The PhD School “Life sciences and technologies” has been founded in 2013, concomitantly with the re-organisation of the PhD programmes at the University Magna Græcia in compliance with the new guidelines for post-graduate education of the Italian Ministry of University and Research.

The PhD School co-ordinates and assists the activities of the three bio-medical PhD programmes established at the University Magna Græcia: “Biomarkers of chronic and complex diseases”, “Life sciences” and “Molecular and translational oncology and innovative medical-surgical technologies”.

Entry requirements for admission to the PhD courses are a University degree(s) requiring at least 4-5 years (BSc + MSc or equivalent, MD) and adequate command of written and spoken English.

Admission depends on the positive outcome of a competitive public examination that includes a written test and an interview for the assessment of the candidates’ aptitude for research.

When fellowships specifically reserved to foreign applicants are available, a separate selection can take place for these applicants, based on the evaluation of their CV and an interview that can also be conducted via tele-conference.

Aim of the PhD programmes is to train highly-qualified young researchers with a solid, interdisciplinary background in basic and translational bio-medical research. The trainees are expected to acquire adequate skills to design and conduct hypothesis-driven research, by applying appropriate state-ofthe- art techniques to the biological and clinical problems of interest; to develop a comprehensive knowledge of the scientific literature relevant to their field of interest, ability to critically interpret their results and adequate written and oral communication skills to illustrate their scientific achievements.

Working languages of the PhD programmes are English and Italian.

To qualify to defend their thesis, at the end of a three-year course, PhD students typically complete 180 credits (45 taught credits, 15 credits of attendance to practical workshops, symposia, seminars and other events, and 120 credits of research work under the supervision of a mentor, typically a Faculty member). The PhD thesis, that illustrates the research of the PhD candidate, must provide a contribution to the knowledge of the relevant field of study suitable for publication, and demonstrate originality and capacity for autonomous research.

The three PhD programmes co-ordinated by the School offer each year a variety of taught courses in several areas of basic science, molecular medicine, advanced diagnostics and therapeutics, biomedical engineering, advanced English language, biostatistics and bioinformatics, that cover at least 40 credits; among these, the students choose the courses to fulfill the 15-credit requirement. In addition, the PhD programmes organise focus groups on topics of particular relevance (mostly moderated by foreign adjunt Faculty), hands-on practical courses, Journal and data clubs, workshops, lectures and seminars on topics of interest with the participation of prominent international scholars.

For their laboratory activities, the students have access to state-of-the-art facilities for tissue culture, biochemistry and molecular biology, functional genomics, proteomics, imaging and flow-cytometry, animal studies.

A network of international collaborations – detailed in the pages of the individual programmes – allows PhD students to visit international laboratories to perform part of their research project. These stays, whose duration can be extended to 18 months, are supported by a 50% increase in the students’ salary, as prescribed by the national PhD regulations.

An external scientific advisory board, composed of internationally recognised scholars in the fields of bio-medicine and bio-engineering, is being established to assess periodically the performance of the PhD programmes.