The vision of the research training course
Vision and articulation of the training pathway
The PhD program in Engineering aims to provide doctoral students with the opportunity to acquire high-level skills and scientific qualifications, through research training and higher education activities, in order to carry out at universities, public bodies or private entities, highly qualified research activities, including for the purpose of access to careers in public administrations and the integration of career paths professional paths of high innovativeness. The training project includes the fields of engineering and industrial chemistry, computer and electronic engineering, and civil engineering and architecture through a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach aimed at the innovation and the development of technologies, products, and processes with particular emphasis on the challenges posed by the Industry 4.0 paradigm and more generally by the digital transition.
The educational project is divided into 3 curricula spanning the three primary areas of engineering: Industrial, Information, and Civil and Architecture.
With reference to the area of Industrial Engineering, training activities are planned in:
advanced materials and technologies for the industrial, environmental and energy sectors; development of advanced knowledge-intensive devices and processes with improved performance of use and new potential; design and development of converging technologies in the areas of energy conservation and environmental control; mathematical and experimental methods advanced applied to production systems and processes; supporting technologies to support the development of advanced and intelligent materials, components and integrated systems; technologies information technology applied to industry.
In the field of Information Engineering, training activities are planned in the areas of:
numerical modelling and development of numerical models of components, functional devices, or structures; modelling for control and prediction applied to engineering sciences; development of computer systems for IoT (Internet of things), Edge and Fog Computing algorithms for IoT.
In the field of civil engineering and architecture, training activities are planned in the areas of:
innovative models and approaches in risk assessment and seismic and climate of civil and industrial structures and infrastructure; digitization and introduction of ITS systems for the development of sustainable mobility systems and advanced logistics; numerical and stochastic approaches to the study and control of land and hydro-morphodynamic processes;
sustainability and resilience of urban systems and introduction of proactive approaches for the redevelopment, rehabilitation, and preservation of the natural and built environment, with a view to the sustainable efficiency of the public and private building stock.
For the completion of the educational activity, it is planned to organize, in agreement with the other doctorates of the University, training activities in the field of research management and knowledge of European and international research systems, as well as development entrepreneurship, also with the participation of highly qualified external faculty, and/or making use of the expertise present within the University. Doctoral students will also be involved in research projects sharing their methodologies, objectives, results, and methods of access to national and international funding (PRIN; FIRB; HORIZON, PON).
The doctoral course encourages training activities on the exploitation of the results of research and intellectual property, also with the participation of external faculty (courses and/or seminars). PhD students will be stimulated to valorize the results of their research in the form of presentations in seminars, workshops, congresses both national and international, and publications in international journals.
Elements of consistency with the University's strategic planning
The doctoral course is structured and articulated to offer maximum coherence with the lines University's strategic lines and in particular with Strategic Line 2 - Research - Increasing the quality of Research and its funding (University Strategic Plan 2021-2023) with reference to the strategic objective "Enhancing the PhD also through appropriate support interventions, enhancing mobility and collaboration with companies public and private companies."
Specifically, the doctoral program promotes synergies and interdisciplinarity between different scientific areas (Obj. 2.5) both through the provision of multidisciplinary educational activities and by encouraging and supporting the development of research activities under the guidance of supervisors and co-supervisors from different disciplinary areas as quantified by the indicator "Number of doctoral theses of interdisciplinary character initiated, per cycle" of Obj. 2.5.4 Strengthen interdisciplinary scientific research.
The continuous confrontation of the Doctoral Program with the public and private productive sectors, including through the stipulation of funding and co-financing agreements, fits in perfectly among the objectives of the University and in particular with Obj. 2.6 "Enhance the PhD also through appropriate support interventions, enhancing mobility and collaboration with public and private companies" and more specifically with Obj. 2.6.5 "Promote actions aimed at achieving the target values of indicator B_h - Proportion of those enrolled in Industrial Doctorate Courses compared to the total number of those enrolled in the Doctorate- by increasing the number of doctoral students enrolled in industrial doctorate courses."
The doctoral course offerings are set up in such a way as to leave a significant number significant number of educational credits (14) for doctoral students to participate in activities related to their research (conferences, congresses, stays abroad or others) which is guaranteed also by events specifically organized during the year (conferences seminars and days of study) also in collaboration with public and private companies (Obj. 2.6.4 "Planning Cultural activities to support doctoral students. Organize conferences, seminars, and study days aimed at the acquisition of interdisciplinary skills useful for the inclusion of doctoral students in professional fields that require thematic and methodological culture in the field of political and social sciences”).
Within the cross-cutting strategic lines - "Enhance the dimension and visibility international" the Doctoral Course finds broad and clear coherence with Objective T1.3 "Enhance transnational mobility of students, doctoral students, researchers, faculty and administrative-technical staff." The College of Teachers promotes with the utmost commitment to the development of research projects by doctoral students involving institutions and foreign universities also by fostering doctoral students' contact with its network of foreign collaborations both through involvement in events of an international nature (conferences, summer schools, workshops, etc.) and also by promoting international mobility (including by promoting participation in Erasmus plus programs) and staying even for periods longer than three put at foreign institutions as also demonstrated by the number of co-tutored theses and Doctor Europeous degrees awarded in recent years. Such activities fit well into the series of sub-objectives specified in the Strategic Plan of the University and listed below:
Obj. T1.3.2 Encourage international mobility of students/doctoral students/faculty and researchers, recognizing students in full for credits earned in the host location (with the recovery of excess CFUs as free credits or credits acquired in subjects of their choice or related to those taken abroad) and to doctoral students/faculty and researchers the research activities conducted abroad and for publication of products with international co-authors;
Obj. T1.3.3 Enhance transnational student mobility through study experiences and training abroad;
Obj. T1.3.4 Enhance transnational mobility of students, doctoral students, faculty and staff technical;
Obj. T1.3.5 Enhance transnational mobility of students, doctoral students, researchers, faculty and administrative-technical staff to improve the quality of education and ensure up-to-date professional training updated to the skills and competencies required by the global market global;
Obj. T1.3.6 Strengthen partnerships with academic institutions with a global perspective to ensure greater involvement of incoming and outgoing students, the possibility of acquiring double degrees and the promotion of periods abroad for doctoral students.
Elements of consistency with available resources
The vision of the research training pathway with its characteristics of in-depth high-level cultural, promotion of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary knowledge is amply supported by the composition of the faculty, which embraces all disciplinary areas of areas 08 and 09. To this wide availability of knowledge are added the experiences of public and private companies involved directly in the training projects for industrial doctoral fellowships and indirectly in the support for the delivery of educational training seminars and workshops. The research activities of the doctoral students are conversely supported by the availability of significant structural resources. Particular reference is made to the laboratories of the Department of Engineering and to the laboratories of materials synthesis, characterization and testing, design, measurement and mechanical technologies, electronics, and magnetism as well as those of robotics, RFID systems and embedded and the Cloud Computing laboratory, the heavy laboratories of Civil Engineering, of Road Infrastructure, Geotechnics, Hydraulics and Hydraulic Construction. PhD students can also make use of the facilities of the CERISI, CSEEM and INTEP centres of excellence.
In terms of library holdings, doctoral students can make use of the Library of the Department of Engineering, which is equipped with a large number of bibliographic sources, including in printed form, on all course-related topics and study rooms and PC stations for bibliographical research on the Web; in addition, the possibility of accessing the services of the computerized university SBA ensures the use of the University's bibliographic heritage. The library system of the University of Messina in fact makes available to doctoral students in addition to many printed journals, the online journals of the publishers ACS, RSC, Science Direct (Elsevier), Wiley, Springer, etc. that covers all course topics. I doctoral students can take advantage of the university computerized system SBA for access to the major bibliographic Databases (SciFinder, ISI Web of Science, SCOPUS, etc.) consultable 24 hours a day both from within the University and through remote access via VPN. Also available are the main software for managing the research tools and data processing needed by the research areas concerned (Autocad, Matlab, Aspen, Ansys, etc.).
The inclusion of doctoral students in national and international research projects (PRIN, FIRB, HORIZON, PON) sharing their methodologies, objectives, results and methods of access to national and international funding allows them to have at their disposal additional resources useful for achieving the specific objectives of their own research project PhD.