Phd in EUROPEAN PH.D. IN SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND STATISTICAL
STUDIES

List of courses / activities for the first year

More information The study plan in the first year has two goals: 1) Provide the tools to critically read the existing scientific literature and analyze with methodological adequacy the economic, institutional, social and political transformations underway in Europe and in the world, evaluate the effects of economic and social policies, and develop effective intervention policies. 2) Support the development of new research ideas through discussions with the scientific board and external speakers of the research seminars. First year courses train doctoral students to distinguish causal links from simple correlations in the relationships between economic and social phenomena, critically evaluate the scientific debate on the topics of their research project and identify new research questions. At the end of the first year, doctoral students is ready to start an applied research activity in the sectors that characterize the doctorate with the support of the members of the scientific board (not yet in full autonomy therefore). The courses are divided into four strands corresponding to as many sectors, Behavioral Economics, Political Economics, Public Economics, Econometric & Experimental Methods. Therefore, a distribution of courses can be deduced that reflects the new conformation of the scientific board, of which a conspicuous part is specialized in topics of Behavioral Economics and Experimental Economics, a discipline that falls within the sector of Political Economy. The remaining part equally represents the sectors of Economic Policy, Financial Science and Econometrics. The Econometric & Experimental methods (Experimetrics) courses transversally cover all the topics covered by the PhD program and are essential for the research activity of doctoral students in any sector. In particular, the EurSESSPhD represents one of the few PhD courses in Europe that offers students the tools to analyze economic and social phenomena through two complementary approaches, the experimental one (through the "controlled" ex-ante generation of data in laboratory) and the econometric one (through ex-post “cleaning/filtering” of real data) [Experimetrics: Econometrics for Experimental Economics, Peter G. Moffatt. Palgrave Macmillan, London, UK (2015)] The courses are held during two terms and require that students take a final exam to be carried out in most cases with "closed-book" methodology. For the courses of the "Experimental Methods" and "Econometric Methods" block, most of the lectures take place in the CIMEO laboratory (Centre for Investigation and Modeling of Experimental Observations) of the Department of Economics and Law of Sapienza, in order to introduce PhD student to the use of statistical and econometric software. All teaching activities take place exclusively in English. The training course of the EurSESSPhD places particular emphasis on internationalisation, thanks to: - The offer of courses held by teachers belonging to foreign institutions. - The "exchange of courses" with foreign institutions, which allows doctoral students of other foreign programs to freely attend our lessons in streaming and guarantees our doctoral students equally free access to the lessons of partner programs. - The invitation, addressed to external speakers, to present their research in our summer cycle of seminars. In addition to the courses listed above, PhD students are required to attend the following events: - Research seminars on economics and applied statistics, organized by the EurSESSPhD with the participation of internal and external speakers. - Research seminars on topics of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics organized by the Department of Economics and Law. - Kick-off seminars on the candidate's research project (see next point). - Annual workshop held in rotation in the various universities of the consortium. In 2023, the workshop will be held in July, organized by Sapienza University of Rome. - At least one seminar a week to be chosen among the seminars organized by the Department of Economics and Law. In the table relating to the study plan for the first year of the doctorate, for each course, belonging to one of the four thematic areas is indicated by the acronyms BE (Behavioral Economics), PoE (Political Economics), PuE (Public Economics), EEM ( Econometric & Experimental Methods). The rather homogeneous distribution of courses among the four strands (4 BE, 5 PoE, 5 PuE, 8 EEM) is in line with the interdisciplinary training that the EurSESSPhD intends to offer. Compared to the previous academic year, the educational offer of the first year of the course has been enriched with courses not foreseen before thanks to the recent entry (February 2023) in the Academic Board of four international experts from other universities in Europe and in the United States. The four courses held by the new board members to be held in the second semester of the current academic year (March-July 2023) are the following: 1. Lab-in-the-Field, Artefactual and Field Experiments - Angela Sutan (Burgundy School of Business) [EEM] 2. Behavioral Industrial Organization - Nikolaos Georgantzís (Burgundy School of Business) [BE] 3. Management Innovation in Services - Faiz Gallouj (University of Lille) [PoE] 4. Neuroeconomics - Giorgio Coricelli (University of Southern California) [BE] Method of choosing the subject of the thesis Each candidate must submit a research project to the application for admission to the Sess.EuroPhD. This document constitutes an important element in the evaluation of applications for admission to the doctorate and represents a starting point around which the doctoral student will build his/her thesis proposal during the first year. Once enrolled, during the second semester of the 1st year, PhD students are required to: a) Strengthening and refining their research topic - to be carried out in collaboration with their tutor and other members of the scientific board. b) Participating in monographic seminars in which members of the scientific board and other invited scholars will present their research activities. This phase serves to familiarize with research at the frontier and to elaborate on the choice of thesis topic and supervisor. c) Participating in an internal workshop organized by the scientific board of the Sess.EuroPhD in which the student will be called to illustrate the topics, motivations and objectives of the next two years of research (so-called "kick-off seminar"). At the end of this process, PhD students choose the subject of the thesis based on their research interests. Admission to the second year To be admitted to the second year, students must attend the courses and pass the exams scheduled for the first year. At the end of the first year, PhD students present a paper proposal to the teaching staff (which will constitute the first chapter of the doctoral thesis). The proposal and the evaluation obtained in the exams form the basis of the formal decision to admit doctoral students to the second year of the course.

List of courses / activities for the second year

More information During the second year, PhD students devote most of their time to their research activities. They can attend courses specifically aimed at strengthening the skills necessary for their research, in Italy or abroad. The supplementary courses cover both the topics of interest for the doctoral thesis and the quantitative tools necessary to rigorously address the research questions chosen by the doctoral students. In most cases, during the second year, doctoral students carry out at least one visiting period abroad, generally about four months, but sometimes even twelve or eighteen months. In any case, PhD students receive a 50% scholarship increase during their stay abroad. In addition, they are eligible for additional funding awarded on a competitive basis. In the case of a stay at another partner university of the SESS Network, the PhD student is guided by a tutor appointed by the host university towards the attendance of advanced courses aimed at developing the thesis, and towards participation in research activities organized by local working groups. Each site of the consortium offers courses that fall within the scientific-teaching area of the Sess.EuroPhD, completing the study plan offered by Sapienza. When in Italy, PhD students are required to interact regularly with their supervisors and other board members, and attend the following events: A) Research seminars held by members of the scientific board for first year doctoral students (in the case of seminars that were not also held in the previous academic year). During these seminars, members of scientific board present their most recent works to illustrate their research activities. B) Seminars organized by the Department of Economics and Law jointly with the Department of Economics and Social Sciences of Sapienza University. C) Seminars organized by the Sess.EuroPhD during the academic year. D) Summer School that Sess.EuroPhD organizes every year during the month of July, at the end of the academic year. Furthermore, PhD students are encouraged to attend seminars organized by other institutions or research groups n Rome, if in line with their research topics. Privileged collaborations in terms of joint seminars have been implemented with the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies of the CNR, with the CESARE laboratory of experimental economics of the LUISS and with the SESD - Departmental Study Service of the MEF. Last, in agreement with the supervisors and the scientific board, doctoral students can attend supplementary courses provided within the master's or post-graduate degree programs, or provided by other Sapienza doctoral programs that are particularly useful for carrying out their research aimed at the doctoral thesis. In particular, we have renewed the collaboration with the PhD program in Models for Economics and Finance and with the PhD in Economics, strengthening the collaboration with the latter: the timetables of the seminars and elective courses are available, updated in real time, in the calendars of both the EurSESSPhD and PhD in Economics doctoral courses. Method of preparation of the thesis In agreement with the tutor and consistently with their research interests, PhD students propose a research project and a supervisor to the scientific board. The supervisor will have the task of monitoring and assisting the PhD student in the development of his/her research. Furthermore, PhD students are encouraged to systematically get in touch with other researchers from the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Statistics of Sapienza and from the other institutions of the consortium working on similar topics and/or using similar methods, to deepen their knowledge about the empirical and methodological techniques as well as about the literature and to refine the scientific quality of the thesis as much as possible. The thesis should consist of one or more empirical and/or experimental researches. The empirical analyses and/or experiments will be carried out by applying the most advanced econometric and/or statistical and/or experimental techniques to the study of economic and social phenomena on existing data or data collected in an original way by the PhD student. The experiments can be conducted in the laboratory, online or through field experiments. The thesis will take the form of three papers potentially publishable in international scientific journals. PhD students are encouraged to present their work during national and international seminars, workshops and conferences and, when refined enough, to submit them to international scientific journals for publication. The papers are compulsorily written in English. At the end of the second year, the candidate is also required to illustrate in two separate seminars to be held in Rome in the month of July and in a branch of the Consortium in the month of September/October: 1) The results obtained during the last year (even if partial). 2) The methods envisaged for the continuation of his/her research. Admission to the third year Admission to the third year of the SESS.EuroPhD requires: 1) The completion of a draft of the job market paper. 2) The beginning of an initial visiting period at a foreign university. 3) The presentation of the thesis work at the Sess.EuroPhD Annual Seminar held at one of the universities of the consortium. 4) The presentation of the same work in an internal workshop, held at the Department of Economics and Law of the Sapienza University of Rome, attended by members of the teaching board. Admission to the third year is conditional to receiving a positive evaluation by the scientific board, which also considers the presentation of the doctoral student's work. In accordance with the Partner Agreement of the Sess.EuroPhD, all candidates are required to participate in the Sess.EuroPhD Annual Seminar in the dual role of speaker, listener and discussant. Here, each candidate presents his/her results to the scientific board of the SESS Network and compares them with the research work of other doctoral students from other locations.

List of courses / activities for the third year

More information The third year is devoted to the preparation of the thesis, to the presentation of the work at seminars, workshops and conferences, to the deepening of the knowledge of the literature and of the quantitative techniques used in the thesis through the continuous exchange of knowledge with internationally renowned experts in the research field chosen by the PhD Candidate. During the third year, doctoral students refine their job market paper and write the other two papers that compose the thesis (note the second year courses "How to prepare the job market paper" and "International academic publishing" in which students of the third year attended in the previous academic year). To feed the necessary research funds for e.g. the retrieval of the data necessary for the three papers of the thesis, a further course is foreseen during the third year: "How to write a successful application for a research grant". PhD students spend a second visiting period lasting no less than four months at one of the universities belonging to the Sess.EuroPhD Consortium, or at any other foreign university whose research focus includes the topic chosen by the candidate. During their stay in Italy at La Sapienza, PhD students are also required to attend the following events: - Research seminars held by members of the scientific board for first year doctoral students (in the case of seminars that were not held in the previous academic year). - Seminars of the Doctoral School in Political Economy of the Department of Economics and Law of Sapienza University. - Seminars organized by the Department of Economics and Law jointly with the Department of Social and Economic Sciences of Sapienza University (“Sapienza Economics Seminars”). Last, PhD students are encouraged to attend summer schools related to their research path, the cost of which is supported by the dedicated funds of the Sess.EuroPhD, with the prior authorization of the Coordinator. Method of admission to the final examination To be admitted to the final exam, PhD students must discuss their job market paper and the rest of the thesis in an internal seminar lasting at least one hour in front of the scientific board. Admission is conditional to the positive evaluation of the scientific board. Furthermore, PhD students are required to attend the SESS Annual Seminar as both speakers and discussants. Final examination The procedures for carrying out the final exam of the EuroPhD Session are established by the Internal Regulations of the Sapienza University of Rome on the subject of research doctorates (see articles 9, 12 and 13). Within the terms established by the regulation, the thesis is sent to two reviewers, possibly from foreign universities, who have three months to provide the scientific board with an indication of the value of the thesis and prepare a report containing guidelines for the revision and improvement of the thesis. The PhD student has three to six months to implement the reviewers' recommendations. The committee of the final exam is proposed by the board on the basis of the skills relating to the topics covered by the thesis. The final exam takes place within a maximum of nine months from the end of the doctoral course, and consists in defending the thesis in front of the thesis defence’s committee.