Study plan for the academic year 2023/2024


List of courses / activities for the first year

titolocrediti
Advanced Topics in Reinforcement Learning: From Theory to Practice 2
Thinking outside the box: adversarial behavior and unconventional attack vectors 2
Advanced techniques for finding bugs in real-world software 2
Summer School on Hot Topics in Cyber Security 3
Epistemology 3
Research design 3
Quantitative research methods 3
Qualitative research methods 3
Econometrics 3
Organization and technology 3
Theory of the firm 3
International Affairs and the Cyber Domain 3
Golden Powers and Big Data management 3
Cybersecurity and Cybercrime 3
Risk management, compliance and cyber attack prevention 3
Blockchain and smart contracts 3
Ethics for Artificial Intelligence 3
Adversarial Attacks and Generative Models 1

More information

The courses mentioned as examples belong to two types:
  • Specialized doctoral courses worth 3 credits, offered in collaboration with the PhD program in Computer Engineering at Sapienza and the PhD program in Management at Luiss.
  • A cybersecurity summer school to be held in the spring/summer period at DIAG-Sapienza (the first edition took place in 2019).
Seminars and other activities will be defined during the first year of the doctoral program.
 
First-year doctoral students engage in the following activities:
  • Attend specialized doctoral courses designed to provide state-of-the-art tools applicable directly to the research conducted by students.
  • Explore specific themes related to their research interests, including participation in international schools for doctoral programs, such as those organized by DIAG and the School of Law at Luiss.
  • Attend official courses from the Master's Degrees at the Faculty of Information Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics at Sapienza, related to the fields of application of Cybersecurity, aiming to complement, deepen, and integrate knowledge from their educational path.
  • Participate in seminars by Italian and foreign scholars organized by the doctoral program or seminars organized by the departments of participating faculty members, incorporated into the educational offerings of the doctoral program.
The student is required to complete educational activities totaling 30 credits, including
  • up to 12 credits for official courses from Master's Degrees,
  • up to 18 credits for specialized doctoral courses and international schools offered by other universities and research centers,
  • and up to 12 credits for seminars.
The distribution of credits among the three types of activities may be modified by the college to meet the specific educational needs of the doctoral student.
At least 22 of the 30 credits must be completed during the first year. The plan of educational activities must be submitted by the student within the first 6 months of the first year and is subject to evaluation and approval by the college.


Method of choosing the subject of the thesis

The choice of the research area in which to develop the thesis is made through the students' discussion and consultation with the members of the Faculty Council and by delving into research topics presented within specialized doctoral courses, seminars, and international doctoral schools.
 
During the first six months of the first year, and in any case not later than the first year of the program, the student must identify a faculty member from the Faculty Council as a reference for the thesis. At the end of the first year, the Faculty Council formally appoints a supervisor chosen from its members or from external faculty members conducting research on themes consistent with the doctoral program. In the latter case, the external supervisor may be accompanied by a co-supervisor chosen from the members of the doctoral council.


Admission to the second year

The verification includes:
  1. Attendance of doctoral courses and the chosen teachings by the doctoral candidate, as well as successful completion of the related assessment exams.
  2. Completion of general and specific study activities and attendance of seminars integrated into the educational activities of the Doctorate.
  3. Identification of the research area in which the doctoral thesis will be developed.
All educational activities required for the first year must be completed by the student within the first year of the program. 15 days before the end of the first year, the doctoral candidate must submit a report on the activities undertaken. Based on this report, the Faculty Council assesses the performance and grants (or denies) admission to the following year."



List of courses / activities for the second year

titolocrediti
Byzantine Fault Tolerance and its applications in blockchain technologies 2
Adversarial behavior in untrusted software: Techniques and Countermeasures 2
Program instrumentation techniques for implementing security analyses and policies 2
Summer School on Hot Topics in Cyber Security 3
Organization theory 3
Experimental methods 3
The Economics and Governance of Data 3
How to get published 3
Summer School on AI and Criminal Justice 3

More information



Method of preparation of the thesis



Admission to the third year




List of courses / activities for the third year


More information



Method of admission to the final examination



Final examination


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