Teacher: Prof. Marco Albertini (Unibo) for module 1; Prof. Enrico Borghetto (Unifi), Prof. Jessica Di Salvatore (Unifi) and Prof. Aldo Paparo (Unifi) for module 2 Doctoral credits: 8 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 40 Language: English Curriculum: International relations; Political Science; Sociology Assessment method: methodological paper
The course constitutes an introduction to empirical research methods in the social sciences and offers students the opportunity to develop skills in data analysis and collection, interpretation, and presentation of research results, including standards for preparing papers. The course focuses on research design using quantitative data, concentrating on data collection, data analysis, bivariate and multivariate analysis, and the use of statistical software such as Stata. Classes are organized into lectures and workshops.
Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Political and Social Sciences
Teacher: Prof. Alice Mattoni (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Curriculum: International relations; Political Science; Sociology Assessment method: methodological paper
The course provides an introduction to qualitative methods for the social sciences, mixed methods models, and, more generally, research design based on the use of qualitative methods. Classes are organized into lectures and workshops.
Teacher: Prof. Chiara Benassi (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Curriculum: International relations; Political Science; Sociology Assessment method: written outline of the design of the PhD project and in-class presentation supported by PPT-slides.
The module introduces PhD students to the principles of rigorous social science research. It presents social science as a debate and a process of puzzle-solving, in which theories and evidence interact through falsification and the development of new explanations. Students explore the main worldviews of scientific inquiry and the methods that derive from them, and learn why a well-formulated research question is central to good research. The module then examines how to use the literature review to engage critically with academic debates, position one’s own work and build a coherent theoretical framework. It also covers the main methodological traditions and the challenge of constructing data that are meaningfully linked to research questions and theory. Theoretical sessions alternate with practical exercises, in which students refine their research questions, reconstruct the design of a published article and discuss drafts of their own research designs.
Teacher: Prof. Michele Alacevich (Unibo) and Prof. Daniela Giannetti (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Curriculum: International relations; Political Science; Sociology - Assessment method: presentation and discussion of books and articles
The class will be organized as a seminar; PhD students' active participation will form the basis for our discussion. Each week, one of the students, chosen at random, will introduce the book, or a theme around which the class will develop a meaningful discussion of the volume. Please buy or borrow all books in advance and come to class prepared to discuss them in depth. Students are encouraged to explore additional literature that you think is relevant to the discussion and share it with the class.
Courses for the International Relations curriculum
Theories of International Relations and their Application
Teacher: Prof. Filippo Andreatta (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: short research memo (joint assessment with other courses)
Understand the key dynamics of international relations and be able to master related skills and research methods. This course is intended for PhD-level students and aims to stimulate them to apply different theories to the historical evolution of the international system from 1815. In particular, after one introductory lecture, the course will be focused on 4 seminars in which students are required to prepare presentations and participate in the discussion.
Teacher: Prof. Manuela Moschella (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: short research memo (joint assessment with other courses)
This course is designed to provide students with a practical, hands-on approach to studying significant and complex questions in IPE and CPE. Through a blend of theoretical insights and contemporary case studies, students will engage with critical issues such as institutional change, globalization, and the green transition. By equipping students with a variety of analytical tools and theoretical frameworks, the course aims to empower them not only to understand pressing challenges in political and economic policy but also to critically reflect on how to move from theory to empirical investigation.
Teacher: Prof. Marco Cesa (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Assessment method: reaction notes, research paper and class participation.
This seminar examines a selection of foundational works in the field of international relations, that is, books and articles that have helped set the terms of intellectual inquiry in the field during the past half-century or more. The main objective of the course is to understand and reflect critically on the causal mechanisms that produce war and conflict as well as peace and cooperation in the international domain.
Teacher: Prof. Matteo Dian (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: short research memo (joint assessment with other courses)
The module explores several interconnected themes, beginning with the legacies of classical International Relations (IR) theory and their enduring relevance in contemporary analyses. By examining foundational theories, the module encourages students to consider how these theoretical frameworks continue to shape contemporary approaches to IR, while also prompting reflection on their evolving interpretations contexts.
Teacher: Prof. Roberto Rizza (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: presentation and discussion of articles
These seminars offer a comprehensive overview of major approaches and current debates in the field of inequality and the welfare state. Through both theoretical frameworks and empirical findings, students will explore crucial topics including social stratification, gender imbalances and paradoxes, and the ecological and green transition.
Teacher: Prof. Roberto Rizza (Unibo) and Prof. Lorenzo Cattani (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: presentation and discussion of articles
This course provides a comprehensive theoretical and methodological understanding of segregation, a central theme in sociological analysis. It explores two key dimensions: racial residential segregation and occupational gender segregation. Students will engage with foundational academic papers, examining key theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches. The course emphasizes quantitative methods, focusing on research design, data collection, and analytical techniques. Through guided discussions and hands-on practice, students will replicate key studies using STATA, gaining practical experience in applying these methodologies.
Teacher: Prof. Anna Sergi (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: Pass/fail. To pass, students must attend 70% of hours and take an active part in discussing the readings.
The module focuses on crimes and harms committed by the powerful, especially states and corporations, which often escape the accountability applied to ordinary crime. Building on the concepts of deviance and power covered in Sociological Theory, the module introduces the social harm approach. Across the sessions it examines state crime and denial, genocide and mass atrocities, corporate crime, and the environmental harm that states and corporations produce together, including the debate on ecocide. It also asks why criminology and sociology have long neglected these crimes, and how colonial and imperial legacies shape what counts as crime. The aim is to develop a critical awareness of the links between power, crime and social structures. Sessions are seminar-based and built around discussion of the assigned readings.
Teacher: Prof. Anna Sergi (Unibo) and Prof. Anita Lavorgna (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Assessment method: Pass/fail. To pass, students attend at least 70% of the hours and take an active part in discussing the assigned readings.
The course introduces core concepts in sociological theory and shows how to use them in doctoral research. It has two 10-hour modules. The first covers the theoretical themes of agency, interaction, deviance, and power. The second covers the themes of culture and socialization, inequalities, knowledge and social construction, and contemporary social change. Both modules work through classic and contemporary texts, introducing key sociological debates on how meanings, identities and norms are produced and reproduced, how inequalities emerge and persist, how social reality is constructed through knowledge and discourse, and how contemporary societies are transformed. The course aims to give doctoral students concepts for thinking critically about how individual action relates to social structures, how deviance is constructed, and how power is exercised. It also helps them place their own research within these debates. Teaching is seminar-based.
Teacher: Prof. Giliberto Capano (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Assessment method: presentation and discussion of articles; paper.
This seminar course is designed to introduce doctoral students to the literature on public policy and to develop their ability to think critically about policy-making in different political and social contexts. The course focuses largely on theories and conceptualisations related to understanding and explaining policy dynamics. Doctoral students should consider this course as a stepping stone to mastering a broad knowledge of the key concepts of how policy dynamics (and even their political trade-offs) evolve over time. Actors and agency, change and stability, institutions and ideas are the central concepts of the main theories of policy dynamics, although they are mixed and arranged in different ways according to the research questions the theories seek to answer.
Teacher: Prof. Matthew Loveless (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 4 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 20 Language: English Assessment method: seminar participation and presentation of assigned readings, individually or in groups
These seminars provide an overview of the key approaches and issues in the substantive sub-fields of Comparative Politics. This introduction will outline the key sub-fields of Comparative Politics, cultivate individual academic-mindedness, and highlight promising research topics. We will engage seminal works as well as more recent research in order to familiarize ourselves with the origin and development of streams of research central to the field. This course is designed to be a foundational survey of the field and students will engage key dimensions of major sub-field literatures in discussion, interaction, and research.
Teacher: Prof. Daniela Giannetti (Unibo) Doctoral credits: 2 Year of study: First Year Teaching period: between November 2026 and May 2027 Total hours: 10 Language: English Assessment method: active participation, class discussions, and a short final paper with answers to selected questions
Understand the essential principles of the spatial theory of voting and the related key analytical tools. Party competition is at the heart of representative democracy. Starting from the pivotal book by Anthony Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (1957), the literature on the topic has developed into a comprehensive framework known as the spatial theory of voting, which expands and/or modifies the original model in multiple ways. This short course will cover the essential principles of the spatial approach and its key analytical tools.