Eight Ph.D. positions will be available starting on January 2009 and lasting for three years.

The tax free salary will be € 1234 per month.

During offsite stages the base salary will be further increased by 50%. A few rooms might be available in the University Residence.

Curriculum A (funded by the University):

A1-A3:   3 grants on any research topic developed in the Department of Materials Science;

A4:       1 grant on structural advanced materials (with special emphasis on ceramics);

A5:       1 grant on energy saving and distributed power generation.

Curriculum B (funded by Pirelli SpA):

B1:       1 grant on ab initio models of catalysts for anti-particle filters (grant available to non-EC students);

B2:       1 grant on high efficiency Si based photovoltaic cells with surface treatments (grant available to non-EC students);

B3:       1 grant on photovoltaic organic and hybrid photovoltaic cells

Additional six positions without a supporting grant are also available.

The Ranking Procedure

The call has just been published. You can download it either in Italian or in English. Deadline for applications is September 15, 2008.

Candidates must hold a master or an equivalent University degree in Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry or Physical, Chemical and Materials Engineering at the time of the written test. Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of their CV, of a written exam on physics and/or chemistry and of a viva (oral) exam about their past research activity.

Exams will be held:

• Written test: October 28, 2008, 2:00 pm, Seminar Room of the Department of Materials Science, Bldg. U5, Via Cozzi, 53 - Milano
• Oral examination: October 30, 2008, 10:00 am, Seminar Room of the Department of Materials Science, Bldg. U5, Via Cozzi, 53 – Milano

Non-EC applicants to positions B2 or B3 will be exempted from the exam and will be evaluated on the basis of their CV. They are therefore suggested to send their resume to (position B1) and/or to (position B2) and to check all details of the application procedure as published in the call. For legal information concerning the application/ranking procedure for non-EC applicants please contact the doctorate secretary .

Candidate ranking will be made available within a week from the oral examination.

For general information please e-mail the doctorate secretary . For specific information on Pirelli grants, contact .
 

The University

The University of Milano-Bicocca was founded just ten years ago, in June 1998. It is set on an area, called Bicocca, in the northern part of Milan  which was the kernel of its past industrial activity with a lot of the largest Italian factories in steel processing, chemical manufacturing, and electro-mechanics. Nowadays the production lines are far from town, and part of advanced industrial research and managing are still in the borough of Bicocca. For this reason the University of Milano-Bicocca has strong technological vocation. In the faculty of science non-traditional degrees, from B.Sc. to Ph.D., in materials science, biotechnology and environmental science are coupled to the conventional ones in physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, computation and earth science. Very exciting atmosphere, up-to-date laboratory training, several research groups of international level and officially rated among the top in Italy, have attracted a lot of students; at the present the whole University hosts more than 30000 students.

The Doctorate

The scientific activities related to PCAM are developed in the Department of Materials Science where the research laboratories and the teaching staff of the doctorate in Materials Science of the University of Milano-Bicocca are located. The aim of this doctorate is to train graduate students in investigating fundamental, applicative and industrial topics, either experimentally or theoretically/computationally. Such a result is accomplished by courses and research in all areas constituting the modern materials science and the technological innovation. The main topics comprise innovative chemical processes, synthesis and application of organic semiconductors, electrochemistry, new functional and structural materials, materials for the energy production and storage, nano-structured materials, microelectronics, smart sensor systems, laser optoelectronics, theoretical and computational modelling. In particular, perspective Ph D students in materials science could choose their research subject among:

o       Functional materials for photonics, micro- and optoelectronics and radiation detection

§         Molecular semiconductors;

§         Semiconductor quantum structures;

§         Organic non-linear optical materials;

§         Glass and ceramic materials.

o       Sensing materials

o       Materials for energetics

§         Hydrogen storage materials;

§         Organic and hybrid photovoltaic materials;

§         High efficiency silicon photovoltaic materials with surface treatments;

§         Fuel cells electrode and electrolyte materials;

§         Rechargeable Li-ions battery materials.

o       Advanced NMR techniques for materials

o       Culture heritage and luminescence dating

o       Surface science

§         Crystal growth;

§         OMB Deposition.

o       Theory and materials computation

§         Classical and quantum molecular dynamics:  simulations of growth processes and of tailoring of  microelectronics and photonics materials;

§         Density Function Theory, Many-Body methods and quantum modeling for magnetic nanostructures, magnetic scanning tunneling spectroscopy, and excited states in surface science;

§         Theoretical chemistry for catalysis;

§         Ab initio models for hydrids.

The Research

A full list of research groups and their interests may be accessed via the Department of Materials Science website. The Materials Science Ph D course is organized in two curricula: the former devoted to basic research (A) and the latter to applied one (B). The curriculum B, funded by Pirelli Company, is devoted to provide strong scientific as well as applied knowledge suitable to the development of new materials in an industrial environment.

Students are required to follow some courses: among them fundamentals of finance, economics for research management, and elements of Intellectual Property, management and protection, can be chosen. Furthermore students have to spend a minimum six month period at a foreign research laboratory, selected together with their own tutors.  The stay at one of the Universities belonging to the network PCAM is strongly encouraged and gives the advantage to obtain the credits needed for the European doctorate in Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials.

For any further information please contact the Doctorate Dean, .