Curriculum

The main goal of the doctoral curriculum is to prepare doctoral students for research by providing them:

advanced and rigorous knowledge of a wide range of qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods
a deep understanding of the interactions between the socio-economic and environmental systems, the sustainability dimensions, and the related management instruments in climate change, ecological, and digital transition.

To achieve this goal, a training path has been outlined, which includes 262 hours of teaching and is divided into four levels:

compulsory methodological courses,
compulsory courses aimed at providing the theoretical and empirical bases to understand the dimensions of sustainability and define the tools for sustainable management;
in-depth and specialization courses (electives) which allow the doctoral students to acquire specialist knowledge in view of their research work;
personalized learning opportunities (seminars, workshops, summer schools, conferences, research period abroad) within which the doctoral students can develop their training and research path.

The doctoral curriculum is designed to be completed in three years.

During the first year, students dedicate 80% of their time to attending compulsory and elective courses (see Teaching programme), workshops, seminars, and, eventually, summer schools. In the final part of the first year, students prepare their research proposal (see Doctoral Thesis -Guidelines in the Download section).
In the second year, students dedicate almost all their time to research that can be carried out in Trento or in other research centres in Italy or abroad. They also have the possibility to attend specific workshops, summer schools, or scientific conferences related to their research project, both in Italy and abroad.
In their final year, students dedicate almost all their time to research and to finalize their research papers for the Doctoral dissertation. At the end of the three years, PhD students should have spent at least three months doing research in a university or research centres abroad.

Teaching programme 41st cycle - first year - academic year 2025-26

1st term - November 2025 - January 2026

Introduction to statistics and R (crash course) – M. Gaudiello (12 hours)
Applied linear regression and multivariate methods – E. Taufer (18 hours)
Economics and sustainability – R. Raffaelli, M.L. Segnana, and G. Galdi (26 hours)
Fundamentals of Environmental sustainability – G. Andreottola, M. Ragazzi, L. Adami (joint with DICAM – 12 hours)
Management instruments for sustainability – M. Franch (14 hours)

2nd term - March – May 2026

Stakeholder theory, social capital and third sector – F. Buffa, E. Tortia, M. Vatiero (26 hours)
Applied Econometrics – G Grilli and C. Fezzi (24 hours)
Performance analysis for sustainability – S. Amato, E. Santini, P. Candio (12 hours)
Environmental valuation: stated preferences approaches – S. Notaro (16 hours)
Academic writing – TBD (joint course with ECOFIN - 36 hours)

PhD students should also attend elective courses (minimum 72 hours), choosing among those offered by:

The Department of Economics and Management,
The Department of Sociology and Social Research,
The Department/Faculty of Law
The Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering
The Center Agriculture Food Environment – C3A.

A non-exhaustive list of possible elective courses will be provided in the Download section.

Four compulsory workshops will be organised for improving PhD students’ sustainability competencies and transversal skills:

System thinking and anticipatory techniques – R. Scolozzi (6 hours)
How to prepare the research proposal and a systematic literature review – E. Santini (6 hours) – between the end of May and Mid-June, before starting to prepare the research proposal
Public speaking and academic speech – R. Cuel (6 hours) – between Mid-September and Mid-October, before the presentation of the preliminary thesis proposal
Checklist before data collection: ethical review, pre-registration, and more – A. Kazemekaityte (2 hours)

A wide range of seminars is offered to the PhD students (for further details, see the section “Seminars”). Attendance of at least one seminar per month is considered an integral part of the programme requirements.

The preliminary thesis proposal will be presented during the Autumn presentation session that is scheduled for Thursday, 22 and Friday, 23 October 2026.