The Doctoral Thesis is chosen on the candidate's project, approved by the Tutor/Tutors and discussed in front of the Teaching Body. The doctoral thesis consists of an original work, having as its subject the experimental results and the discussion of the Research Project.
The Academic Board, taking into account the Tutor’s advice, may authorize the drafting of the final PhD thesis following one of the two models illustrated below:
1. "Classic THESIS": it is organized into Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, Bibliography, illustrations, tables and captions, iconographic tables, and all attached materials (project data base, cartographic material , additional and related materials, etc.). It shall indicate the PhD student's direct contribution to research, the degree of originality and innovation of the results achieved. Any scientific papers of the PhD student, coherent with the research project, published and/or in print and/or sent to scientific journals, should be attached.
2. "THESIS paper-based": it collects in an organic way the scientific publications of the PhD Student (already published or approved for the press) on ISI journals, strictly related to the Research Project initially approved, suitably linked by specific chapters and/or paragraphs. The paper shall include a broad introduction, a summary discussion and extended final conclusions, in line with the proposed project. The contribution made by the PhD student in the Research Group should also emerge, if publications are co-authored.
The language of the doctoral thesis is Italian, but the Board of Professors encourages doctoral students to alternatively write their thesis in English, in particular for paper-based theses. In any case, PhD students shall guarantee the linguistic quality of the paper. In both cases, the Academic Board also requires PhD students to prepare an "extended abstract" in English (approximately ten pages).