Admission to the PhD program is based on qualifications and an interview. A master’s degree or equivalent is required (a four or five years bachelor’s degree from an elite University may occasionally be considered equivalent).

Applicants will provide a CV and a brief description of their research interests. At least one but no more than 3 reference letters are also required. Among all applicants, a short list will be selected for the interview.

The Ph.D. program has a duration of four years. First year will be mostly focused on classwork and study while the remaining years will be mainly devoted to research activities.

Here follows a list of the main subjects of interest:

• Computational electromagnetics
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Continuum mechanics
• Differential geometry
• Experimental methods in fundamental physics
• Fluid mechanics
• Fundamental-physics sensors and resulting technologies
• Micromagnetics
• Modelling and simulation of soft matter
• Multiscale modelling of materials
• Partial differential equations (qualitative and a numerical analysis)
• Plasmonic and metamaterials
• Physics of complex materials and related devices
• Quantum information and quantum simulation
• Thermodynamics and constitutive equations of materials

First year

First year students should obtain 60 credits by performing the following activities:

– taking elective Ph.D. courses provided by the School, other universities or research centers  passing the corresponding exams or assessment tests.

– attendance to seminars, summers schools and workshops organized by the School, other universities or research centers (up to 5 credits)

– participation to laboratory activities or projects or research activities carried on by research groups operating within the School or other scientific institutions (up to 10 credits)

Second year

During this year student should obtain 24 credits by attendingseminars, summers schools and workshops organized by the School, other universities or research centers. The remaining 36 credits will be allocated for research activities.

Third year

All 60 credits will be devoted to research activity.

Fourth year

A total of 60 credits will be devoted to research activity and preparation of the Ph.D thesis.

At the beginning of the second year, students will communicate to the Ph.D. coordinator the name of the thesis supervisor they have chosen. The supervisor can be either a member of the Ph.D. program board or an external professor or researcher. In the latter case, the choice of supervisor must be approved by the Ph.D. board.

After completing the required credits, in order to be admitted to the second year, students must give a talk on a topic of their choice in front of a committee formed by members of the Ph.D. board. The talks will be also attended by all other Ph.D. students. 

In order to be admitted to the subsequent years, students will present a report on the progress of their research. The report will be evaluated by the Ph.D. board.

During the Ph.D. program students are required to visit other scientific institutions for a period of at least nine months, even if not continuous.

This Ph.D. program favours scientific exchanges and visits of students and researchers. Here is a list of the main scientific institutions with which collaborations with members of the Ph.D. board exist:

• CERN, Geneva
• Department of Applied Physics, Yale University
• Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
• Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
• Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University
• Department of Materials, ETH, Zürich
• Department of Mathematics, Technische Universität, München
• Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
• Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich
• Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Boston
• Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Technology, Eindhoven
• Department of Physics, Imperial College, London
• Institute of Photonic Sciences, Barcelona
• Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford
• Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Natural Sciences, Lipsia
• Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University
• Stanford Linear Accelerators Center, Stanford University