  

The PhD Professor Board yearly evaluates the activity of each student and  makes a decision about the admission of the student to the following year.  At the end of each year, the student will receive the evaluation and feedbacks.

All the course activities are in English.

The final PhD Thesis will be reviewed by three external referees. After the referee validation, the student  will go through a public defence of the Thesis  in front of a committee yearly selected by the PhD Professor Board.

Doctoral credits

Doctoral credits (DCs) represent a measure of the workload required to complete the training and research activities in the PhD programme.

Each year, you must earn 180 DCs, with each DC corresponding to 115 hours of work. 

The PhD programme requires the acquisition of a total of 180 DCs, divided as follows: 

• Research activities: they represent 80% of the total workload required and the acquisition of 144 DCs
• Research and teaching training activities: they represent 20% of the workload required and the acquisition of 36 DCs

PhD evaluation process

Yearly evaluation

The Professor Board evaluates the activities of each PhD student yearly and makes a decision on the admission of the student for the  following year.  A few specific  skills are evaluated during this review:

• Overall scientific activity
  In terms of the number of courses, scientific meetings and seminars, international conferences and workshops attended, dissemination activity, publications, etc)
• Ability to succinctly report on scientific results in written form
  Students are invited to write  a one-page report on the status and yearly advancement of his/her scientific project.  
• Ability to participate in professional discussion of scientific projects
  The student is required to  describe to the Professor Board the overall aim of the project, the obtained results and the future steps foreseen to finally  achieve the goal. Specific attention will be devoted to assess the scientific maturity of the student and his/her capacity to critically evaluate his/her personal achievements.
• Skill in giving scientific talks
  At the end of every year, each student will be invited to give a 15-min scientific talk in front of the entire astrophysical community of the Bologna area: professors and researchers at DIFA, INAF, CTA will be invited to attend the student talk.
  Then, the Professor Board  will evaluate the ability of the student to critically present the motivation for the project in a broad astrophysical context, its specific goals, and the results obtained so far, as well as the student's capacity to clearly and properly answer the audience's questions.

At the end of the process, the student receives from the PhD coordinator the global evaluation and feedback from the Board.