Application Information for the PhD Program in Planning and Decision Methods (PLADEM)
To apply for the PhD program in Planning and Decision Methods (PLADEM), please use the following link.
Admission Requirements
To be eligible for admission, candidates must hold a Master’s degree or an equivalent qualification.
Selection Process
The admission process includes the evaluation of academic qualifications, assessment of a proposed research project, an oral examination, proficiency in English, and basic knowledge of Italian for foreign students.
Grants
(*) 3 grants funded by Università degli Studi di Genova, the annual gross amount of the grant, including social security expenses to be paid by the recipient, is € 17.500,00
(*) 1 grant funded by Department (DIEC) and Arkytec 360, the annual gross amount of the grant, including social security expenses to be paid by the recipient, is € 17.500,00
Comparative assessment procedure
Qualifications, publications and interview.
Interview
23-07-2025, 9.30 a.m. at Department of Economics (DIEC), Genoa University, Genoa.
In case of certified impossibility to be in presence, the interviews may also take place on-line with a Teams connection, video included to check identity; interested persons shall send a motivated request to join online to the Coordinator not later than 18 July 2025 noon.
Further information on how to present qualifications/publications
In the presentation of the curriculum vitae, it is important to highlight, as the following aspects will be used as evaluative parameters: publications (e.g., International Journals, International Conferences, Book Chapters), master’s degree grade (or equivalent title), with a clear indication of the title of the final presentation, work experience and skills acquired, possible awards.
A research project proposal (other than the master’s thesis) must be attached and will be an integral part of the candidate's evaluation. In the research project it is important to highlight, as the following aspects will be used as evaluation parameters: Relevance to the research topics that appear in the call, Originality, Method of execution, Feasibility, Clarity. The presentation of the research project, which should not exceed 5 pages, should identify the logical and methodological approach, research objectives and a preliminary assessment of the state of the art. Project and Innovation Management methodologies are recommended for the development of this project.
Exam Syllabus
The interview will aim to verify the candidate's competence in relation to the listed research topics and the methodological ability to deal with research problems. In addition, the interview will also focus on the themes of the research project, inherent to the listed research themes, presented by the candidate. The interview will take place in English and the Italian language will be verified.
Research Themes
Skills related to the PhD course “Planning and Decision Methods” include all those disciplines that can support decision makers and combine the rationality of quantitative methods with the qualitative understanding of human decision making. Therefore, the committee will test the aptitude and interest in quantitative sciences applied to the development of the combined use of modelling, simulation, data analysis, algorithm, machine learning, reinforcement learning and artificial intelligence in a closed loop with Big Data for the analysis of complex systems, even on the edge. The required skills are therefore transdisciplinary, the fields of application of decision-making methods being multiple. Among them, of greatest interest for the PhD in Planning and Decision Methods are the following research areas: logistics and transport, autonomous vehicles, industry and industrial plants, energy generation and management, green transition, safety and security, humanitarian aid management, and public administration.
Exclusively for the grant funded by DIEC within the research project “Project Management, Integrated predictive maintenance framework and strategic assessment for civil, naval and other infrastructures”. It is required to develop a scalable and generalisable framework that combines state-of-the-art supervised and unsupervised machine learning technologies, deep neural networks, Bayesian models and generative AI for the prediction of Remaining Useful Life (RUL), predictive maintenance assessment and the synthesis of degradation scenarios. The system will be conceived as a living tool to support the design, construction and operation phases of the work, understood in the extended sense as inspection, maintenance and risk assessment, throughout the entire life cycle. An important role is that of the strategic/managerial level, which translates into the inclusion of specific indicators and models - e.g. cost/benefit analysis, SWOT, Balanced Scorecard and VaR - that allow the economic and organisational effectiveness of interventions to be framed.
Information on references
Candidates must choose not less than one and not more than three referees to support their candidature. The referees must be university professors or experts in the subject. Reference letters shall be uploaded with the application. The name, status and service place of the referees chosen by the candidates must be stated in their applications. The candidates’ aptitude for scientific research must emerge from the contents of the reference letters.
Further Information
During the three-year period doctoral students will have to spend at least 6 months (possibly divided into 2 periods of 3 months each) at a foreign research centre or University to carry out in-depth activities in their respective fields of research.