About the courses
The PhD programme in Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences aims at forming skilled professionals for both public and private research institutes. To reach this objective, PhD students are assigned to a tutor, who will be the responsible of their research and experimental activities. The tutor is the person who will teach the PhD student the specific aspects of the research, and the one the PdD student will discuss the problems and the achievements of the day-by-day activities with.
To complete the program, a PhD student needs 180 ECTS that can be acquired through 1) research activities; 2) specific disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses; 3) soft skills.
- Research activity
The research activity is the main formative activity and consists in the development of a research project under the supervision of a tutor. Both the research topic and the tutor are assigned by the PhD board within three months from the beginning of the PhD.
A part of the research project (at least 3 months) has to be developed in a foreign research institute.
- Disciplinary and complementary courses
We offer every year the course “Doing research in Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (DRAFFS)”, which is mandatory and covers both disciplinary topics and complementary skills in the specific research fields. The course is structured as follows:
|
Module |
ECTS |
|
The research context |
1 |
|
Bibliography and Bibliometry |
3.3 |
|
Advanced statistics |
6.7 |
|
Academic English |
5 |
|
Results dissemination |
4 |
Each PhD student has to attend and pass the exam of these mandatory modules or topics: 1) Advanced Statistics; 2) Bibliography and Bibliometry; 3) Academic English and 4) the topics “Drafting images for scientific purposes” and “Ethics in publication” of the Result dissemination module. Attendance to 75% of the lectures is mandatory. The other non-mandatory lectures will help the PhD student to understand the research environment in which she/he operates, the opportunities that social networks give to scientific communication, and what are the most important aspects that Editors of prestigious journals of our specific research field take into account before accepting an article for publication.
Additional disciplinary and interdisciplinary courses and seminars on specific topics related to research in Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences are offered every year. The available ones are visible in the section Scientific and complementary training > Education. The timetable is planned every year by the PhD board.
Furthermore, there are many interesting topic-specific courses offered elsewhere that aim at giving new ideas, techniques and skills. The tutor is the right person to discuss with about these opportunities.
In relation to the acquisition of soft skills, PhD students are strongly encouraged to attend the courses offered by the PhD school of the University of Turin that cover more general aspects, such as mobility opportunities, career development, fund raising etc. with respect to the courses offered at the Grugliasco campus.
At the end of each year, the PhD student has to write a report of her/his activity that will be evaluated by the PhD board. In addition, PhD students have to present their research activity to an evaluation board composed by three members. The presentation is to be given in English.
To be admitted to the final defense, the PhD student needs to have acquired 180 ECTS, to have passed all mandatory exams, to present at least 1 published scientific paper (ISI or Scopus) as the first author, and to have spent at least 3 months in a research institute abroad.
The thesis can be written as a monography or as a collection of three published papers. Before the defense it has to be reviewed by two independent experts, according to the rules of the University of Turin PhD school (art.25 c2). The final evaluation board is composed of three individuals.