Mission

The aim of the PhD programme in General Medical Sciences and Service Sciences at the University of Bologna is to train and provide young researchers with biological, technological and methodological skills, including epidemiological and statistical knowledge, and research experience and skills that, at the end of the course, will enable them to carry out interdisciplinary research activities independently at universities, the National Health Service, public and private research organisations and government institutions in Italy and abroad. The objectives are to be achieved by means of a broad project that embraces and includes the various specialised sub-fields and the different methodologies to be learnt so that they can be adapted to the doctoral student's specific cultural environment and background. The doctorate is organised in the following research themes: 1. Ultrasonology in human medicine; 2. Public health and occupational medicine; 3. Maternal and child and developmental age medicine; 4. Pathophysiology of sexual development; 5. Oncohepatology; 6. Medical statistics; 7. Oncology genetics; 8. Clinical pharmacology; 9. Bio-medical-legal sciences. The programme is in line with several UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages; reducing the maternal mortality rate by two-thirds by 2030; ending preventable child deaths and reducing the under-five mortality rate by 2030; achieving gender equality and empowering self-determination for all women and girls; and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, and is based on the integration of medical, biological and health sciences. The training objectives will be achieved through supervision by tutors and lecturers who will initially transmit the cultural, methodological and technological knowledge necessary for the research work to be carried out by the doctoral student. By means of a set of seminars and cross-curricular courses, the course will activate cycles of lectures on basic topics common to all the research directions. The lectures will cover research methodology in molecular biology, forensic and environmental toxicology, new diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in the clinical field, especially for oncohepatology and the maternal-child health sector, pharmacology and personalised medicine with a focus on statistical methodology applied to medicine. The doctoral students are expected to participate annually in national or international conferences, possibly with the aim of presenting the results obtained from the research activity inherent to their project as "posters" or "oral presentations". These activities, as well as stays at external national or international venues chosen on the basis of the experimental activities carried out, are aimed at exposing doctoral students to the national/international scientific world with which they will have to compare their research activity. During the course, the acquisition of complementary and transversal skills such as the advanced use of English, the use of statistical analysis software, the writing of scientific articles and the preparation of research funding applications is envisaged. Doctoral students will be required to present their experimental work and literature data at the end of each year of the course, also by participating in a conference aimed at sharing and comparing notes with other doctoral students. The discussion with the board of teachers and tutors will provide stimulating and critical elements, and will also allow an evaluation of each doctoral student's training. This activity will be fundamental for developing the doctoral student's critical and planning capacity and for updating the working hypotheses that will direct the development of the project as it progresses. The doctoral final evaluation will be based on the analysis of the achievement of the following objectives: 1. Skill and autonomy in planning a research project; 2. Implementation of the project itself using the correct methodology and technology, where necessary in collaboration with other researchers or research groups; 3. Analysis and discussion of the results of the research activity with the aim of publication in international journals and/or presentation of the results at national and international scientific congresses.