The course

Aims and objectives

The course is mainly aimed at candidates with a Bachelor’s and Master’s law degree or equivalent foreign qualification, though the opportunities offered by legal historical, philosophical, and socio-criminological subjects may also attract students from other academic backgrounds.

The PhD in Legal Studies offers doctoral students, in addition to the traditional preparation for research and the opportunity to start an academic career, a number of job opportunities in legal practice, notarial work, and managerial roles in the private and public sector. The Academic Board liaises and carries out consultation activities with stakeholders and third parties, assisted by a Board of Advisors which gathers as its members representatives of the main categories interested in  recruiting from our graduates, including in particular representatives from the judiciary, the bar, public administration and academia, in order to ensure that the Course and its teaching programme  are well aligned to suit the professional future of doctoral students.  In general, this has led to a greater emphasis, within our training programme, on issues that are of interest for the business world and public administrations: digital transition and artificial intelligence; environmental, social and economic sustainability; equal opportunities; antitrust; labour policies; transparency and efficiency in public administration; privacy, cybersecurity and data processing.

Doctoral credits

Starting with the 40th cycle, Doctoral Credits (CDs) will be applied on an experimental basis to measure the workload required of each doctoral student in research, training and teaching activities for obtaining the degree. Each CD is worth 25 hours of commitment and the doctoral student must achieve 60 CDs per year.

The Course will set a minimum and a recommended amount of CDs to be achieved for each of the following activities by the beginning of the academic year:

 -disciplinary and multidisciplinary training,

-training related to the acquisition of transversal skills,

-extracurricular training for the growth of doctoral students as members of a scientific community (summer school, PhD symposia, etc.),

-dissemination of research results,

- delivery of teaching .

The acquisition of CDs is verified at the end of each year and is necessary for enrolling in the following year.

Type of activity carried out by doctoral candidates

Research: The research activity of doctoral students is essentially based on the theoretical investigation of the themes that the candidate outlines in his or her project. The doctoral student, guided by a supervisor and a co-supervisor, who direct him/her and periodically verify the methodological correctness of his/her research and the results achieved, carries out his/her work in a context that ensures and enhances his/her scientific autonomy. The doctoral student is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out the daily activity of selecting materials and studying, which will be followed by the drafting of the thesis according to the methods and timetable agreed upon with supervisors. Some experimental doctorates - such as those funded by the PNRR - accompany theoretical research with practical experience in public administration or partner companies. The structure of the research work and the timeframe for a doctoral programme are broadly organised as follows: the first year's activity will be devoted to investigating the state of the art on the topic indicated in the project and to collecting relevant materials; during the second year, the materials collected for the purposes of the project will be reorganised; the third year will be mainly devoted to writing the thesis.

Dissemination of research results: Doctoral students are encouraged to present their research in the form of papers through participation in conferences and doctoral symposia; doctoral students are also encouraged by their supervisors, when their research has reached a good level of maturity, to proceed with the publication of the results of their research in the form of a monograph, or articles, speeches and scientific communications.

Supplementary teaching: In view of the complementary nature of research and teaching for the purpose of forming a well-rounded academic profile, the Doctoral Course in Legal Studies allows and encourages the involvement of doctoral students in teaching activities parallel to the curricular teaching organised by the various research areas. With the prior authorisation of the Academic Board and to the extent that the commitments does not jeopardise the performance of regular research activities, doctoral students can apply for positions of supplementary teachers and tutor, which the University publishes at the request of teaching staff. In concrete terms, the doctoral student can expect to conduct remedial courses, give lectures or in-depth seminars, participate in examination commissions or mark written tests.

Research training activities

The Academic Board and the Department of Legal Studies organise seminars on topics of common interest to the various disciplinary areas, favouring an approach designed to provide doctoral students with transversal training. Organised and supervised by the coordinator, the aim of these seminars is to enable doctoral students to approach the various facets of legal research within different disciplines in order to diversify their knowledge of techniques and methodologies and to encourage a multidisciplinary approach in the construction of their research pathways. The seminars are mainly held by members of the Academic Board and of the Department of Legal Studies, as well as by Visiting Professors and lecturers with a proven teaching record. By way of example, the topics covered in past seminar lectures have included: digital transformation and big data; sustainability and environmental protection; gender vulnerability and violence; populism and populisms; protection of the person and heritage in the metaverse; ius in bello and ius ad bellum; socio-legal profiles of family relations in the contemporary age; socio-legal profiles of labour relations (private and public). The next teaching programme will be drawn up and made public before the start of the academic year. In addition to the seminars organised by the Course, doctoral students are invited to flexibly define their own specific training path, in agreement with their supervisors and co-supervisors and on the basis of recommendations from the Academic Board; all doctoral students are invited to attend, as auditors, congresses, conferences and summer schools inside and outside the University. At the end of each year, the doctoral students' research training will form part of the overall assessment by the Academic Board for gaining access to the following year.

International aspects of the PhD programme

By allowing candidates to work and draw up their research in English, the doctoral programme welcomes and favours access by international students. It also encourages doctoral students to develop an international research path: 

• doctoral students are required to spend at least three months of research at a foreign research institute;
• the participation and dissemination of doctoral students' research at international conferences is encouraged;
• Every year the university invites a number of visiting professors from European and international universities to organise lectures for doctoral students;
• The status of Department of Excellence allows the Law Department to make resources available to doctoral students specifically for the funding of participation in the CLA academics language course;
• international outreach is fostered through collaborations with foreign universities and research centres, and doctoral students are encouraged to participate in European and international research projects; 
• The University boasts a long-standing collaboration with the College of Spain, which hosts doctoral students (generally enrolled in the second year of the course) selected by Spanish universities and enrolled at the Alma Mater following the stipulation of a co-supervision agreement with their home institution.