Name of the PhD in English: Human and Social Sciences
Name of the PhD in Italian: Scienze Umane e Sociali
Language: Italian and English
Department: History, Society and Human Studies
Doctorate coordinator: Prof. Alessandro Isoni
Places available: 6
Joint Programme: no

The Phd is established on a strong interdisciplinarity, gathering three curricula. The Social and Political Sciences curriculum focuses on global phenomena and processes affecting contemporary society in a Mediterranean geographical dimension. The sociological, political, legal, and economic approaches concur to highlight its interdisciplinary perspective. The aim is to promote both theoretical and empirical doctoral theses and research lines in a comparative perspective or through case studies. The Historical and Geographical Sciences curriculum is focused on the knowledge, practices, methodologies, and conceptual categories of the historical and geographical disciplines. It aims to offer competences for the analysis of the territories (within their historical and geographical dimension) and for the study of the diachronic and spatial distributions of different political, economical, cultural, and social phenomena. A particular attention is paid to the local-global interactions and to the comparative analyses. The main (but not exclusive) spatial contexts considered are Italy, the Italian "Mezzogiorno" (i. e., the southern portion of the Peninsula), Europe, and the Mediterranean area. This topics are studied in a chronological scale that ranges from Middle Ages to our times and includes the issues of the contemporary world. The Psychological and Pedagogical Sciences curriculum, to which the psychological and pedagogical perspective take part, with the aid of statistics provides theoretical-methodological knowledge and applicative models in order to develop scientific research in the field of education and lifelong learning, individual and public health, and of formal (services, organizations, institutions) and informal community settings.

• Modern Society and its Transformations
• Global Processes and Local Responses
• State, Supranational Entities, and National Identities
• National and Supranational Law
• The Government (and Governance) of the Economy and Globalization
• Cultural and Communicative Processes
• Political History and International Relations
• Economic and Social History
• History of the Church, and of Religious and Ecclesiastical Institutions
• History of Political Cultures and Ideas
• History of the territories; Community History; Urban History
• Gender History
• Historical Geopolitics and Geoeconomics
• Environmental and cultural heritage
• Territorial development policies, Territorial gaps and "geography of networks"
• Theory and method of clinical intervention in the field of psychotherapy, health promotion, and territorial development
• Neurocognitive, affective, mentalistic and relational processes in healthy and pathological individuals in the different phases of the life cycle
• Psychosocial processes in groups, organizations and communities
• Educational planning and evaluation in formal and informal learning contexts
• Education policies, capability approach,and lifelong learning
• Educational technologies and didactical strategies for intercultural education and inclusion
• Statistical models and methods for psychological, pedagogical, and social research

The PhD aims at training highly qualified experts, with a solid background covering social, psychological, pedagogical, historical and geographical sciences. A good understanding of the complexity that characterizes modern world is expected. The autonomous research pattern followed during the three years course in a multidisciplinary context is aimed at developing original and scientifical innovative solutions to old and new problems and challenges. The resulting qualification allows one to pursue a career in an academic environmnet, public and private research centers, civil service or companies.

The PhD provides an average of 6 scholarships per year. Some of them are funded by the Italian Institute of Technology on specific topics.