Coordinator
Prof. Fulvio Gini
email: fulvio.gini@unipi.it
Administrative seat: Department of Information Engineering
Project description
The PhD in Information Engineering was established within the large Department of Information Engineering (DII) at the University of Pisa, which specialises in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Robotics, and Bioengineering. The aim is to offer an intrinsically interdisciplinary research training pathway in these areas.
Building on the Department’s numerous collaborations, the PhD Programme in Information Engineering provides not only traditional third-level training supported by University-funded scholarships for curiosity-driven research, but also numerous additional opportunities through externally funded scholarships—both industrial and non-industrial (including major corporations, high-tech SMEs, public and private research institutions, and foundations)—as well as funding from national and European projects managed by the Department.
Thanks to this dual nature, the programme adds a more applied and international dimension to the conventional academic opportunities typically offered by PhD programmes that are less connected to external research environments.
To complete the training of PhD students, the Academic Board organises approximately 20 courses each year, each lasting from 16 to 20 hours, taught by both Board members and external experts affiliated with research centres or universities, in Italy and abroad. Each course includes a final assessment evaluated by the lecturer. Students who pass the assessment are awarded 1 credit (CFU) per 4 hours of classroom teaching. During the first two years, students must obtain a minimum of 35 credits.
Each student is required to attend at least four 4-credit courses offered by the Academic Board and to complete the remaining credits through transversal training (soft skills) courses provided by the University of Pisa (https://phd.elearning.unipi.it/) by attending courses offered by other PhD programmes, or by participating in international PhD schools.
As part of the transversal training offered by the University of Pisa, the PhD programme includes a mandatory 35-hour course entitled” English for Research Publication and Presentation Purposes”, taught by native-speaker teachers from the University’s Language Centre (CLI), and held specifically for students enrolled in this programme.
The PhD in Information Engineering is governed by internal regulations available on the programme’s website (https://phd.dii.unipi.it), where an up-to-date list of available courses and syllabi is also published (https://phd.dii.unipi.it/courses.html).
Course objectives
The main objective of the PhD Programme is to train research professionals in the following areas (listed alphabetically):
Analog and RF Circuit Design; Assistive Technologies and Rehabilitation; Automation; Communications; Digital Circuits and Systems; Distributed and Embedded Systems, and Pervasive Computing; Electromagnetics; Guidance and Navigation; Information Systems; Industry 4.0; Intelligent Systems; Medical Imaging; Micro/Nanosystems and Nanoelectronics; Nanotechnologies; Networking; Radar Systems; Remote Sensing; Robotics; Sensors, Biosensors and Intelligent Materials; Signal and Image Processing; Vehicular and Power Electronics.
These areas fall primarily, though not exclusively, within the cultural, scientific and technological fields of information acquisition, processing, transmission, storage and use.
The need for such training arises from the growing demand for experts in the field of information technologies, both in traditional sectors and in emerging areas linked to robotics and biotechnology, as well as from the rapid development of research and high-tech applications.
Particular emphasis is placed on interdisciplinarity: the Department, by its very nature, provides the expertise, facilities and opportunities required to support a multi- and inter-disciplinary approach to research.
Scientific-disciplinary areas
Automation
Electronic and Information Bioengineering
Electromagnetic Fields
Electronics
Information Processing Systems
Telecommunications
Internal regulations of the PhD Programme in Information Engineering
Website
http://phd.dii.unipi.it/
