PHD Physics

Boost your Future

Our PhD-program in Physics aims to train you in applying the scientific approach wherever you are, the problem to face, from the smallest to the largest scale in the Universe. It goes far beyond to become expert in ascientific discipline.

Here you can find a short presentation video of the PhD in Physics, the school and the venue are described by PhD students and Phd Doctors

 

General ranking for admission

 

Overview

The University of Padova (UniPD) offers 39 PhD Courses amongst which the Physics course is managed by the Department of Physics and Astronomy “Galileo Galilei” (DFA). Organized by DFA faculty members and their national and international collaborators, it offers the students a world-class academic training in several fields of experimental and theoretical Physics by exploiting the opportunities emerging from interdisciplinary approaches. Our PhD school trains new researchers who can either pursue an academic career in top level international institutions or join private companies and contribute significantly to their growth.

The DPhil in Physics is a research-based course of three years in duration: PhD students are supervised throughout the entire duration of the course and join the supervisor's research group.

The research activity is complemented by academic training activities including the attendance to internal courses as well as national and international schools to increase your basic and specialist physics knowledge.

At the end of the course, PhD students are expected to submit a written thesis that will be reviewed by two experts and defend it in an interview with a Panel of other specialists, either from the host and other (inter)national institutions.

The research program

Each PhD student may choose a research topic among the very wide set of fields  of competences of the DFA members:

Applied Physics, Astrophysics, Biophysics, Cosmology,  Gravitational Waves Physics, History of Physics, Multimessenger Astroparticle, Neutrino Physics , Nuclear Physics, Physics at  Colliders, Physics Didactics, Physics of Data and  of Complex Systems, Physics of Matter, Quantum Technologies, Theoretical Physics.

The PhD candidate will be assigned a supervisor according to the research topic who will supervise her/his research and training activities. PhD-students join research groups and will work in teams including undergraduate students, post-docs, researchers and faculty members. The team-work experience is in fact an important opportunity for the PhD candidate to be involved and committed in international collaborations.

As part of the research activity, candidates are suggested to spend a research period abroad (up to 18 months) also taking advantage of dedicated funds. The final destination can be chosen by the PhD student upon agreement with the supervisor. Periods of permanence abroad will be funded by the PhD-school and/or by the research group. Although not formally required,PhD students are encouraged to publish the results of their research in at least one publication on peer-reviewed journals before the end of the PhD program.

Academic training

The Academic Year starts on October the 1st. The school provides a wide academic educational offer in all the disciplines related to the research fields listed above. Students have to select four or more lectures each completed with a dedicated exam. It is compulsory to pass at least four exams during the first two years (three of which during the first year). The educational program is complemented by a compulsory soft-skill training; it is organized in two three-credits courses (24 hours front lectures each), meant to introduce students to the preparation of research proposals and to teaching techniques.

In case of not compliance, the PhD student will be excluded from the PhD-school. Derogations can be considered only in case of submitted evidences of the force majore that has prevented her/his compliance. In any case it is upon the PhD school management to accept or reject the derogation’s request.

All lectures are held in English: here you can find the complete list  of the courses offered in AA 2020/2021.

Upon agreement with the supervisor, and approval of the PhD-school panel, PhD students may propose to substitute one of the offered courses with a course chosen among the programs of other doctoral-schools, either within the wider UniPd academic program, or at international institutions, as well as at topical international training events dedicated to PhD scholars.

Participation to national or international schools focused on the student’s research program is encouraged and supported by the PhD-school or the research group budget.

All candidates of the PhD school at DFA are eligible for the additional mention of Doctor Europaeus: this title is subject to special requirements to be observed during the three-year research and at the final stage of thesis evaluation. More details can be found here
https://www.unipd.it/dottorato/esame-finale-consegna-tesi-dottorati (see the section Doctor Europaeus for guidelines)

Admission to the School

Requirements

Applicants need to hold or to expect to hold by Oct 1^st 2021 the equivalent of the following Italian qualifications: second-class undergraduate degree (laurea magistrale or laurea magistrale a ciclo unico).  Bachelor's degrees with a minimum four years' standard duration may satisfy the entry requirements, the equivalence will be assessed case by case using the ECTS tables.

-  Application

Students may send their application in Spring (actual dates vary year by year but are announced with due advance). The application package usually includes: Curriculum Vitae and Studiorum, academic records, master thesis, recommendation letters, and other documents/material, according to the rules indicated in the call.

You can find here the technical guidelines for the submission of the application form for the PhD Course in Physics.  An overview of all the calls from all the schools in Padova can be found at this other URL.

There are 23 avaible positions:

  • 15 open topic positions, of which one is reserved to candidates who obtained their Master Sc. degree from a non-Italian institution;
  • 1 position regarding “Physics of the Universe” reserved to candidates who obtained their Master Sc. degree from a non-Italian institution;
  • 6 positions, with assigned topics;
  • 1 ungranted position reserved to employees of the Veneto Region School Office (USR Veneto)

When not explicitly indicated, the positions are to be considered without any restriction on the institution that awarded the M. Sc. (equivalent to the Italian Laurea Magistrale) to the candidate.

 

-  Selection . Admission is subject to a two-steps selection procedure :

o    Step 1: a Selection Committee formed by experts chosen among the faculty and staff members of the DFA as well as of other Italian or International Institution evaluates the application material, and selects a short list  to be the interviewed. The number of interviews depends on the available number PhD-scholarships.

o    Step 2: Interviewsaimed to overview the application material and the candidate’s scientific competences. They can be held by using remote connections tools provided that they guarantee video recognition. At the end of the interview process, the Selection Committee publishes a list where the interviewed candidates are ranked, according to the obtained total score.
The selection procedure usually ends before the end of July, and afterwards, the top ranked candidates are offered a position. The others are automatically included a waiting list, and might be later offered a position, according to the withdrawal of the candidates appearing at earlier positions.

-  Important dates for 2021 call :

o    Call opening /closing : April 7th – May 12th at 1pm

o    First step completion and publication of the interview list : June 9th

o    Start of interviews : June 14th, 9 am. This might take up to three days.

o    The final list of those candidates who are be admitted to the PhD-school is expected to be completed by the end of September. The PhD program begins in October.

Facilities

Each PhD student has right to an equipped desk in the PhD-students room. A desk, PC and/or a Laptop may also be provided by the research groups. Access to DFA and INFN computing resources are granted upon request. Students involved in experimental activities have access to the DFA laboratories, and/or to the facilities of many national (LNL, LNGS) and international labs (CERN, GANIL, KEK, etc.) collaborating with our research groups. A list of UniPd and DFA Facilities can be found here.

Contacts

In case of questions or doubts, please do not hesitate contact the PhD-school secretary at:
Cristina.Mazzucco [at] unipd.it