In keeping with the provisions of Ministerial Decree No. 226 of 14 December 2021, our institution promotes PhD programmes in partnership with companies, public bodies, and qualified private organisations. This forward-looking model aims to combine high-level PhD training with applied research, thereby advancing both knowledge and innovation.
Under DM 226/2021, universities are authorised to offer what is known as an industrial PhD, where a company actively participates (even within a consortium) in the scientific and educational design of the programme. The company and the University formalise their collaboration through conventions, establishing joint roles and defining how research carried out at the enterprise is structured.
PhD candidates on such programmes may be either:
- Employees of the partner company, conducting their PhD research in the company’s facilities;
- Externally selected via public competition, in which case the enterprise may fund one or more PhD scholarships or host its own staff as PhD researchers.
There are substantial advantages for companies to invest in and collaborate on PhD education:
- Strategic Research: Enterprises and the University jointly define research projects, aligning them with industrial goals and innovation priorities.
- Technology Transfer: Through carefully structured conventions, research results are channelled into the enterprise, fostering the development of products, services, or processes with market relevance.
- High-Level Talent: By supporting PhD researchers, companies gain access to highly qualified professionals who can drive innovation and bring new expertise into their teams.
- Flexible Funding Models: Firms can choose to co-fund scholarships, support research activities directly, or integrate their own staff into PhD programmes.
Working with our University may represent a significant opportunity for enterprises or research institutions engaged in R&D to:
- Launch a tailored Industrial PhD Program to address your strategic research needs.
- Sponsor one or more PhD scholarships, co-creating the research framework.
- Host PhD researchers within your premises, to integrate them into your innovation processes.
- Benefit from technology transfer, by converting PhD research output into industrial or commercial value.
Collaboration between enterprises, productive sectors, qualified private partners and the University is essential to building a strong bridge between knowledge and innovation. It enables the formation of PhD researchers who not only generate new ideas, but also translate them into tangible value for the economy and for society.
Industrial PhD programmes are PhD courses established in close collaboration with businesses or other productive organisations. They are designed to combine the highest standards of academic research with practical, technology-transfer objectives, thereby fostering innovation and applied impact.
In such programmes, the PhD candidate may divide their time between the University and the partner company, in accordance with a formal agreement that defines roles, interim objectives, and intellectual-property provisions. Companies co-design the research project alongside the University, contributing financially (for example, by sponsoring PhD scholarships) and strategically (by guiding research priorities). This model encourages the realisation of research results that are directly relevant to industrial challenges and supports the development of highly qualified research staff within the company.
Co-funded PhD programmes enable enterprises, public bodies, or private organisations to support PhD research by contributing to funding, without necessarily hosting the researcher as an employee. The University retains full responsibility for public selection procedures and the academic supervision of the PhD student, while the co-funding partner provides financial support for one or more scholarships or contributes to specific project costs (such as equipment, travel, or training).
This arrangement allows companies and institutions to steer research into areas of strategic relevance, while sharing costs with the University. The resulting research remains academically rigorous, but benefits from a clearer alignment with real-world applications and potential commercial exploitation.
Executive PhD programmes are tailored for professionals and senior staff who wish to pursue PhD research alongside their careers. These programmes are structured with flexibility in mind: participants often combine periods of independent research with concentrated residencies or intensive modules, and they may benefit from company-based mentoring or co-supervision.
In these schemes, the employer may sponsor all or part of the programme, recognising it as professional development. The research is usually orientated towards applied or strategic problems of immediate relevance to the organisation. Through such partnerships, universities and organisations jointly foster research excellence that advances both scholarly knowledge and practical enterprise-driven outcomes.
The PhD via apprenticeship, or “research apprenticeship,” offers a contractual employment route in which the PhD candidate is employed by a company under an apprenticeship contract and conducts original research as part of their role. The employer and the University sign a formal agreement detailing the training plan, the research objectives, and the balance between time spent in the company and in the academic institution.
Unlike scholarship-funded PhDs, the apprentice is a paid employee – this removes financial barriers and aligns the researcher’s career progression with their PhD training. The company benefits from investing in in-house research capacity, while the apprentice gains a PhD qualification alongside valuable professional experience. The University ensures academic supervision and guarantees that the research component maintains the required scholarly standard.