Studi Umanistici
Dottorato di Ricerca

The PhD programme in Studi Umanistici aims to train PhD students in original and innovative basic and field research, to prepare professionals for careers in research, university teaching, leadership roles in the development and implementation of social policies and in the field of dissemination, and for new professions related to the many aspects that define humanity.

During the PhD programme, PhD students will:

• acquire advanced skills through in-depth study of one of the research areas included in the curriculum;

• develop an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary vision through cross-curricular training activities;

• acquire research and data analysis methodologies and techniques useful for their field of study;

• design and carry out original research;

• engage in activities to communicate and disseminate their results (e.g. through presentations at conferences and outreach initiatives and scientific publications);

• Write and defend a thesis orally at the end of the three years.

The PhD programme also offers its students the opportunity to acquire specific knowledge and skills in advanced research areas, combining the teaching activities provided with the direct involvement of PhD students in the development of project ideas and in the conduct and implementation of research activities.

The doctoral programme provides for acquiring skills that facilitate the application, development, and transfer of scientific knowledge specific to the course of study, which is functional to research activities and entry into the world of work.

The goal of internationalisation, both incoming and outgoing, is ensured by a minimum of three months of mobility abroad, training aimed at providing skills to facilitate the international circulation of research results, seminars by visiting professors invited periodically, the possibility of joint supervision with foreign universities and through incentives to participate in summer/winter schools.

Currently, joint supervision agreements are in place with the Université Grenoble Alpes, the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the Universidade de São Paulo, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, and the Universidad de Cádiz.

Curricula

1. SCIENZE DELLA COMUNICAZIONE E CULTURA DIGITALE

The aim of the curriculum in Scienze della comunicazione e cultura digitale is to offer advanced training in the study of contemporary cultural and communication processes, with a particular focus on new digital cultures and technologies. The programme aims to provide doctoral students with interdisciplinary theoretical and research skills that combine media and communication studies, internet studies, cultural studies (including comparative studies), performance studies, semiotics, cinema and television studies, and gender studies. Doctoral students will acquire qualitative and quantitative methodological tools, addressing innovative research methods geared towards changes in the digital society. The programme aims to prepare highly specialised professionals in analysing audiences, media industries, media texts, consumption practices and imaginaries, public communication and information, who can develop and enhance research work in academic, institutional and corporate contexts.

2. SCIENZE DEL TESTO ANTICO

The curriculum of Scienze del testo antico focuses on studying literary texts in verse and prose from ancient Greece and studying the society and civilisation that fostered and stimulated their production over time. The programme includes, in addition to research work supervised by a supervisor and cross-disciplinary teaching across all curricula, a range of disciplinary and specialist courses designed to develop and deepen the doctoral student's philological, linguistic, translation, metrical and other technical skills, as well as their knowledge of the latest trends and methods in literary criticism and close reading concerning ancient greek texts. At the end of the programme, students will be able to tackle the preparation of a critical-literary essay, a historical-literary investigation or a full-fledged critical edition with methodological rigour, adequate technical preparation and awareness of the field of study.

3. SCIENZE STORICHE IN ETÀ CONTEMPORANEA

The curriculum in Scienze storiche in età contemporanea develops the analysis of medium- and long-term historical phenomena on a national and international scale, through political, cultural, social, economic and institutional history categories. The doctoral programme aims to develop historical research skills, focusing on contemporary history in its various aspects: global history, political and social history of Italy, Europe and non-European countries; history of the Italian and European political systems; history of political movements and parties; cultural history. Doctoral students must demonstrate mastery of historical and historiographical debate and the ability to conduct comparative research through in-depth case studies. Through specific resources (bibliography, archival sources, printed sources, parliamentary sources, etc.), doctoral students will, at the end of the programme, write a final thesis demonstrating their ability to critically and consciously understand historical events, to acquire the tools to interpret the complexity of the present day.

4. SCIENZE UMANE

The curriculum in Scienze umane is characterised by a multidisciplinary approach that allows the individual's experience to be analysed from a threefold perspective: philosophical, pedagogical and psychological. The main objective of the curriculum is to provide advanced theoretical and methodological training in research (basic, applied and conceptual), with particular attention to developing independent research skills and possible applications depending on the relevant disciplinary contexts.

Doctoral students must demonstrate critical thinking skills concerning the main methodological issues inherent in the disciplinary field covered by their research project and the ability to contextualise these issues in interdisciplinary terms.

Although anchored in the specificities of a single discipline, the research project of the candidates must therefore maintain an interdisciplinary and broad character in terms of its framework and reflection on the results achieved.

The PhD programme includes activities common to all curricula, where PhD students are required to interact and work together. These cross-curricular activities include: Academic English for the Humanities, Heritage and Value of the Humanities, Ethics in Digital Transformation and the Humanities, Identity, Body and Technologies.

In addition to these joint training opportunities, there are cross-disciplinary seminars with national and international speakers, further training on open science issues organised by the Italian Reproducibility Network (of which the PhD programme is a member), and regular seminars in which lecturers and PhD students discuss their current research.

The activities are organised as follows over the three years:

• The first year is dedicated to defining the research project and acquiring the skills necessary for the thesis; this year focuses on training activities, especially cross-disciplinary and methodological training.

• The activities of the second year aim to tutor individual research work, facilitate group research work with expert researchers and encourage the mobility and internationalisation of doctoral students. Internationalisation is promoted by requiring doctoral students to spend at least three months at a foreign university or research institute and through a special Laboratory worth 10 CFU credits, in which PhD students are assisted in writing a paper in English to be presented at a conference or in an international journal.

• The third year is dedicated to completing the thesis and dissemination activities; to this end, opportunities for presentation and discussion of the latest advances will be encouraged and promoted.

The training activities require a commitment of at least 60 CFU, equal to at least 120 hours of training. In order to promote flexibility in the training and research paths of PhD students, the CFU to be obtained are divided into 25 compulsory CFU for cross-disciplinary activities, 30 CFU for specific curricular training and 5 CFU that can be chosen from the training activities of other curricula, as well as other PhD programmes at the University or any consortium universities.

EDUCATIONAL OFFERING OF THE DOCTORATE IN STUDI UMANISTICI

The Doctorate programme is updated and monitored through internal annual evaluation procedures that involve current and former doctoral students and the Board of Advisors, currently composed of:

-    Douglas S. Olson, Professor of Classical & Near Eastern Religions & Cultures, University of Minnesota
-    Jesús de la Villa, Presidente International Federation of Associations of Classical Studies (FIEC)
-    Andra Siibak, Professor of Media Studies, Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu
-    Andrea Fagnoni, Chief Client Officer IPSOS
-    Xavier Tabet, professore ordinario Département d’études italiennes dell’Université Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris 8)
-    Roberto Giulianelli, Istituto Storia Marche di Ancona
-    Dr. Giorgio A. Tasca, C.Psych. Research Chair in Psychotherapy Research, University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital. -Director of Research, Regional Centre for the Treatment of Eating Disorders, The Ottawa Hospital. Associate Professor in Psychiatry, Clinical Professor in Psychology, University of Ottawa.
-    Prof. Antonella Sorace - Linguistics and English Language School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences University of Edinburgh