The PhD in Engineering completes the educational offering of master's degrees in the engineering area, providing PhD students with the opportunity to acquire high-level skills and scientific qualifications, through research training and higher education activities.
The PhD in Engineering aspires to obtain maximum interaction with the productive world and public bodies, encouraging the involvement of businesses and companies in training and research activities as well as the development of research projects involving local authorities and the Public Administration. In this context, the educational objectives of the doctoral project combine well with the aims of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan # Next Generation Italy. On the one hand, aiming to make the most of the resources made available by the M4C1 mission: Strengthening the offer of education services: from nurseries to universities specifically in relation to Investment 3.4 "Advanced university teaching and skills" and, in particular, the sub-measure T1) “Awarding of new three-year doctorates in programs dedicated to digital and environmental transitions”, adopting the strategic objectives of: digitalisation, “culture of innovation” and internationalisation. On the other hand, placing itself in perfect harmony with the objectives of the M4C2 mission "From Research to Business" - Investment 3.3 "Introduction of innovative doctorates that respond to the innovation needs of companies and promote the hiring of researchers by companies". And it is precisely in this context of interaction with companies that the aims of the PhD training project in Engineering fit fully into the objectives of the M1C2 mission: Digitalisation, innovation and competitiveness of the production system. The skills of the Doctorate Teaching Board allow us to promote training and research activities in support of businesses and local authorities in dealing with the digital transition, and increasing the rate of innovation of the industrial and entrepreneurial fabric as part of Transition 4.0 .
On the other hand, the solid skills in the various fields of engineering and architecture allow, always in collaboration with the industrial and production sector, to make a significant contribution to the needs identified in Mission 2-Green revolution and ecological transition, to develop research and training activities with particular reference to the aspects mentioned:
in Component 1 (Circular Economy and Sustainable Agriculture), for example by promoting the improvement of the capacity for efficient and sustainable waste management and the advancement of knowledge relating to the circular economy paradigm through the creation of highly innovative flagship projects for strategic supply chains, such as waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), paper and cardboard industry, textile, mechanical recycling and plastic chemistry;
in Component 2 (Renewable energy, hydrogen, network and sustainable mobility) promoting technologies aimed at increasing the penetration of renewables, through decentralized solutions and utility scales (including innovative and offshore ones) and the strengthening of networks to accommodate and synchronize new resources decentralized renewables and flexibility, and to decarbonise end uses in all other sectors, with particular focus on more sustainable mobility and the decarbonisation of some industrial segments, including the start of the adoption of hydrogen-based solutions (in line with the EU Hydrogen Strategy);
in Component 3 (Energy efficiency and redevelopment of buildings) and 4 (Protection of the territory and water resources) which at different scales deal with the protection, conservation and renewal of the environmental and built heritage and the control of the territory.
Finally, the reference to mission 3 (Infrastructures for sustainable mobility) should not be overlooked - looking at both components C1 (Investments in the railway network) and C2 (Intermodality and integrated logistics) since it is connected to a set of themes that include the processes of modernization and digitalization of the infrastructure system to support problems related to logistics, road safety and the monitoring and maintenance of works of art (bridges, viaducts, embankments, flyovers and similar works) where technological innovation is called upon to provide real information -time of pathological states and possible intervention solutions and verify the seismic and climatic resilience of these works.
The professional figure of the PhD in Engineering aims to constitute that international, industrial and knowledge leadership in the main supply chains of the transition desired by the PNRR, for the promotion of the development, in Italy, of competitive supply chains in the fastest growing sectors, such as energy, which allow us to reduce dependence on imported technologies, strengthening research and development in the most innovative technological areas (photovoltaic, hydrogen, biomass, etc...), the development of technologies for sustainable mobility, the defense of buildings and the territory through the introduction of enabling technologies in a traditionally more conservative context.
To better guarantee high-level and high-quality specialist training, as well as a series of transversal, interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral training activities, the training project is divided into 3 curricula which embrace the three main areas of engineering: Industrial Engineering, 'Information Engineering and Civil Engineering and Architecture. In all curricula, the training offer and research topics are strongly oriented towards the inclusion of fundamental enabling technologies, combining theoretical-scientific aspects and more specifically design ones with particular reference in the field of Industrial Engineering to:
a) Advanced materials and technologies for the industrial, environmental and energy sectors; Development of advanced, knowledge-intensive materials, devices and processes, with better performance in use and new potential; Design and development of converging technologies in the field of energy saving and environmental control.
b) Advanced mathematical and experimental methods applied to production systems and processes; Support technologies to support the development of advanced and intelligent materials, components and integrated systems, information technologies applied to industry.
In the field of Information Engineering with reference to:
a) Numerical modeling and development of numerical models of components, functional devices or structures; Predictive modeling applied to engineering sciences. Development of IT systems for the IoT (Internet of things). Edge processing and fog computing algorithms for IoT.
In the field of Civil Engineering and Architecture with reference to:
a) Innovative models and approaches in the assessment of risk and seismic and climatic resilience of civil and industrial structures and infrastructures. Digitalization and introduction of ITS systems for the development of sustainable mobility systems and advanced logistics.
b) Numerical and stochastic approaches to the study and control of the territory and hydro-morphodynamic processes. Sustainability and resilience of urban systems and introduction of proactive approaches for the redevelopment, recovery and protection of the natural and built environment, for the purposes of sustainable efficiency of the public and private building stock.