PhDVAS@work

SOP for admission to the following year of the PhD course

Each student must submit a report to the address phdcourse.vas@unimi.it using the “Student Annual Report form”. The supervisors must send a report using the “Supervisor Annual Report”. Both reports will be delivered to the Internal Reviewers’ Panel.

Each PhD student has to contact his/her own Internal Review Panel for an interview, where she/he will present his activity using Power Point file and have the opportunity to answer and address the possible issues raised by the Panel.

After the meeting, the Internal Reviewer Panel will fill a very brief report of the interview using the “Internal Reviewer Panel form”, which will be delivered to the Doctorate Council with the suggestion to admit or not the student to the following year, identifying possible weaknesses that had to be amended during the following year. It is up to the tutor/co-tutor to participate.

The Doctorate Council meeting report with the approval will be submitted to the UNIMI PhD administration, which will activate the procedures for admission to the following year.

In summary, these are the deadlines for the students:

How to use the research budget

Each doctoral student is allocated a budget to cover the costs related to their research activities in Italy and abroad, of 1,650.00 euros per year.

The budget, or “endowment,” allocated to the doctoral student may be used for:
– language review of articles related to their research program and thesis;
– article processing charges, only if the doctoral student is the first author or corresponding author and the article is related with topics inherent to their research program;
– consumables and inventoried materials necessary for the research program.

The request generally involves either the submission of three quotes, or a request for a direct award.

For payments related toarticle publication, doctoral students may take advantage of the University’s APC Fund for Open Access policies.

For purchases, it is necessary to obtain authorization from both the mentor and the Doctoral Coordinator (phdcourse.vas@unimi.it), by filling out Attachment 2 – Authorization for Purchase of Materials and/or Services.

After obtaining approvals, the doctoral student should send the request to: amministrazione.vas@unimi.it.

Important! For any purchases not described above, please contact the Administrative Secretariat (amministrazione.vas@unimi.it) for confirmation before making any payment. Additionally, before making any expenditures, check the available funds by contacting the SEA Administrative Secretariat (amministrazione.vas@unimi.it) to avoid overspending.

Procedures for requesting a mission and expense reimbursement for research travel

Apply for mission authorization, signed by both from the Supervisor and Coordinator, using form All. 1 Mission authorization.

Brief Guide -U-WEB Missions

Before planning a mission, check the available funds by contacting the SEA Administrative Secretariat (amministrazione.vas@unimi.it).

In case of air travel
In case of air travel, the original boarding passes must be attached when checking in at the airport.
If checking in online, a printed version of the boarding passes should be submitted.

In the case of stays abroad exceeding 10 days.
In the case of stays abroad longer than 10 days, in addition to applying for permission, it is possible to apply for the scholarship surcharge , as described in the University Regulations on doctoral studies (Article 20 paragraph 5).

In all cases
Expenses incurred during the mission (such as travel, food and lodging, etc.) must be properly documented.
Expenses shall be reimbursed according to the criteria and limits set in the tables attached to the “Mission and Expense Reimbursement Regulations”, where a summary of eligible expenses is provided in Table 1.

Procedures for registering for conferences, courses or webinar

Registration for an event is considered a purchase of services, so it must be done through the administrative office at least 30 days prior to the event registration deadline.

If participation in these events occurs is a part of a mission, it is always possible to prepay, and then request reimbursement of the registration fee through the mission expense claim.

If participation in these events does not involve the carrying out of a mission (e.g. webinars, courses and online conferences), as they are part of the purchase of goods and/or services, payment for registration for the event must allways be made by the administrative secretariat.In this case, personal payment by credit card or in any other form (e.g. bank transfer) is not permitted.

Procedures for research periods abroad

Authorization for the research period abroad is described at the following link  and must be requested using the attached Foreign Period Authorisation form.
Please complete the form and send it to phdcourse.vas@unimi.it.

PROCEDURES FOR THE DISCUSSION OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS

The discussion of the thesis is divided into three steps

1^st: Presentation of the thesis to the Council for approval

The doctoral thesis, accompanied by an abstract, is written in English.

The thesis and a report of the PhD student on the activities carried out during the Doctorate and on any publications (Form 1 – Final Report of the three years’ activities and achievements) is submitted before the end of the last year of the course to the PhD Coordinator, who delivers it to the internal evaluation panel, that, in turn, will assess the merit of the thesis as such:

1. Approval of the thesis in the current version
2. Request for changes. The thesis is re-sent to the student for the requested changes in this case.

Using the following form: Form 2 – Internal panel Thesis evaluation form. Once it has been drawn up in its final form, the Doctorate Board has the information to approve the PhD candidate research activity. The thesis is submitted to external reviewers.

2^nd: Examination by external evaluators

The thesis is examined by at least two qualified reviewers, at least one of whom is a university professor/researcher from outside to the University. The reviewers are suggested by the supervisor and co-supervisor and are approved by the Doctorate Council. The Coordinator delivers the thesis to the reviewers in Word and pdf format. The reviewers assess the merit of the by filling in the attached form (Form 3 – External Reviewer Thesis Evaluation Form) and propose its admission to public discussion or send if back to the PhD student for revisions. The thesis must be, in any case, admitted to public discussion, with attached a second review of the reviewers, filled after any corrections and/or additions were made.

3^rd:  Defense of the doctoral thesis

The public discussion of the thesis takes place before a Thesis Commission, approved by the PhD Council, and appointed by the Rector.  The Commission includes three members chosen from among professors (at least one first-grader) and tenured university researchers. At least two members of the Commission must belong to universities not participating in the Doctorate and must not be members of the PhD Council. The chairmanship of the Commission is held by a full professor.

PhD students admitted to public discussion by the Doctorate Board apply for admission to the final exam, following the procedure established by the University “Completing your doctoral studies“.

As soon as they have news of the members of the Thesis Discussion Committee, the PhD students will, within the deadline that will be communicated to them, send to the members, in electronic format, the thesis and a copy of the external reviewers’ report (Form 1 – Final Report of the three years’ activities and achievements). The thesis can be discussed both in presence and/or online.

For the procedures regulating the procedures for discussing the thesis and any requests for extension, please refer to the University regulations.

“Doctor Europaeus” Mention

To obtain the “Doctor Europaeus” mention, the PhD student must apply using the Form-4 Doctor Europaeus application, fulfilling the following requirements (on the top of the ordinary procedures for the submission, deposit request, and defense of the doctoral thesis):

–  The two reviewers who evaluate the thesis must be from two different EU countries (different from the one where the thesis will be defended).

–  At least one of the members of the Thesis Committee has to belong to a higher education institution from a European country (different from the one where the thesis will be defended).

– The thesis must be written and defended in English.

– The PhD student went for secondment to another European country for at least three months, within a stay of at least three months.

European countries mentioned above are referred to as any of the European countries, not only the ones belonging to the European Union (e.g., Switzerland and the UK are included).

Authorization to carry out work activities outside the doctorate.
The request must be approved by the Teaching Body, subject to the favorable opinion of the tutor, and signed by the Coordinator.

Enrolment and award oh PhD scholarschip for the a.y. 2023/2024

Troubleshooting –  what if a student needs help?

Institutional issues, including rules and procedures of PhD studies

The PhD representatives are those who bring issues to the attention of the PhD governance. The PhD students are invited to keep in close contact with the representatives, who are also part of The Department Council. The representatives hold routine meetings with the Coordinator to discuss the students’ issues and address them. The other persons who should be contacted are the PhD administrative staff or the Coordinator at the addresses provided on the Contact webpage.

Personal issues

In the case of personal issues that cannot be addressed within the comfort zone of the relationship with the supervisor and the co-supervisor, the PhD student should contact the Coordinator at his personal mail address (fabrizio.ceciliani@unimi.it) asking for a talk.
If the PhD student does not feel comfortable that her/his issue can be managed within the area of the governance of the PhD program, the University of Milan offers the support of an Ombudsman. The PhD student may want to contact him following the instructions: “Undergraduate and Postgraduate Student Ombudsman“.

The Ombudsman is an impartial, independent support for PhD students, helping them to address issues that come up in their studies. The Ombudsman’s role is to:

•inform PhD students of their rights and duties,
•facilitate their communication with supervisors,
•listen to the student, and try to address their issues within the PhD program, area.

All cases brought to Ombudsman are confidential, and the PhD student decides whether the matter will be brought to the attention of other parties at the university.

Psychological Support

In the case of the need for psychological support, the PhD student is invited to contact the Individual Counselling Service of the University of Milan.

University Regulation for PhD Programme and Students