(proposal under evaluation, 2017)
Main premises: Consorzio CNIT
Starting academic year: 2017-18
Coordinator: Prof. Achille Pattavina
Members of the Council (academic):
- Prof. Andrea Abrardo
- Prof. Sergio Benini
- Prof. Pierpaolo Boffi
- Prof. Antonella Bogoni
- Prof. Antonio Capone
- Prof. Claudio Ettore Casetti
- Prof. Francesco D’Agostino
- Prof. Mauro De Sanctis
- Prof. Mauro Femminella
- Prof. Cataldo Guaragnella
- Prof. Andrea Irace
- Prof. Guido Alberto Maier
- Prof. Rita Massa
- Prof. Maria Luisa Merani
- Prof. Giuseppe Ruello
- Prof. Claudio Sacchi
- Prof. Francesco Verde
- Prof. Luisa Verdoliva
Members of the Council (non academic):
- Roberto Caldelli
- Luca Caviglione
- Filippo Cugini
- Marco Fiore
- Paolo Ghelfi
- Barbara Martini
- Luca Potì
General description and Objectives
The CNIT Industrial Doctorate on Telecommunications Technologies deals with the systems and services for the telecommunications and information technologies in general, with a complementary approach with respect to the classical curricula currently offered at Universities. In fact, the Doctorate offers a strongly industrial-driven view of the research, which integrates edge competences in the reference fields with a larger scope that embraces the capability of performing technology transfer, the entrepreneurship, the attitude to exploit the scientific advances in terms of innovation processes, the ability to interact with the market and the production.
The above characteristics will make it possible to bridge the existing gap between the current profile of academic research Doctors and the need of high-level professionals, able to bring research and innovation into products and processes, more and more requested by industrial companies.
The PhD students enrolled in the CNIT Doctorate will have special access to a network of advanced research infrastructures, competences and contacts that cover the entire Italy and extend abroad in connected institutions. Such network will cover the full spectrum of competences in the field of telecommunications in broad sense, thanks also to the labs of the affiliated universities and the 4 large national labs. Besides the typical activities of a PhD program, the students will be involved in the interaction with the numerous industrial partners of the Consortium as well as in international R&D projects in which CNIT is partner.
Professional profiles and job opportunities
The PhDs graduated in the Course will be highly innovative professionals, very attractive in the landscape of high education profiles at the national and international level. They will be able to joint advanced competences in the area of telecommunications and information technologies with the required skills to transfer their know-how to the production through patenting, standardization, development of products and services with high added value. They will be also able to interact with the top management of high-tech companies to facilitate innovation processes and/or to create entrepreneurial opportunities.
Taking for granted the possibility to join academic and research institutions, bringing also a complementary viewpoint on research and education, the main objective is to generate professional able to enter industries with roles of innovation management, project management, business development, standardization management, patenting, as well as the design of new products and the participation and direction of innovation and research departments in all the key areas of IT. Moreover, they will be able to instantiate research projects, generate innovative proposals, participate to competitive calls at the national and international level, define business plans, start new enterprises, provide highly qualified consultancy in all the areas connected to the information and communication technologies.
Educational Activities
The course is structured along a series of educational activities for a total of 180 ECTS credits along 3 years, including the research activity. Students will exploit a large teaching offer, by selecting up to 7 courses (typically assessed with a final test) including some basic modules on technical writing, research methodologies, and knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship and management, which will provide a common cultural background on the approach to research and innovation.
Additionally, the students will have the opportunity to access a large selection of additional educational activities, including seminars at the affiliated universities and research centers, summer schools co-organized by CNIT or its partners, etc. This will give the chance to access specific contents related to the research carried out by each student. Finally, CNIT will exploit its large network of research relations with major industrial research centers in Italy and Europe to offer educational activities connected to industrial research and innovation processes (see, e.g., ABB, ATOS, BT, CRF, Ericsson, Fraunhofer, Huawei, IBM, Intel, NEC, Nokia, Telefonica, Thales, STM, Telecom Italia, Vodafone, etc.)
Operating Structures and Resources
CNIT has both own spaces and labs established at the affiliated universities through specific agreements. The PhD students will be assigned adequate spaces to develop their office and lab activities, in the most appropriate consortium premises. They will also be granted access to the computation and networking infrastructures available at every Consortium location. CNIT will make available to the doctoral students its network of labs at the research units of the Consortium (37 universities), as well as the 4 national labs on: photonic technologies, radar systems, multimedia communications, and networks&security. Overall, the labs and the relevant infrastructures cover a huge range of technologies that encompass all the main areas of telecommunications and electromagnetic fields. The Consortium owns within its labs special equipment (hw and sw) related to the specific activities developed in the relevant site. These instruments will be made available to PhD students according to their research needs. CNIT Labs (see www.cnit.it/laboratori-nazionali) are continuously updated thanks to the projects acquired by the Consortium, to maintain the maximum standard of the available technology in the area.
Thanks to own resources and the agreements signed with the affiliated universities, CNIT will make available to its PhD students the access to university libraries (for scientific books, specialized journals and conference papers) with special regard to the area of information technologies and sciences in general. Moreover, they will have access to the most relevant online databases, including IEEExplore, ACM digital library, LNCS, Elsevier, etc.).
Besides the opearating structures and labs owned by the Consortium, PhD students will have the further possibility to exploit external research and development infrastructures at connected companies and research centers, through special agreements based on the specific research program of the student.
Accessing the Course
Perspective students will have the possibility to participate to yearly selections to get a funded position at the Course. The opening of the Call will be advertised at the CNIT website as well as on the main academic publicity sites available on the Internet. To access the course, an academic degree is required corresponding to the Laurea Magistrale (MSc) or the previous Laurea Specialistica Italian title. Such degree is requested to be in one of the main areas of ICT, or in some other scientific areas connected to it. A precise list of the suitable titles will be attached to the call.
Admission will be subject to an evaluation that will include CV, interview, and a proof of foreign language proficiency (English). Foreign candidates will have the opportunities to do the interview in remote.
Every year, the Call will specify the number of positions available with or without grant.