Università degli Studi di Messina

► PhD Course Enrolment:

• Login to the Esse3 portal with your credentials clicking on Login (top right “Menu - Login”) 
• Then click on MENU – REGISTRAR’S OFFICE – ENROLMENT – STANDARD ENROLMENT – LIMITED ACCESS DEGREE PROGRAMME– PhD Course (DM n.226/2021) – selected PhD Course and continue the enrolment following the instructions 
• Download the PhD Enrolment form on the specific link and attach the Fiscal Code/Sanitary Card
• The PhD student who benefits of a scholarship or other financial support and without scholarship must download and pay the subscription fee (€156,00) by the PagoPa system whose, bill can be downloaded on the PAYMENT section. 
• The PhD student who benefits of a scholarship or other financial support can request to be included on the COA (all-inclusive annual fee) for a reduction of the registration fee. It needs the student’s authorisation to the University to allow the ISEE Dottorati data acquisition through the specific section that will appear on the registration procedure. 

After the on-line enrolment, the PhD students with a scholarship or other financial support must send to dottorati@unime.it :

• the bank form filled on all parts (IBAN) reported below, for the transfer of the scholarship 
• provide the PDF receipt of the INPS GESTIONE SEPARATA registration which, if not already possessed, must be requested by accessing the address Iscrizione dei lavoratori parasubordinati alla Gestione Separata (the registration must be done as “lavoratore parasubordinato”), required for the payment of pension contributions deriving from the scholarship. 

In the absence of such documentation, it will not be possible to provide the PhD scholarship. 

► Instructions about COA payment (PhD fees) 

Instructions for PhD student who benefits of a scholarship or other financial support: 

The COA amount is established for PhD students who have given their consent to the acquisition of ISEE Dottorato di Ricerca data by Unime, according to the income brackets for the contribution for the year of enrolment. If the PhD student does not give consent to the acquisition, he/she will be placed in the maximum income bracket by paying the maximum amount foreseen (on the site you can view the regulation for the contribution which specifies the contribution ranges and the relative COA amount) 

• in SINGLE installment (two installments option: €156,00 subscription fee and COA fee)
• nr. 3 installments (four installments option: €156,00 subscription fee and nr. 3 COA fees)
• the arrears for late payment of the single deadlines are € 28.00

Instructions for foreign PhD student who benefits of a scholarship or other financial support: 

The foreign PhD students belonging or not to EU, non-resident in Italy and with income not produced there, as resolved by the Board of Directors prot. nr. 113144 of 14.11.2019, are required to pay a single annual all inclusive contribution of € 750.00 to be paid in a single installment/no. 3 installments, according to the option formulated by the PhD student during the enrollment on Esse3. 

The PhD student without a scholarship must pay just the subscription fee (€156,00) by the PagoPa system. 

►Completion procedure for enrolment: 

In the Esse3 profile, the PhD student will be enrolled in Hypothesis (H), waiting for the verification of receipt of the required documentation and payment of the enrolment fee by the UniMe PhD Office. If the verification is successful, the PhD student’s status will be changed to Active enrolment (A)

The PhD fees differs whether the PhD student is resident in Italy and produces income in Italy or not. 
The Italian resident PhD student can choose to submit the ISEE certificate for PhD courses and pay according to the value shown on the certificate (check the PhD contribution 2023/2024 box on PhD Programmes homepage). 
The foreign Phd student non Italian resident, and without income produced in Italy, will pay a flat tax of 750 euros (in single instalment or three instalments according to preference). 

To access to the List of Fees section the user must:

►  log in to the esse3 profile and select the career

►  click on MENU

►  click on Registrar’s Office

►  click on Payments​

now you are on the List of Fees section, here you find the Invoice and the payment Description. 

Clicking on the Invoice number you will access to Invoice Detail's section where you can click the Pay with PagoPA  button to pay on-line or click the Stampa Avviso per PagoPA button to print the payment slip to pay to Poste Italiane offices or in all PagoPA licensed operators

At the end of the verification procedures of the activities carried out during the training year and the approval of the end-of-year report produced by each PhD student, the PhD Academic Boards send the PhD office the minutes communicating the passagge to the next academic year.

Subsequently, the PhD Office activates pre-registration for the following year on the Esse3 profile, which will be a hypothesis (since not yet confirmed) and sends an official communication via e-mail to the PhD students' UniMe account.

The PhD student must:

• access your profile and confirm your registration via the Menu - Registrations tab. Edit Last Registration will appear at the bottom right to make it permanent
• choose whether to split the payment of the fees into 2 or 4 installments (registration fee + fees for PhD students with schoilarship)

• choose whether to authorize the acquisition of the ISEE* for the calculation of the contribution class on the Esse3 profile, failing which it will be placed in the last class

  *the ISEE to be required is the ISEE for PhD courses, which can be ORDINARIO (with information from the whole family) or "a nucleo ristretto" (referred exclusively to the PhD student)

►  FOREIGN STAY: Starting from the first year, the PhD student can carry out a period of study abroad, for which there is an increase of 50% of the monthly scholarship, for a period not exceeding 12 months. (PhD Regulations, art.20 Scholarships, paragraph 3).

The procedure for activating the foreign stay includes:

• The PhD student must contact the foreign institution/university with which to agree on the activities and the possible period of stay and request the release of a Letter of Availability with the exact start and end dates of the period (in the dd/mm/yy format);
• The Letter of Availability must be sent by the PhD  student to the PhD Course Coordinator, together with the Request for Authorization to stay abroad and the related increase (Richiesta autorizzazione periodo estero e maggiorazione) Annex 1; 
  In this specific period, due to the health emergency which has not yet concluded, it is also required to attach a Disclaimer (Liberatoria soggiorno estero) Annex 2 towards the University to the authorization request;
• this documentation will be sent to the PhD Board which, following verification of the same and the conditions of admissibility of the request, will authorize the period abroad and send the documentation to the PhD Operative Unit via University protocol, together with the report in which the stay is authorised;
• Subsequently, the Rectoral Decree of Increase for the period abroad will be drawn up and communication will be sent to the PhD student by the PhD Office;
• The PhD student for whom the increase in the scholarship has been authorized must send to dottorati@unime.it:
  • a start of activity certificate, issued by the Host Institution;
  • a certificate issued by the same Host Institution certifying that the research activity was carried out, indicating the exact start and end dates of the period.

►  CONTRIBUTION FOR RESEARCH ACTIVITY: Starting from the first year, in addition to the scholarship and within the financial resources available, the PhD student benefits from a budget for research activities in Italy and abroad appropriate to the type of course and in any case not less than 10% of the amount of the scholarship itself (€1,624.30 per academic year). (Doctorate Regulations, art.20 Scholarships, paragraph 4)

The 10% increase is an overall fund, available to PhD students with and without scholarship and assigned according to everyone’s mobility needs. 
Funds not used in the relevant academic year will be added to those in the following academic year and can be spent by the end of the PhD course.

This amount is expected as refund of transfer costs already incurred by the PhD student (air ticket, train ticket, bus ticket, ferry ticket, ship ticket, taxy receipt), the refund request must be forwarded to the Department to which the PhD course belongs, attached to the authorization for the mission previously granted, always from the department. For futher information please contact the competent office of the Department to which the PhD course belongs.

►Activation of institutional e-mail: codicefiscale@studenti.unime.it 

All @studenti.unime.it accounts have two different e-mail addresses: name.surname@studenti.unime.it and codicefiscale@studenti.unime.it.

Access to Outlook e-mail service (and Microsoft TEAMS) is allowed ONLY via codicefiscale@studenti.unime.it account.

UniMe provides all students with access to all Microsoft services (Microsoft Teams, Outlook, Microsoft 365 A3 web free, Windows 10 Enterprise, Minecraft Edu ecc...). To access Microsoft services and UniMe institutional e-mail, the PhD student must choose a password.

Each student is profiled to access, but the login credentials have been reset for safety reasons. You must go to https://www.office.com/, then click on “Login” and enter your student e-mail address when requested (codicefiscale@studenti.unime.it). The system requires a password. You must reset it clicking on “Reset password”. An e-mail with a verification code will be sent to the personal e-mail address submitted on Esse3. Check your inbox to find the code to enter on the verification page. 

After changing the password, you can log in to office.com with your new credentials. 

For your safety, the system will request you to enter further information to validate your new account. 

The website Office.com needs further verifications and consequently it will be necessary to use a personal e-mail address with the institutional one or a mobile phone number to receive a message. 

After Office.com verifications, another code will be sent to your personal e-mail address, so you must copy the new code and paste it on the code window of your institutional e-mail provider. 

At the end of the procedure, click on “End”. 

Through the email address codicefiscale@studenti.unime.it and the new Esse3 password, you’ll be able to log into the “Cruscotto” area clicking on “Login” (on top right of UniMe homepage https://www.unime.it) , where you can find the services pack available for PhD students (for Microsoft services you need to access with the @studenti.unime.it account and the password set during the above procedure, for non-Microsoft services with @studenti.unime.it and the Esse3 password).

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you face any issue about the UniMe institutional e-mail account you can submit a request to postaelettronica@unime.it, showing the “codice fiscale” and “matricola” number

Please note from CRUSCOTTO by clicking on the "U-Web Cedolini Documenti" tab, it will be possible to download the monthly payslips related to scholarship.

►Access to Unime VPN Service 

The UniMe VPN (Virtual Private Network) service is active. It allows the authorized users to use all the services, usually available only from computers connected to UniMe network, even when the user is not connected to UniMe network. It allows the user to consult bibliographical and documentary resources, IRIS Ricerca and some dedicated services (please note after activating the VPN, the services available only through Unime network will appear in your Cruscotto area). 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: the access to the VPN service is allowed to all the @studenti.unime.it accounts without any restrictions or previous authorization. 

Once the VPN is installed, login credentials will be:

• username: yourcodicefiscale@studenti.unime.it 
• password: Esse3 platform password

Here below the link that redirects to the VPN instructions page 

https://www.unime.it/ciam/ict/vpn 

► Access to University wireless network 

University wireless network “UNIME-WIFI” allows all UniMe employees, students, PhD students, residents and researchers, to use the network resources so far available only through wired network on-the-go. 

The wi-fi connection can be used from every device with a wireless adapter. 

The UniMe wireless network provides connectivity in all the university buildings equipped with an access point, so that the users can move from one building to another with no need to change the settings. 

All UniMe users are already active the credentials are the same they use to login to the Esse3 services. 

Connection to the University Wireless Network “UNIME-WIFI” – University of Messina (https://www.unime.it/didattica/servizi-e-agevolazioni/servizi-online/unime-wi-fi)  

For any requests for support or resolution of issues relating to the service, submit a request sending an e-mail to supportorete@unime.it . 

All UniMe PhD students are enabled to access the IRIS Ricerca (IRIS Research) system.

IRIS Ricerca (IRIS Research) is the IT solution that helps to collect and to manage all the research activities and results. IRIS Ricerca provides to Researcher, administrators and evaluators tools to monitor the results of scientific research, increase their visibility and effectively allocate available resources.

The user can log in to IRIS Ricerca with the UniMe e-mail log in and password clicking here:  https://iris.unime.it/ 

If the ISEE certificate has not been produced within the deadlines established for the calculation of the contribution range or has been produced an ISEE certificate that is not consistent with the one requested (ISEE ordinario, Ordinary ISEE or ISEE a nucleo ristretto per dottorati di ricerca restricted ISEE for doctoral courses), the Phd student is allowed to request the PhD fees re-estimation.

To obtain the PhD fees re-estimation, you must send a request email from the UniMe institutional account to protocollo@unime.it and to dottorati@unime.it, with the subject "Revisione della fascia contributiva per dottorati di ricerca" (point out the reference academic year, name and surname and serial number Esse3) with attached a valid identity document and the new ISEE certificate. Subsequently, the office will insert the payment slip for the audit fee, €116.00, into the "payments" section of Esse3 (to see how to reach the "payments" section, go to the Tax payment procedures section). (on this point, you must consult the current SINGLE DOCUMENT ON PhD CONTRIBUTIONS)

Once the payment has been made, the PhD student must send the payment receipt to dottorati@unime.it to allow the re-computation of the contribution band with the consequent redefinition of the COA amount for the A.Y.

PhD students who make an undue payment can request a refund by sending the PhD tuition refund request form (file down below) to protocollo@unime.it and to dottorati@unime.it, filled in in all its parts and attaching the documents requested in the form.

During the period of the PhD course, PhD students have the opportunity to request a suspension of the study/research period, as specified in the Regulations of PhD Courses in art. 24 paragraphs 2-5

Suspension of the PhD Course is normally foreseen upon notification to the Coordinator and the competent administrative offices in the following cases:

1. maternity or paternity in compliance with current legislation
2. civilian service
3. serious and documented health reasons
4. any other cases established by law
5. attendance of TFA and PAS courses
6. attendance of training internships
7. severe and documented personal and family reasons

For the duration of the suspension, the payment of the scholarship or other equivalent financing is not envisaged. Suspension periods cannot exceed a total duration of eighteen months, except in specific cases provided for by law.

In the case of maternity, paternity or illness, based on suitable certification, PhD students may ask the PhD Board to defer the start date of the Course or suspend it, as provided for in art. 24 of the Regulations of PhD Courses. The provisions of the Code of equal opportunities between men and women (Legislative Decree 11 April 2006, n.198) apply to doctoral students.

Suspension for maternity reasons may be requested:

• starting from two months before the presumed date of birth and for the following three months (art.16, paragraph 1, Legislative Decree 151/2001)
• starting from the month before the expected date of birth and for the following four months (art.20, paragraph 1, Legislative Decree 151/2001)
• starting from the presumed date of birth and for the following five months (paragraph 1.1., added to the article 16, Legislative Decree 151/2001, by the 2019 Budget Law).

In order to benefit from the flexibility of maternity leave, pursuant to art. 20 of Legislative Decree 151/2021, it is necessary to present, during the seventh month of pregnancy (and therefore before the eighth month), the health certifications issued by a doctor from the NHS or an affiliated doctor, as well as, where required, the company doctor, certifying that the continuation of work during the eighth month of pregnancy does not cause harm to the health of the pregnant woman and her unborn child.

At any time during the pregnancy, if there are needs to protect the health and safety of the pregnant PhD student and/or the unborn child, the suspension for maternity is arranged as a high-risk maternity, upon presentation of supporting documentation by the NHS specialist doctor.
Suspension for paternity may be requested by the PhD student in the event of death or serious illness of the mother or abandonment, as well as in the case of exclusive custody of the child to the father, for the entire duration of the maternity leave or for the residual part that would have been due to the mother.

Without prejudice to the application of the rules for the protection of parenthood pursuant to the decree of the Minister of Labor and Social Security of 12 July 2007, published in the Official Gazette of 23 October 2007, n.247, PhD students on leave retain the right to the scholarship study. At the end of the suspension period, the scholarship is paid upon resumption of attendance of the Course up to the total duration of the scholarship itself. (Regulations of PhD Coursesart.23 paragraph 14).

►  Application procedure:

To protect the health and safety of the pregnant PhD student, she must, as soon as possible, communicate her pregnancy status at least three months before giving birth and must send to the PhD Office a specific request for suspension of the course for 5 months starting from the two months preceding the estimated date of birth.

If the pregnant PhD student wishes to suspend the course from the month before the expected date of birth and for the following 4 months, or even from the date of birth and for the following 5 months, she will have to send a specific request to the PhD Office during the seventh month of pregnancy and in any case no later than the fifteenth day before the date of suspension of the course attaching the certificate from the NHS specialist doctor certifying the presumed date of birth, and that the extension of the activity until the eighth month of pregnancy or until the presumed date of birth does not cause harm to the health of the pregnant PhD student and her unborn child.

Within 20 days from the date of birth, the PhD student must send the PhD Office a birth certificate or a substitute declaration certifying the date of birth.

The PhD student who wishes to benefit from the suspension for paternity must forward a reasoned request to the Doctoral Office, attaching the documentation proving the reasons given, the birth certificate or substitute declaration certifying the date of birth and specifying whether or not he intends to suspend the scholarship too.

►  PhD reactivation procedure:

At the end of the suspension period, the Doctoral student will resume the course and will send an e-mail to protocollo@unime.it and in cc to PhD Course Coordinator email and to dottorati@unime.it. a Declaration of resumption of the doctoral activity, the administrative deadlines will be modified based on the duration of the suspension period. The PhD Board, taking into account the duration of the suspension, will indicate to the PhD student the educational path to follow for the continuation of the PhD Course and will evaluate whether the final exam can be taken in a specific session or will have to be postponed to the session of the next cycle.

During the period of suspension of the Course, the scholarship will not be paid to the PhD student and will be reactivated upon return from the suspension and will continue until the 36 months provided for by the regulation.

Suspension requests must be sent the email to protocollo@unime.it, in cc to the PhD Course Coordinator and to the PhD Office at dottorati@unime.it, with supporting documentation attached that clarifies the reasons.

COMPATIBILITY

In compliance with what is defined in Art.19 of the PhD Regulations, the PhD Course is compatible with:

►  Work activity 

In compliance with the Ministerial Decree 226/2021 in art.12 which provides that admission to the doctorate involves an exclusive and full-time commitment, but also regulated within the scope of the University Regulations (art.23 paragraphs 9, 10 and 11), which provides for authorization from the PhD Board for the PhD student to carry out paid activities that allow the acquisition of skills relating to the educational field of the PhD Course, subject to evaluation of the compatibility of the same activities with the fruitful carrying out of the training, teaching and research activities of the PhD Course, considering the methods with which the PhD student carries out both activities.

    -  For PhD student with a scholarship, it is necessary to verify compatibility with the gross annual income deriving from paid activities which cannot in any case be higher than the gross amount of the scholarship itself (€ 16.243,00)

    -  For PhD student without a scholarship, any incompatibility deriving from the work activity must also be assessed, without this leading to harmful behaviour to constitutionally protected rights.

To allow the PhD Board to evaluate your compatibility, the Request for Work Activity Compatibility must indicate the type of employment (occasional or continuous), the object and duration of the employment, any expected or presumed remuneration, as well as the the temporal structure and/or flexibility of the commitment required, including any study permits provided for in the contract, and the work location. The PhD student-worker must send the Request by email to the address protocollo@unime.it and to the e-mail address of the Coordinator who will submit it to the PhD Board.

In the event that compatibility is not recognized, the PhD student will have to decide, in the case of a scholarship recipient, whether to continue without a scholarship or to withdraw the PhD Course, for a non-scholarship recipient whether to withdraw the PhD Course, or to evaluate situations of leave of absence or leave from work activity.

►  Tutoring activities (PhD Regulations Art.23 paragraph 6)

PhD students can carry out, as an integral part of the training project, subject to authorization from the PhD Board and without increasing the amount of the scholarship, tutoring activities, even paid, for students on bachelor's and master's degrees, as well as, within the limit of forty hours for each academic year, additional teaching activities. For the activities referred to in this paragraph, doctoral students are paid the allowances referred to in art.1, paragraph 1, letter b), of the legislative decree of 9 May 2003, n.105, converted with amendments into law of 11 July 2003, n.170.

►  PhD courses and medical specialization schools (PhD Regulations Art.22 paragraphs 1,2 and 3)

Joint attendance of the PhD Course and a Medical Specialization Course is allowed in compliance with the following conditions:

    a)  compatibility, also in consideration of the distance between the locations, of the activities and commitment required by the specialization school and the PhD course, certified by the Council of the Medical Specialization School and the PhD Board
    b)  incompatibility between the PhD scholarship and the remunerations, however named, received in relation to the activities of the Medical Specialization Course.

In cases of joint attendance, the request for reduction of PhD activities is accepted by the PhD Board following a positive assessment of the consistency of the research activities, already carried out in the Medical Specialization Course, with the doctoral project. For the purposes of accepting the application referred to in this paragraph, the compatibility judgment, expressed by the council of the specialization school, of the doctoral project with the educational purposes of the specialization school itself is also required. If the application is accepted, the PhD course will in any case last no less than two years.
The PhD Board and the Council of the Medical Specialization School agree on the methods for carrying out joint attendance, approving a unitary document for multidisciplinary planning of training and research activities.

►  Research Grants (PhD Regulations Art.23 paragraph 8)

Holders of research grants who are winners with a scholarship in the merit ranking will be able to:

    a)  keep the research grant and withdraw the PhD Course
    b)  withdraw the research grant and enrol with scholarship

In either case the option is irrevocable.

INCOMPATIBILITY

In compliance with the provisions of art. 12 of the PhD Regulations, the simultaneous enrolment in more than one PhD course is not allowed.

Simultaneous registration with other Courses and Schools is allowed in compliance with the provisions of Law no. 33 of 12 April 2022 and subsequent implementing decrees to which reference is made (see Ministerial Decree no. 930/2023).

If a PhD student, enrolled in a PhD course in an active cycle, needs, for personal or work reasons, to withdraw the scholarship or the PhD course, the student must fill the form below, addressed to the Rector, sending it with a valid identity document attached, to the e-mail protocollo@unime.it, in cc to the e-mail of the PhD Coordinator and to the PhD Office (dottorati@unime.it).

The amount of the last scholarship will be counted by calculating the days until the date of renunciation (Doctoral Course Regulations art.24 paragraph 7).

PhD students interested in the ATM bus pass or in other transports at a discounted fare can find all the information by clicking here. 

To join the ATM bus pass activation procedure, the PhD student must login to the Esse3 platform, click on MENU ⇒ "Iniziative e bandi" (Initiatives and calls) ⇒ "Abbonamento ATM studenti UNIME” (UNIME student ATM subscription) ⇒ "Iscrizione all'iniziativa/bando” (Registration for the initiative/call) on the right. The visual guide is available here down ⇓.

The PagoPA slip (€30) will be automatically invoiced and available in the "Payments" section after joining