DISCA intends to educate skilled researchers able to positively contribute the Chemical Sciences advancement, in Academia and at the Industrial level, or, alternatively, to advancements of Environmental Sciences to the protection of natural and anthropic environment and land.

Two main specialized curricula are presently available: “Energy and Health”, and “Environment and Land”.
The education of the PhD students, within the different curricula, will be promoted through a constant experimental research activity and a suitable specialized educational track, aiming at obtaining the maximum capacity in self-managing research within a competing international framework.

DISCA will also promote multidisciplinary studies, which, in the complex landscape of exact sciences and of their applications, will constitute a well-defined added value for new professionals. In order to reach a full scientific maturity, the PhD student, during a three years project, develops, under the guidance of a tutor, an intense research activity on an innovative topic, starting from a clear definition of the goals to be reached and, particularly, of the advances with respect of the state-of-the-art knowledge. In line with the most modern educational and scientific practice, part of the research will be performed in a foreign Country, raising the PhD student awareness of the wider international context and augmenting its expertise and its abilities.

The different topics and scientific areas of DISCA will also benefit from the presence, at University of Insubria, of laboratories and equipment dedicated to Chemical and Environmental Sciences, as well as by the presence of many Funding Agencies interested in scientific research and technology transfer. These areas of interest include: Analytical, Physical, Inorganic. Organic, Industrial and Environmental Chemistry, Material Sciences, Earth Sciences, Animal and Plant Biology, Ecology, Occupational Health, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering.

Within this PhD Course, no discrimination of gender, age, nationality, religion, ethnical origin and social class will ever apply.

The DISCA PhD Program offers annually a series of educational activities presented, at the beginning of each academic year, with a public document and a collegiate meeting, together with the details of the syllabus of each course. DISCA also organizes, jointly with the partner institutions and for the entire duration of the academic year, seminars, meetings and other training events, with compulsory attendance, in relation to the two courses. The absence of more than 30% of the events scheduled at the beginning of the course may affect admission to the following year. Before the beginning of the academic year, the Faculty Board of the PhD Course approves the list of proposed teaching activities, which is published online on the DISCA website.

For the XXXVII cycle the planned courses include: Industrial-scale design and development of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API); Supramolecular machines and devices; Scanning and transmission electronic microscopy; Earthquake environmental effects: processes, mapping and citizen science; Remote sensing techniques for geomorphological applications in harsh environments; Geologic Hazard Assessment & Mitigation; Advanced procedures in asymmetric synthesis; Behavioral Ecology and Conservation; Lake Geochemistry; Microbial technologies for environmental remediation; Geoarchaeology of Desert Environments; English Language Course offered by the University (to obtain the PhD degree it is necessary to obtain the B2 level certification).

You can enroll after a public competition for qualifications and examinations. Please see:
call for admissions (PDF)
Online application
Online application to PhD Programs guide (PDF)
For all information, please see also:
italian call for admissions

Coordinator
MICHETTI ALESSANDRO MARIA
Duration: 3 years

Italian version