Summary Meeting 4th November

As discussed during the Starting Meeting held online on 4th November 2020, for the academic year 2020-2021 the PhD students’ duties are summarized as follow:

  1.  Internal courses: each student have to attend (at least) 3 internal courses (3 CFU each) per year. On our webpage, you can find the list of the courses provided this year and the calendar – reachable also from the homepage.  Please keep in mind that (1) the deadline for choosing the internal courses is December 1st and your decision need to be communicated to the Coordinator Prof. Michetti and the teacher providing the course, (2) you need to fill in the “Scheda Dottorando DISCA” to be send to the Coordinator Prof. Michetti within December 1st, (3) the students who plan to attend the Prof. Gazzola (i.e. Drugs discovery and medicinal chemistry) have to get in touch with the teacher ASAP because the course will start on November 13th.
  2. External courses: You can choose external courses either if you are abroad or if you find any course of interest for your PhD, instead of the internal ones provided by the Doctoral School. However, few limitations apply: (1) you need permission from the Coordinator Prof. Michetti, and (2) the total amount of CFU of the external course cannot exceed 9 per year. 
  3. Students from the XXXVI cycle should identify their PhD program title and tutor and communicate it via the “Scheda Dottorando DISCA” to be send to the Coordinator Prof. Michetti within December 1st.
  4. Participation in a congress/workshop (with a concurrent poster or oral presenta on) or in a doctoral school is mandatory at least once per year.
  5. Proof of English is mandatory. A certificate attesting the B2 English level is mandatory. Your English skills will also be assessed during the annual final presentation.
  6. There is no longer the obligation to follow at least one informatics course during the 3 years. However, the acquisition of informatics skills during your PhD is strongly recommended.
  7. Annual nal report: at the end of each academic year (usually in September), students have to provide (1) a report  summarizing the scientific activities (roughly 3-5 pages, in English) and (2) a list of activities (attended internal/external courses, schools, conferences, etc.) and publications. Both documents have to be sent to the Coordinator Prof. Michetti using the Annual Report Scheme.
  8. Annual final presentation: at the end of each academic year (usually in October), each student has to present their scientific work via an oral presentation of approximately 45 minutes in English. Italian is tolerated (but strongly discouraged) only for first-year students.
  9. Publications: minimum 2 papers on indexed peer-reviewed scientific journals are strongly recommended during the whole doctorate.
  10. Research abroad: students are required to spend at least 6 months abroad. The research period can be obviously split in different shorter periods. Please keep in mind that the minimum period for receiving an  increase in scholarship is 30 days. To apply for a period abroad, students have to provide a document (among others) in which the expected expenses abroad need to be stated. For bureaucratic reasons, it is strongly recommended to estimate expenses that cover the entire salary (including the 50% increase), for the indicated period.
  11. Elections of new PhD Student Representatives for DISCA course and new webmasters for the DISCA page: new student representatives need to be elected during this week – for more info, please refer to Davide Campagnolo (davide.campagnolo@uninsubria.it). Also a new webmaster for the DISCA page need to be designated; preferably, this should be (at least) one of the student representatives – for further instructions on the webpage management, please refer to Nicoletta Nappo (nnappo@uninsubria.it).
  12. Annual PhD research and travel funds: Starting from the 2nd year, each student has roughly 1500€ per year available for non-inventory costs (e.g., reactants, congress, laboratory glassware, radiocarbon dating, etc.), but also for laptops and similar. Due to the ongoing COVID emergency, the list of allowed costs might change. Please discuss that with your supervisors and DISCA Coordinator. 

 

For further information, do not hesitate to contact the PhD Coordinator Prof. Michetti (alessandro.michetti@uninsubria.it).