Call for applications 2011-2012

Overview 
The PhD Programme in Agrobiodiversity is aimed at the enhancement of human resource capacities in the use and management of genetic variation in agricultural and natural systems, in order to improve the sustainability of agricultural systems and the conservation of genetic resources for the well-being of present and future generations.

The Programme is structured in the following curricula: 
Curriculum A - Plant genetic resources: teaching and research activities take place in ENEA Research Center at “La Casaccia”, a few kilometres from Rome; 
Curriculum B - Functional biodiversity in agroecosystems : teaching and research activities take place in Pisa, at Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.

Admission Requirements
- possession of a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree or equivalent title in Experimental Sciences, at an Italian or foreign university and ssession of a Degree awarded after, at least, a four-year course in Experimental Sciences; 
- to be younger than 35 years (date of birth after 10 October 1976), older than 35 may be exceptionally admitted by the Admission Committee. 

Positions and grants 
6 positions with 6 fellowships (the net amount is € 12.500, all inclusive):
the first 4 (four) eligible candidates of Curriculum A and the first 2 (two) eligible candidates of Curriculum B will be awarded a scholarship. The School may also admit eligible candidates up to a maximum number of 6 positions.   

Deadlines 
- applications must be submitted online by October 10, 2011, 00.00 GMT ;
- a hardcopy of the application (signed by the candidate), together with the enclosures requested, must reach by October 19, 2011: 

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Servizi di Supporto alla Formazione
Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33
56127 PISA, Italy

The envelope must show the indication “Application International Doctoral Programme in Agrobiodiversity”

Application and attachments
Enclosures to the hard copy of the applications:

• the copy of a valid identity document. Non Schengen area citizens will have to provide a photocopy of their passport
  
• copy of their curriculum vitae et studiorum
  
  
• photocopy of the candidate's university degree or equivalent. University degree and study certificates (except those written in English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish) must be translated into Italian and legalized by an Italian Embassy or Consulate;
  
  
• the results of the English language proficiency test (TOEFL or IELTS or CPE) or other documents certifying the knowledge of the English language;
  
  
• copy of the proposed doctoral research project, including: 
  Title;
  Rationale;
  State of art with relevant literature (max 1 page);
  General and specific research objectives (max 2 pages);
  Materials and methods (max 2 pages);
  Expected results (max 1 page);
  Time schedule of activities;
  
  
• The indication of candidate’s major skills (choose maximum three fields, using numbers (1, 2, 3) to indicate the primary, secondary and tertiary fields) among the following:
  

1. Agroecolgy
   
2. Agronomy/cropping systems
   
3. Biotechnology
   
4. Breeding
   
5. Crop/Plant Ecology
   
6. Crop/Plant Physiology
   
7. Entomology
   
8. Genetics
   
9. Genomics and/or Proteomics
   
10. Plant Molecular Biology
    
11. Plant Pathology
    
12. Weed Science
    
13. Other (specify)
    

• at least two letters of presentation from former supervisors;
  
• one passport-size photograph with the name printed on the back;
  
• any document and/or publication that the candidate deems worthy of consideration, including any association with research institutions;
  
• a numbered list of the documents attached.
  

Selection of applicants
Assessment of the titles: the submitted documents and publications, including the CV, and the Research Project. 

Beginning of the PhD Programme: The PhD Programme will start on January 19, 2012

ONLINE APPLICATION (click here)

Information: 
agrobiodiversity@sssup.it 
tel. +39 050 88.33.36, +39 050 88.33.58

Attached documents: Call for applications A.Y. 2011/2012 (file pdf,  119 Kb)


source: www.sssup.it/context.jsp?ID_LINK=405&area=46

Overview
The PhD Programme in “Innovative Strategies in Biomedical Research” is characterized by a significant multisciplinary connotation, where the experimental approach focusing on cellular and subcellular mechanisms combines with the physiological and physiopathological analysis of the organism as a whole, and is also relevant to medical issues. A special emphasis will be placed on molecular biology both in its basic approach and in its clinical application approach. 

The Programme consists in the following curricula:
- System Physiology. Experimental and Clinical
- Physiological Genomics and Molecular Medicine

Admission Requirements
- possession of a Master of Science (MSc) degree (or equivalent);
- to be under 35 years of age on October 10, 2011. 

Positions and grants
- 2 positions with 2 fellowships (amounting to € 14.500 per year + free meals at school’s canteen + Campus facilities) );
- the School may also admit eligible candidates without grants up to a maximum number of  2 posts. They will take part in the Programme at their own expenses but they will not have to pay any tuition fee.

Deadlines 
-  applications must be submitted online by  October 10, 2011, 00.00 GMT;
-  hardcopy of the application and the must reach (regardless the forwarding date) the “Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Servizi di Supporto alla Formazione, Piazza Martiri della Libertà, 33 – 56127 Pisa” by October 19, 2011 (please, write the notice “Application PhD in Innovative Strategies in Biomedical research on the envelope). 

Application and attachments

APPLICATION ONLINE (click here) 

Enclosures to the hard copy of the applications:

1.  the copy of  the candidate's Passport,
2.  two copies of  Curriculum Vitae et Studiorum (please use the EU model);
3. the academic record with the full list of courses and grades (in English, in French, in German, in Spanish or in Italian);
4. the certificates of knowledge of English language
5. one copy of their Master degree thesis and one copy of any document and/or publication that the candidate deems suitable;
6. two copies of a Research Project, of no more than 3,000 words, which will describe the research activities that applicants would like to perform during the PhD course. The Research Project should include: 1) a title; 2) the scientific premises and the relevant bibliography; 3) the aim and expectations of the research; 4) the experimental methods and data analysis methods which will be used, where required;
7. - at least two Reference Letters written by scholars who have supervised the applicant’s work during his/her university studies;
8. - a numbered list of documents attached.

Selection of applicants 
Assessment of the titles: the submitted documents and publications, including the CV, and the Research Project. 

Beginning of the PhD Programme: The PhD Programme will start on January 19, 2012 

Information
email: infophd@sssup.it 
tel.: +39.050.883.358 

Deadline: October 10, 2011, 00.00 GMT

source: www.sssup.it/context.jsp?ID_LINK=396&area=46

Overview

The Ph.D. Programme in “Politics, Human Rights and Sustainability” is a three-year residential programme characterized by an interdisciplinary approach to the subject and by the emphasis placed on current problems defining the protection and promotion of human rights.); it consists in the following curricula (Research Areas):

- Identity, rights and conflicts in the political theory;
- Conflict and political systems in international relations;
- International and European political economy;
- Institutions and mechanisms for protecting Human rights: outlines of International Law;
- Rights and social capital in the regional development policies;
- Agrarian Law, Environmental Law and Sustainable Development of the land.

Admission Requirements:

- Applicants must hold a Master of Science (M.Sc.) or a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree or equivalent title;
- they should not be older than 35 years on October 10, 2011; older than 35 may be exceptionally admitted by the Examination Committee;
- they must hold of  an internationally acknowledged certificate specifying their intermediate level English knowledge (as per art. 2, par. 3).
 Positions and grants:
- 3 positions with 3 fellowships (amounting to € 14.500 per year + free meals at school's canteen + Campus facilities).
- The School may also admit 1 eligible candidate without grants or other financial support

Deadlines
- Candidates are requested to apply online by October 10, 2011 by 00.00 GMT. In case of problems with the online application, please contact the PhD Administration Office (tel. +39.050. 883.383, e-mail: infophd@sssup.it).
- An hardcopy of the application (signed by the candidate), together with the enclosures requested, must reach by October 19, 2011:

Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna
Servizi di Supporto alla Formazione
Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33
56127 PISA, Italy

“Application PhD in Politics, human rights and sustainability” must be written on the envelopment.

Application and attachments

•  ONLINE APPLICATION (click here)
  

Enclosures to the hard copy of the applications:

a) a copy of the candidate's passport;
b) two copies of their Curriculum Vitae et Studiorum. Please, use the EU model;
c) photocopy of Candidate’s University Master Degree (to be translated in Italian or in English except those written in French, German, Spanish);
d) two copies of the abstract of thir Master Degree thesis a copy of their degree thesis or a copy of any other original piece of scientific research the applicant has produced;
e) detailed list of academic courses taken (written either in English or in Italian, French, German, Spanish). This list should contain information regarding credits, units (or equivalent) received, the grades received for each class taken, and the date when the final (or semester) examination was taken;
f) the certificates of knowledge of English language (as per art. 2, par. 3) and any certificate related to this Call that they deem suitable;
g) two copies of a detailed Research Project, of no more than 3,000 words, which will describe the research activities that applicants would like to perform during the PhD course. The Research Project will include:
- a title;
- the scientific premises and the relevant bibliography;
- the aim and expectations of the research;
- the experimental methods and data analysis methods which will be used, where required;
h) at least two Reference Letters written by Faculty Members who have supervised the applicant's work during his/her university studies;
i) a numbered list of documents attached

Selection of applicants
- Assessment of the Titles: assessment of all the submitted documents and publications e submitted documents and publications, including the CV, and the Research Project.

Beginning of the PhD Programme
The PhD Programme will start on January 19, 2012 

Information
email: infophd@sssup.it 
tel.: +39.050.883.383

source: www.sssup.it/context.jsp?ID_LINK=367&area=46

The University of Trento announces the 27th cycle of the PhD School in Biomolecular Sciences.

The selection for 12 doctoral positions is announced. 9 positions will be assigned scholarships.

Download the following document for details: www4.unitn.it/Apply/Content/Bandi/Bando-50-en.pdf

Application deadline: Beginning of October, 2011 (different dates for EU and Non-EU citizens, see doc above).

Training date: 15 Jan 2012 - 23 Dec 2012—Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

The political, economic and social development of least developed countries is one of the major challenges of globalization. Growing interdependence and integration offer a chance to strengthen cooperative relations between the North and the South of the world. The call to cooperation is urgent: poverty, inequality, conflict, instability, and uncertainty still affect everyday life of a majority of world population. The Master's Course in International Cooperation and Development offers a privileged framework for designing tentative solutions to the above mentioned problems through the collective action of governmental and non governmental agents, bridging gaps among people, groups and institutions.

This Master's program aims at converting theoretical knowledge into practical wisdom, and to give students a specific set of professional skills to successfully face the job market. This is possible thanks to these distinctive characteristics: 
- the limited number of admitted students guarantees an efficient interaction with instructors and colleagues in the class; 
- active participation in class includes simulations, case analysis, team assignments; 
- experts and executives take an active part in the program sharing their professional experiences with the students; 
- the internship is a chance to directly test skills acquired during courses.

CURRICULUM - MIC&D is organized along four complementary levels, fostering multidimensional training and integrating scientific methodologies and operative competences.

1st level - Scientific Training - The first level provides students of different academic backgrounds with a multidisciplinary education on various dimensions of development processes aimed at acquiring the relevant economic, political, historical, legal, institutional and managerial competences, with a special focus on fighting against poverty and fostering social inclusion. Main topics covered: Poverty, inequality and human development Geopolitics of development with focus on different geographic areas (Africa,Asia, Latin America) Globalization and social development Development Economics Trade and financial policies for development Human rights International law and development cooperation Economics and management of international cooperation agencies

2nd level - Professional Training - The second Level aims at developing practical skills required to operate in the sector, including analysis of actors and strategies of cooperation, project cycle management (identification, formulation, funding, implementation and evaluation), understanding conflict and preventing it. The development of personal skills is also stressed, aimed at an efficient career management. The methodology of the second level foresees team working, workshops and role playing; professionals and experts coming from ASERI's stable partners (NGOs, international organizations, public administration, companies) are directly involved.

3rd level - Project Work - Students are required to develop a personal research project on an issue related to development cooperation, under the supervision of a MIC&D professor and/or a professional from a partner institution. The project work will often be connected to the internship experience.

4th Level - Internship - The Master's program is completed by an internship within one of the ASERI partner institutions or other entities whose mission and activities are consistent with the Master's program. The internship will give students the chance to test and deepen the competences acquired during classes in a specific job context, in Italy or abroad, de. ned through a constant exchange between each student and the tutor, whose task is to support students in their academic and professional endeavour.

Download PDF (1.18 MB) for more info.

Good communication skills--both in writing and speech--are vital for researchers. 

From attracting crucial funding to building public and political awareness of their work, researchers should be able to communicate with audiences that have little to no science background.  Communication skills are  particularly  important  for scientists  in developing  countries, where  the  infrastructure  for  science  is weak and where  science  education  needs more  support  at  all  educational  levels. By improving their communication skills, scientists can play an important role in the development of science in their countries. The 'Joint ICTP-TWAS Workshop on Science Communication in Developing Countries: Bridging the Gap between Science, Policy and the General Public'. Topics to be discussed at the workshop include:  Modern communication methods; Presentation skills; Communicating to policymakers and how journalists cover science.

Application deadline: July 10, 2011

Duration: 17-21 October 2011

Venue: Trieste, Italy

Further information: 
http://twas.ictp.it/news-in-home-page/programmatical/workshop-on-science-communication-in-developing-countries

BioVision TWAS Lilly Award in conjunction with TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing worldRecognising outstanding contributions to infectious disease research by young scientists from developing countries.

BioVision and TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, with the support of the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership, have established the BioVision Lilly Award for young scientists to honor outstanding scientific achievements made by individual young scientists from the developing countries.

Click here to download the nomination form 

PURPOSE The prize has been established to recognize young scientists living and working in a developing country, who have a track record of excellent research in infectious diseases, with an emphasis on tuberculosis preferred, and whose research promises to have a positive impact in the developing world.

AWARDS In 2011, three winners will be selected from nominations received. No more than two winners will be selected from the same developing country.

• The winner receives a sum of US$5,000 to be used for his/her research and an invitation to attend BioVision 7th World Life Sciences Forum (Lyon, France, 27-29 March 2011) (travel and lodging costs covered).
• The first runner-up receives a sum of US$2,000 to be used for his/her researc and an invitation to attend BioVision2011 (travel and lodging costs covered) as part of the "BioVision.Nxt" programme.
• The second runner-up receives an invitation to attend BioVision2011 (travel and lodging costs covered) as part of the “BioVision.Nxt” programme.
• Each prize also carries a certificate bearing a citation highlighting the major contributions for which the prize is awarded. 
• The prizes will be presented to the recipients at a special ceremony arranged by BioVision, TWAS and Lilly during BioVision2011 in the presence of participants, speakers and the media.
  

ELIGIBILITY 

• Candidates must be nationals of a developing country, and have been living and working in a developing country for at least the two years immediately prior to their nomination.
• Candidates should be no older than forty years of age on December 31st  2011.
• Candidates should hold at least a PhD degree and have a good record of research publications in internationally recognized journals.
• Employees of TWAS, Eli Lilly & Company, BioVision as well as employees of other industry research laboratories and anyone involved in the administration of this award, are not eligible.
   

EVALUATION : Selection of the recipients is made on scientific merit based on the recommendations of an expert and international jury chaired by the TWAS President. 

NOMINATIONS 

• Nominations are invited from TWAS members, as well as from science academies, national research councils, universities, scientific institutions and academics.
• Nominations of women scientists are particularly encouraged.
• Self-nomination or nomination by a member(s) of the jury for the “BioVision Lilly Award in conjunction with TWAS” are not accepted.
  

ENQUIRIES
Additional information and nomination forms are available from the TWAS Secretariat (biovisionprize@twas.org, www.twas.org).

Nominations for the 2011 prizes should be sent by regular mail or by email to:  

BioVision Lilly Award in conjunction with TWAS
c/o TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world
ICTP Campus
Strada Costiera 11
34151 Trieste
Italy

Tel: +39 040 2240387
Fax: +39 040 22407387
E-mail:biovisionprize@twas.org

DEADLINE
The deadline for receiving nominations for the BioVision TWAS Lilly Award for outstanding contributions in infectious disease research is January 15th 2011.  

Click here to download the nomination form

Downloads

• Summary
• Nomination Form

The Ubiquitous Internet Group of IIT-CNR (Institute for Informatics and Telematics of the National Research Council), Pisa, Italy opens 2 fully funded PhD Student positions in the framework of the FP7 FET-AWARE RECOGNITION project due to start on 1st October 2010.

The PhD students will be supervised by Marco Conti and Andrea Passarella.

RECOGNITION aims to develop innovative, groundbreaking self-awareness
paradigms for the Future Internet, looking primarily at content-centric networking aspects. The massive scale of content the Future Internet will have to manage and the long tail of user interests require novel content management solutions. Specifically, RECOGNITION will identify, design and evaluate the self-awareness mechanisms to support a global network where the legacy Internet will be replaced by a more fluid content-centric infrastructure where data are often located on mobile users' devices possibly disconnected from the network, and where content access, rather than connectivity, will be the key design goal.

The PhD thesis will focus on one or more of the following topics:
- definition of self-awareness mechanisms for heterogeneous (mobile/fixed) content-centric networks
- content dissemination in massive scale heterogeneous (mobile/fixed) networks
- social/human inspired self-aware networking paradigms
- self-aware content management, indexing and acquisition in massive scale heterogeneous (mobile/fixed) networks.

The ideal candidate for these positions holds a MSc (or an equivalent degree) in Computer Science or Computer Engineering with a solid background on computer networking and mobile computing. Experience either in systems design or in analysis (applied to mobile networks) will be positively considered. Experience in simulation of computer networks will be a plus. Good knowledge of English is also desired.

Closing date for applications: 15/09/2010 (or as soon as the positions are filled)
Expected start date: October 2010

Each application must contain the following documents:
- a detailed CV in English
- a list of relevant academic courses (with grades)
- a list of 1 or 2 references with contact addresses
- a 1-page research statement, indicating the experience/interest with
respect to the proposed topics

Applications should be sent electronically to m.conti@iit.cnr.it and a.passarella@iit.cnr.it with subject "application for PhD positions - RECOGNITION".

For more information, please contact

Marco Conti
Research Director
IIT-CNR, Pisa, Italy
m.conti@iit.cnr.it

Andrea Passarella
Researcher
IIT-CNR, Pisa, Italy
a.passarella@iit.cnr.it

The Researchers of the Ubiquitous Internet Group of IIT-CNR feature vast expertise in the area of mobile networking, distributed systems and performance evaluation. They participate in several European Projects on opportunistic, delay-tolerant, mesh, sensor networks, such as SOCIALNETS (http://www.social-nets.eu), Haggle (http://haggleproject.org), EU-Mesh (http://www.eu-mesh.eu/), as well in recently funded EU Projects such as FP7-AWARE RECOGNITION and FP7-FIRE SCAMPI.

They have coordinated the FP5 MobileMAN project, which defined, developed and tested a campus-wide, self-organizing, and totally wireless network. The UIG group is actively involved in the European initiatives related to the Future Internet, both through participation in cutting-edge, exploratory research projects, and through the participation of its members to consulting groups of the European Commission. In this framework, and with specific reference to the open position, UIG welcomes inter-disciplinary research approaches exploiting complex network models of social structures in the design of Future Internet architectures.