The PhD student is required to:
- obtain a minimum of 100 hours in hard skills courses, divided as follows:
- 75h for type 1 hard skills courses, offered by this PhD and compulsory in the first year of the course;
- 25h minimum for other type 2 hard skills courses (optionally but to be attended compulsorily in the first and second year of the course), of which at least one course among those offered by this optional type 2 hard skills PhD. Type 2 hard skills provided by this PhD will be activated starting from the 40th cycle and, therefore, available in the second year of the 39th cycle;
- provide a minimum of 40h overall between additional soft skills courses;
- seminars, summer schools and other supplementary educational activities will be approved as hard or soft skills by the Academic Board about the affinity with the PhD student's educational path. In particular, at the beginning of each academic year, the opening seminar on the "emerging theme" that the Academic Board identifies every two years, mandatory for students of all years enrolled in the PhD, will be activated.
Type 1 hard skills
The Academic Board identifies a series of 5 transdisciplinary courses, compulsory for students in the first year of the course (15h each for 75h), considered fundamental and preparatory to doctoral research, organized and taught by at least two professors from two different SSDs (scientific disciplinary sectors). These teachings, of an informative and methodological nature on design cultures, contribute to the reflection on the contemporary challenges of sustainable, social, cultural and technological innovation. These teachings can be found in the University Catalogue.
- Design for Sustainable and Circular Systems
The course, fundamental with a transdisciplinary nature, provides the basic knowledge (theoretical, methodological and instrumental principles) to operate in a Circular Economy perspective and with the typical Systemic Design approach at the level of production strategies and services related to new business models and policies for sustainable development in a territory. The central theme is the transition from a linear production model (take-make-dispose) to a circular and systemic one (input-output), deeply rooted in the local context. The issue is investigated in dialogue with some of the leading experts on the international scene and through the reading of selected papers that illustrate the transition of socio-technical systems towards more sustainable models, the visualization of data through giga-maps and the objectives of social innovation.
- Design for accessibility and social inclusion
The course, fundamental with a transdisciplinary nature, provides the basic knowledge (theoretical, methodological and instrumental principles) to operate to improve the physical, cognitive, cultural and socio-economic accessibility of products, services, processes, systems and environments. The course illustrates recent case studies and testimonials of national and international operations in the social design field. With a view to inclusion, cohesion and social justice and with a co-design and co-production orientation, collaborative scenarios are also explored, which see public institutions, profit and third-sector organizations co-design community innovation interventions and of prevention - primary, secondary and tertiary - of the most diverse forms of marginalization and exclusion.
- Methodologies for designing data-driven
The course, fundamental with a transdisciplinary nature, provides essential knowledge (theoretical, methodological and instrumental principles) to operate in the field of evaluation, such as - quantitative, before and after the project, of products, services and industrial processes, combining in a multi-criteria perspective the cultural, social, environmental, technical and economic-financial dimension. With the support of data, we can now build design-driven processes that consider the evolution of production, diffusion and consumption scenarios and the necessary inclusion of all the actors involved in the project through co-design methodologies and processes.
- Cultural heritage enhancement design
The course, fundamental to a transdisciplinary nature, provides essential knowledge (theoretical, methodological and instrumental principles) to set up a valorization project in the context of cultural heritage, understood as punctual or widespread identity systems on the territory. The course analyzes scenarios for the enhancement of cultural heritage, including material culture, at different scales of analogue and digital products, services, communication and building space, to improve and enrich the experience of using the user, with the definitive compendium of case studies and codified approaches.
- Human-centric methodologies for the environmental quality of living
The course, fundamental with a transdisciplinary nature, provides the basic knowledge (theoretical, methodological and instrumental principles) to measure and evaluate the quality of the internal (Indoor Environmental Quality - IEQ) and external (Outdoor Environmental Quality - OEQ) environment, including thermal, air quality, visual and acoustic. These factors affect the energy performance and sustainability of buildings, with repercussions on the occupants' health, well-being and productivity. Therefore, its evaluation with a human-centred approach that considers the interaction of users with the built space (indoors and outdoors) is of crucial importance in the case where the poor quality of the environment is related to aspects of insecurity and insufficient comfort of the urban space. The course overviews subjective evaluation and field measurement methodologies and illustrates the tools used to analyse long-term monitoring data.
Type 2 hard skills
The PhD student will have to attend other technical/specialist hard skills courses for at least 25 hours, mandatory in the first and second year of the PhD. These elective courses can be identified in the offer of the University Catalogue, without the approval of the Academic Board, or in the offer of other recognized Doctoral Schools, subject to the approval of the Academic Board. At least 1 of these Courses must be identified among those offered by the Academic Board of this PhD, which will be activated starting from the 40th cycle (therefore in the second year of the 39th cycle, and identifiable in the University Catalogue.
Soft skills
The PhD student will have to attend soft skills courses for at least 40 hours, compulsory in the first and second year of the course. These elective courses can be identified in the offer of the University Catalogue, without the approval of the Academic Board, or in the offer of other recognized Doctoral Schools, subject to the approval of the Academic Board.