In the second year, students continue to attend research seminars held by invited speakers and conduct research that may include, inter alios, reading the literature relevant for their chosen area of interest, collecting data, and familiarizing with specific modelling techniques.
Students can also independently select to attend courses held both at the University of Genova or outside. In the latter case, to guarantee that these courses conform with the educational objectives and quality standards of the PhD programme, students must seek prior approval of their supervisor and of the PhD Coordinator, when students plan to use their research funds to cover the cost of attending such external courses.
Upgrading to the third year is conditional on:
Presenting a seminar, in English, where the student presents some preliminary findings from the first chapter of their dissertation;
Submitting a final year report that contains a draft of the first chapter of the dissertation with an extensive literature review;
Completing the online PhD student booklet, available here, where students must record all the activities undertaken during the year.