8 Eight PhD Full Scholarships in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science at University of Catania in Italy

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR PLACES IN PH.D. COURSES XXXVIII CYCLE – UNIVERSITY OF CATANIA:

In compliance to the premises to the Call for applications for places in Ph.D. programs, for the academic year 2022/2023 the University of Catania officially announces the selection procedures for places in the following Ph.D. courses of cycle XXXVIII: PH.D. COURSE: Agricultural, food and environmental science, Places with scholarships (including scholarships financed by the National Recovery and Resiliency Plan (NRRP): 8 and Places without scholarships: 1

2. For all Ph.D. programs listed above course activities begin on October 31 2022.
3. Each of the Ph.D. course listed in paragraph 1 of this article will be effectively implemented provided the ministerial accreditation in compliance with Ministerial Decree n. 226/2021 and the effective funding of the scholarships sponsored by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (hereinafter referred to as NRRP) in compliance with Ministerial Decrees n. 351/2022 and n. 352/2022 as well as the effective funding by the partner private company within the projects financed by the Ministerial Decree n. 352/2022 by no later than September 30 2022.
4. Detailed information on each Ph.D. course, including the research themes related to each scholarship, is included in the annexed information sheets which constitute integral and substantial part of this Call (annexes 1 to 19).
   Art. 2 Admission requirements
5. Applications are open without regard to nationality or age to candidates who hold either a Laurea (Vecchio Ordinamento) or a Laurea specialistica /magistrale or any foreign degree suitable for access to Ph.D. courses in the country of origin and corresponding to a Second level degree by the deadline of the present call.
6. The suitability of the foreign degree is assessed by the selection committee with respect to the rules in force in Italy and in the country where the degree was issued and according to international agreements on degrees recognition for further education.
7. Applications are also open to candidates regularly enrolled in their final year of Laurea Vecchio ordinamento, Laurea specialistica/magistrale or foreign degree course who obtain their final degree by no later than the date of enrolment in Ph.D. courses, under penalty of exclusion from Ph.D. courses.
   In case these candidates pass the selection, they will need to submit a self-certification of degree completion (for holders of Laurea Vecchio Ordinamento or Laurea Specialistica/Magistrale issued by an Italian University) or a degree certificate accompanied by the Statement of comparability or Declaration of Value (for holders of a degree issued by a foreign university) at the time of the enrolment in their Ph.D. course. Failure to submit the aforementioned documents will lead to the exclusion from the doctoral program.
8. Further entry requirements are reported on the information sheets (annexes 1 to 19) which constitute integral and substantial part of this Call.

Scholarship:

1. Scholarships have the same duration as the corresponding Ph.D. course. Scholarships are assigned to candidates according to their position on the ranking list. For each doctoral student in a place with scholarship, his/her eligibility to the scholarship is bound to his/her admission to the doctoral years following the first.
2. Each scholarship amounts to € 16.243,00 per year, before taxes charged on the scholarship holder. This amount is adjusted according to increases established by the law.
3. The amount of the scholarship is increased up to 50% in correspondence and proportionally to study periods at foreign institutions for maximum twelve 12 months of the entire duration of the Ph.D. course.
4. Each doctoral student benefits from an additional research budget corresponding to minimum 10% of the annual gross amount of his/her scholarship. On a first approximation, this research budget amounts to € 2.003,70 and can be used by the doctoral student to cover his/her expenses connected to his/her research work in Italy and abroad.
   The additional research budget is transferred to and managed by the financial division of the Department offering the Ph.D. course.
5. The payment of the scholarship is bound to the effective attendance to course activities according to the research project approved by the Ph.D. Academic Board.
6. The provisions concerning tax benefit included in art. 4, Law 476/1984 apply to doctoral scholarships.
7. Scholarships cannot be combined with other financial contributions unless these latter are granted by national or international institutions and destined to research work abroad. As for these specific additional scholarships, further requirements might be required by the calls advertising these grants.
8. As a general rule, the payment of the scholarship consists in a monthly or bi-monthly instalment. Payments are deferred to the months following the month of reference. The modalities of payment of the scholarship are detailed in the Rector Decrees approving the allocation of scholarships to the candidates in the ranking list.

Application form:

1. An application fee of € 30,00 as contribution to costs for the organization of the selection is required. It must be paid according to the procedures described at paragraph. 10, let. g) of the present article by no later than August 3 2022.
2. The application form can be completed either in Italian or in English and must contain the following information:
   a) name and surname, fiscal code, date and place of birth, address (including postal code), telephone number and e-mail;
   b) nationality;
   c) name of the Ph.D. course for which the candidate intends to apply;
   d) name of the candidate’s degree;
   e) disability with percentage of disability, if any;
   f) declaration of commitment to immediately communicate to dottorati@unict.it any change of address, telephone number or e-mail;
   g) express indication of candidature for a place reserved to graduates from foreign universities (for Ph.D. programmes including this type of places and for graduates meeting this requirement only);
   h) declaration of acknowledgment of the content of the present call.
3. The following annexes must be uploaded onto the University’s application online system:
   a) Curriculum vitae et studiorum, duly dated and signed, containing the authorization to the treatment of personal data according to the regulation in force;
   b) One of the following documents concerning admission requirements:

• Candidates with Laurea Vecchio Ordinamento, Laurea specialistica or Laurea magistrale issued by an Italian university: Self-certification of successful completion of the degree course;
• Graduates from foreign universities: Second level Degree certificate (including transcript of records, final grade and date of the award of the degree) plus a “Statement of comparability for access to public competition” or a “Declaration of value” and request of equivalence (according to the form included in annex n.20, integral part to this call);
• Candidates enrolled in their last year of Laurea Vecchio Ordinamento, Laurea Specialistica and Laurea Magistrale at any Italian Universities, who have not yet completed their degree course: Self-certification of enrolment in the final year of the degree course, including transcripts of records;
• Candidates from foreign universities who have not yet completed their second level degree course: Certificate stating the status of student in the final year, including transcripts of records;
  c) Research project pertinent to the research themes reported on the informative sheet concerning the Ph.D. course chosen by the candidate;
  d) List of publications with relative abstracts, if any;
  e) Documents attesting English knowledge or further linguistic skills or computer skills, if any;
  f) Documents concerning the completion of further university courses;
  g) Declaration concerning the type of place for which the candidate intends to apply (according to the form included in annex n.21, integral to this call), for candidates who intend to apply for Ph.D. courses offering reserved places only;
  h) Videoconference request form (according to the form included in annex n.22, integral to this call) for candidates wishing to take the oral examination in videoconference form;
• All annexes listed in par. 4 must be uploaded one by one in PDF format onto the online application system. No other format than PDF is accepted. If the size of a document is larger than that indicated by the system, this document must be divided into two or more parts to be uploaded separately. All annexes can be either in English or in Italian. Any annex in a language other than English or Italian must be accompanied by a legal translation in English or in Italian, under penalty of inadmissibility to evaluation.
• Candidates who intend to apply for two or more different Ph.D. courses must complete two or more application forms separately and pay the application fee of € 30,00 for each application.
• Application forms will not be considered if either incomplete or submitted with different modalities or after the deadline indicated in this article. Furthermore, application forms will not be considered if the application fee is paid after the deadline indicated in par. 2 of this article.
• Candidates are warmly urged to complete the application procedure well in advance of the expiration date of this call in order to avoid the clogging of the online system due to the volume of applications. The University is not responsible if the candidate cannot complete the application procedure because of unforeseeable circumstances, force majeure or any event not imputable to the university’s administration.
• Candidates are the sole responsible for the authenticity of the information included both in the application form and in the annexes. The university’s administration is entitled to scrutinize the application forms and related annexes according to the legislation in force and exclude, in any moment and provided a proper motivation, those candidates whose applications do not comply with this call requirements.
• In order to complete the application procedure, each candidate must
• b) Complete the registration entering his/her personal data. On completion of the registration the online system will issue a PIN code to the candidate. The online system will also issue a temporary fiscal code to foreign candidates in order to let them complete the application procedure. (candidates already holding a PIN code will skip this step and start the procedure from c);
• c) Enter his/her credentials in the login box in order to access to his/her personal account;
• d) Once in his/her account click “Prove di ammissione” and select the chosen Ph.D. course through the drop-down menu;
• e) Enter personal data required and check their correctness;
• f) Confirm the data clicking the apposite confirmation command;
• g) Pay the application fee
• h) Upload all the documents required in par. 4 of this article in PDF format onto the online application system;
• i) Print and save copy of the application form and save a physical copy of the receipt of payment.
• Candidates with disability higher than 66% who need assistance during the examination must submit formal request to the University’s Centre for the Integration and Assistance to people with disability and DSA, Via A. di Sangiuliano 259, 95131 Catania, tel. 095/7307182-189-188, e-mail: personalecsd@unict.it, quoting the name of the Ph.D. course for which they have applied.

The application form is web based and must be completed electronically through the University of Catania online application system available at https://studenti.smartedu.unict.it/NewAccount according to the guidelines in paragraph 10 of the present article. The closing date for the application is August 3 2022, h. 12,00 (Noon, Italian Time).

This request must be submitted by no later than August 3 2022, h. 12,00 (noon, Italian time).

For additional details: https://www.unict.it/it/bandi/dottorati-di-ricerca/2022-2023/dottorati-ricerca-ciclo-xxxviii