1st Call

Application deadline: by 11/07/2024 (by noon local time)
Admission interviews:  to be defined (via MS Teams)
Publication of ranking lists: by 05/08/2024

Confirmation of the PhD position - 1st Call

Applicants with scholarship: by 20/08/2024 at 12pm (local time);
Applicants without scholarship: starting from 21/08/2024 until 30/08/2024.
Enrolment: Starting from 21/08/2024 until 31/10/2024 (by noon local time)

Total Positions: 18

1st Call

Positions with university scholarships: 4
Positions with other types of scholarships: 3
Positions MD 630/2024 under PNRR: 6
Positions ESF+: 1
Positions without scholarship: 4

Applications to the selection procedure can be submitted from the date of the announcement of the public competition.

Each application is subject to a payment for administrative expenses (30 €). This registration fee cannot be reimbursed under any circumstances.
In order to apply, you need to follow these steps:

1. Create an account at Application Portal and upload in electronic format a passport-size colour photo and a valid ID (passport or identity card, front/back);
2. In the application portal, select the PhD programme and pay the registration fee of 30 € (see instructions in the portal);
3. Fill in the online form in the same portal and upload the additional required documents (see the specific attachments to the call for each PhD programme).

Completing the application online is the only way to submit the application. Applications will not be considered if:

• incomplete or without compulsory entry qualifications/requirements;
• sent by e-mail.

It is necessary to upload the required documentation for each PhD programme chosen in the portal. A traffic light system indicates complete/incomplete documentation (missing documents will be marked in red).

Only documents uploaded by the deadline will be evaluated. It is advisable to apply online well in advance and to check the portal regularly to take note of any notes concerning missing and/or incorrect documents.

After the deadline, it will no longer be possible to complete/correct incomplete applications.
The University is not liable if the portal is overcharged, due to the net or to the software itself.

1st Call

At this link you can find a list of potential research projects and their corresponding proposed supervisors.

At this link you can find a list of research projects bound to specific research topic/areas and financed by external Istitutions/Organizations

At this link you can find the list of research projects and their corresponding proposed supervisors of the MD630/2024 PNRR positions

At this link you can find the list of research project and their corresponding proposed supervisors of the FSE+ position

All citizens may apply to be admitted to a PhD programme:

• Applicants holding a postgraduate degree as per Italian Ministerial Decree no. 509/1999, a postgraduate degree as per Italian Ministerial Decree no. 270/2004, a degree of the former Italian university system, or an equivalent degree obtained abroad;
• Applicants achieving one of the above mentioned titles within the enrolment deadline. In this case applicants will be admitted conditionally to the selection procedure and they must produce the degree certificate within the enrolment’s deadline. If not, their application is considered null and void.

The prerequisites for admission to doctoral programmes are related to having achieved an appropriate educational, and/or cultural background, and/or have worked in the Ph.D. course areas of research. Qualifications in engineering and informatics are preferable.

To apply for the position financed by European Social Fund Plus ESF+

• Participants must also be under the age of 35 years, to be understood as up to the day before the participant's thirty-fifth birthday. The requirements must be fulfilled at the time of the deadline of the relevant call for applications (11/07/2024).

The official language of the PhD programme is English and applicants are expected to possess a very good working knowledge of English.

The English proficiency of each candidate will be assessed during the interviews.

To apply to the PhD programme, applicants must include the documentation listed below. Incomplete applications will be excluded from the competition.
Attention: text exceeding the maximum allowed length (if clearly indicated for a document) will not be taken into account! Please respect the format/length indicated.
Diploma supplement or the Master degree diploma together with the transcript of records of all passed exams (=certificate with exams list of Master degree):

• if graduated in Italy: diploma supplement or self-declaration (following the Italian D.P.R. no. 445/2000) of the degree awarded with the exams passed (if graduated) or just with the exams passed (if not graduated yet);
• if graduated abroad: diploma supplement or final degree certificate with exams passed (if graduated) or transcript of records (if not graduated yet) in Italian, German or English.

The above must contain the following information: final grade, exams passed with grade and date of passing, credit points, scientific fields (the latter only for Italian titles), university where the degree was or will be awarded and date of graduation.

For qualifications obtained abroad, also: scale of grades awarded by the home university (with a minimum final grade to obtain the qualification and a maximum final grade achievable). Unibz reserves the right to request a description of the contents of the single courses and/or teaching hours where necessary.

• Curriculum vitae (CV) in English (possibly following the EU format that can be downloaded here). The CV must be updated with all data and information of the current year 2024;
• Motivation letter (max 2 pages) - Highlight your reasons for applying to the doctoral programme in Advanced Systems Engineering, your motivations for choosing unibz (in particular the Faculty of Engineering) and your career perspective after completing your PhD. Please, indicate in which of the proposed research areas and topics are you interested and briefly motivate your choices and proposing a detailed proposal.

Other documents (facultative) to be included in the application if available:

• Up to a maximum of 2 reference letters, written in Italian, German or English provided by a university lecturer or a researcher from a research institute, describing the work carried out and the quality of the same. Instead of letters, the names, and institutional contacts of up to 2 professional references may be provided.
• A list of publications (published, in press, or submitted) and a digital copy of a maximum of 3 publications selected from the last 5 years (note that most weight is given to articles indexed in Scopus and/or the Web of Science).

For the scholarships funded by external partners, separate ranking lists will be established containing candidates who are also eligible according to the general ranking and who in addition indicated a preference for such scholarships and have a scientific profile that is particularly suited to the specific topics associated to this scholarship.

The selection process consists of three steps:

1. Applications are first reviewed for completeness and eligibility by the competent unibz offices.
2. Complete applications that meet the basic admission requirements are then evaluated by the Evaluation Committee, which will take into consideration: the applicant’s curriculum, letter of motivation, qualifications (including publications, if any), and the alignment between the candidate’s profile/interests and the research areas of the PhD programme. The Evaluation Committee will then draw up a list of applicants to be admitted to the 3rd stage of the selection process.
3. Each candidate will be interviewed to assess his/her knowledge and basic technical skills in one or more research areas of the PhD programme, as well as her/his ability to communicate orally in English. The interview may be conducted, if necessary, by videoconference. The Evaluation Committee will rank the applicants on the basis of a comparative assessment.

The following points will be awarded:

• up to a maximum of 10 points for: the curriculum vitae, the letter of motivation and qualifications,
• up to a maximum of 10 points for: the congruence of the curriculum with the research areas of interest for the PhD,
• up to a maximum of 20 points for: the interview.

The final points are the sum of the previous points obtained in the 3 categories described above with a maximum of 40. The final points are used to draw up the ranking list and to determine the candidates who will receive the scholarship. The minimum score to be admitted to the ranking list is 20/40.

Scholarships financed by external institutions:

If interested in one of the scholarships financed by external institutions, the applicant must explicitly state his/her interest in the letter of motivation.

Separate rankings may be drawn up for such scholarships. In any case, these rankings will be made up for those candidates who have been favorably ranked in the general ranking of merit and who have a scientific curriculum particularly appropriate to the indicated topic.

The final ranked list will be published here.

Fees amount to € 189

In order to confirm your study place, you need to log on to the application portal and pay the tuition fees (€ 189) which includes the provincial tax for the right to study of € 173 and a revenue stamp of € 16. by one of the methods indicated on the portal by the deadline indicated above.

If you do not respect this deadline, you will automatically lose your study place. If, by paying the instalment you have confirmed the study place, there will be no refund of the tuition fees unless you are a non-EU applicant resident abroad and you do not receive the necessary documents from the Italian authorities in your country.