Agriculture, Food and Environment

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Academic year 2024/2025
Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-Environmental Sciences
Università di Pisa
EQF level: 8
40° cicle
Field of study: agriculture, forestry and veterinary natural sciences, mathematics, physics and statistics
Place of teaching
pisa (PI), italy
Attendance methods
Full time
Teaching
Classroom-based
Languages in which the course is held
Italian, English
Cost
420
Scholarships
8 

Course contents

The PhD program in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences is a three-year doctoral program of the department of the same name of the University of Pisa. The course has as its central theme the "sustainability of agro-food systems" and can be ascribed to the European Community strategy "Food 2030". It refers to different ERC areas such as LS9 (Applied Life Sciences), LS2 (Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology), SH3 (Environment, Space and Population), SH1 (Individuals, Institutions and Markets).
The PhD program starts from the awareness that the sustainability of agri-food systems is an objective to be achieved through a series of activities ranging from production to consumption, involving a multitude of actors and mobilizing natural and manufacturing resources. Aiming for sustainability implies that the specialization of agricultural sciences, necessary to address the growing complexity, must be accompanied by a strong commitment to consider systemic implications, including the unintended consequences of certain technological solutions.
The PhD program also starts from the awareness that sustainability is a multidimensional concept and that its evaluation can be conducted on the basis of a multiplicity of criteria, environmental, social, economic and sanitary, so that the choice among technological strategies can overcome conflicts, contradictions, perspectives and different interests. For this reason, the involvement of stakeholders is needed in defining sustainability objectives and research methods.
To this aim, we have built an interdisciplinary program that combines agricultural sciences with a group of biological disciplines. It can apply to three main areas: 1) Biological basis of sustainability; 2) Sustainability of agri-food production systems; 3) Food quality and safety.
PhD students participate in educational activities such as courses, seminars, summer schools and congresses organized by the University of Pisa or by other institutions in Italy or abroad, with a tailor-made didactic plan that aims to make the student achieve in-depth knowledge of specific scientific issues and an improvement in his/her general skills.
In particular, during the first and second years, PhD students participate in courses and seminars organized in part by the University of Pisa for all its doctoral students and in part by our PhD course, which will offer specific courses for its students.
The so-called "transversal" activity, organized by the University of Pisa for all PhD students, includes a "Scientific English" course, an "Open Science and Research Data Management" course, a "Statistics for research" course, a "Computer Tools for Research" course, a "Research Promotion" course and a "Research and Responsible Innovation" course.
PhD students in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences also attend some ad hoc courses, such as "Fundamentals of Statistics for Agricultural Research" (I year), "Publishing in International Scientific Journals" (I year) and "Innovative methodologies in Agricultural Sciences "(II year).
All PhD students are invited to spend at least six months at high-level research institutes abroad during the second and/or third year of the course. At the end of each year, each PhD student prepares a report on his/her research activities and holds a public seminar, in English.
To achieve the title, the candidate must have published at least one article in an indexed scientific journal. At the end of the course, the thesis (in English) is assessed by two external reviewers belonging to other Italian or foreign universities and then by a commission of professors appointed by the Doctorate Board, which assigns the title of Doctor of Research.
Compared to a few decades ago, agricultural sciences have taken important steps towards the principles of sustainability. The limits of industrial agriculture - based on high consumption of fossil energy and extreme specialization - are now widely recognized, as is the positive value of ecosystem services related to agriculture. However, agricultural sciences will face new and important challenges over the next decade. A large part of food in Europe is still produced with unsustainable techniques that involve a strong dependence on external inputs (feed, fertilizers, pesticides), high consumption of natural resources such as water and land, high levels of carbon and nutrient emissions in the environment and a simplification of production processes, which severely limits the natural cycle of nutrients and the conservation of biodiversity. However, population growth and the need to ensure safe access to food for the greatest number of people in the world are putting pressure on agricultural systems, which have long been subjected to the challenges of climate change. Overall, this scenario raises concerns about the resilience of agri-food systems and calls for adaptation and mitigation strategies that have also been mentioned in
Page of the course on the University's website

Teaching

Place of teaching
pisa (PI), italy
Attendance methods
Full time
An exclusive and full-time participation
Teaching
Classroom-based
Languages in which the course is held
Italian, English

Admission requirements

Type of degree required
2nd Level Degree
Field of study
education, information and communication technologies (icts), architecture and construction, engineering and engineering trades, agriculture, forestry and veterinary, health and pharmacy, sports sciences and physical education, arts and design, humanities and literature, foreign languages, politics, social sciences and communications, psychology, economics, law, natural sciences, mathematics, physics and statistics
Foreign language skills
English, Italian
The interview includes the assessment of knowledge of the English language
Degree programme classes
LM-1, 1/S - Cultural anthropology and ethnology (2), LM-2, 2/S - Archeology (2), LM-3, 3/S - Landscape Architecture (2), LM-4, LM-4 C.U., 4/S - Architecture and construction engineering, LM-5, 5/S - Library studies (2), LM-6, 6/S - Biology (2), LM-7, 7/S - Agricultural biotechnologies (2), LM-8, 8/S - Industrial Biotechnologies(2), LM-9, 9/S - Pharmaceutical, veterinary and medical biotechnologies, LM-10, 10/S - Conservation of architectural heritage and environment(2), 11/S - Conservation of scientific and industrial heritage (2), LM-11, 12/S - Science for conservation of cultural heritage (2), LM-19, 13/S - Computer science and publishing systems, LM-13, LM-13ante22, 14/S - Pharmacy and industrial pharmacy, LM-15, 15/S - Philology and classical literature, LM-16, 19/S - Finance (2), LM-17, 20/S - Physics (2), LM-80, 21/S - Geography (2), LM-18, 23/S - Computer Science (2), LM-43, 24/S - Computer Science for humanities, LM-20, 25/S - Aerospace and aeronautical engineering (2), LM-21, 26/S - Biomedical Engineering (2), LM-22, 27/S - Engineering/ Chemical (2), LM-23, 28/S - Civil engineering (2), LM-25, 29/S - Automotion engineering (2), LM-27, 30/S - Telecommunications engineering (2), LM-28, 31/S - Electrical engineering (2), LM-29, 32/S - Electronic engineering(2), LM-30, 33/S - Energy and nuclear engineering (2), LM-31, 34/S - Engineering and Industrial Management (2), LM-32, 35/S - Computer Engineering (2), LM-33, 36/S - Mechanical Engineering (2), LM-34, 37/S - Naval engineering (2), LM-35, 38/S - Environmental engineering (2), LM-36, 41/S - African and Asian languages and literatures (2), LM-37, 42/S - Modern European and American languages and literatures (2), LM-38, 43/S - Modern languages for international communication and cooperation (2), LM-39, 44/S - Linguistics (2), LM-40, 45/S - Mathematics (2), LM-41, 46/S - Medicine and surgery, LM-42, 47/S - Veterinary Medicine (2), LM-44, 50/S - Mathematics and physics: modelling for engineering (2), LM-45, 51/S - Musicology and musical heritage (2), LM-46, 52/S - Dentistry and orthodontics (2), LM-47, 53/S - Sport management (2), LM-48, 54/S - Regional, urban and environmental planning (2), LM-49, 55/S - Tourism Development and Management (2), LM-50, 56/S - Planning and management of education and training services (2), LM-87, 57/S - Social policies and social services (2), LM-51, 58/S - Psychology (2), LM-52, 60/S - International relations (2), LM-53, LM-53ante21, 61/S - Materials engineering (2), LM-54, 62/S - Chemistry (2), LM-55, 63/S - Cognitive Sciences (2), LM-56, 64/S - Economics (2), LM-57, 65/S - Adult and Continuing Education (2), LM-58, 66/S - Universe Sciences (2), LM-60, 68/S - Nature Sciences (2), LM-61, 69/S - Nutrition and health sciences(2), LM-62, 70/S - Political Science (2), LM-63, 71/S - Public sector administration, LM-64, 72/S - Religion Studies (2), LM-65, 73/S - Performing arts and multimedia production (2), LM-73, 74/S - Agroenvironmental sciences and technologies (2) , LM-68, 75/S - Sport science and technology (2), LM-67, 76/S - Sport science for prevention and rehabilitation, LM-69, 77/S - Agriculture (2), LM-70, 78/S - Food industry (2), LM-86, 79/S - Animal husbandry (2), LM-72, 80/S - Aviation and maritime navigation (2), LM-71, 81/S - Industrial chemistry and related technologies (2), LM-75, 82/S - Environmental and land sciences and technology (2), LM-76, 83/S - Economics for environment and culture (2), LM-77, 84/S - Management studies(2), LM-79, 85/S - Geophysics (2), LM-74, 86/S - Geology (2), LM-85, 87/S - Education sciences (2), LM-81, 88/S - Cooperation and development studies (2), LM-83, 91/S - Statistical, Demographic and Actuarial Sciences (2) , LM-89, 95/S - History of art (2), LM-90, 99/S - European Studies (2), LM-91, 100/S - Technologies and methods for the information society (2), LM-92, 101/S - Theories of communication (2), LM-12, 103/S - Design (2), LM/DS, DS/S - Defence and security (2), LM/SNT1, SNT_SPEC/1 - Nursing and midwifery (2), LM/SNT2, SNT_SPEC/2 - Health professions for rehabilitation (2) , LM/SNT3, SNT_SPEC/3 - Health professions for technical assistance (2), LM/SNT4, SNT_SPEC/4 - Health professions for preventive care (2), LM-78, 17/S, 18/S, 96/S - Philosophy (2), LM-14, 16/S, 40/S - Modern Philology (2), LM-82, 48/S, 90/S, 92/S - Statistics (2), LM-59, 59/S, 67/S - Advertising and business communication (2), LM-88, 49/S, 89/S - Sociology and social research (2), LM-84, 93/S, 94/S, 97/S, 98/S - History (2), LM-94, 104/S, 39/S - Translation for special purposes and interpreting (2), LMG/01, 102/S, 22/S - Law (2), LM-24 - Building engineering (2), LM-26 - Safety engineering (2), LM-66 - Computer security (2), LM-93 - Theories and methodologies of e-learning and media education (2), LM/SC - Applied Criminology for Safety and Investigation (2), LMR/02 - Conservation and restoration of architectural heritage (2), LM-95 - Maths and Sciences in the Middle School - A059 (LM-95), LM-96 - Tecnology - A033 (LM-96), LM-85bis - Primary Schooling Sciences (2), LM/GASTR - Economic and social sciences of gastronomy (2), LM/SC-GIUR - Legal Sciences - Law (2), LM-SC.MAT - Materials science (2), LM-Data - Data Science (2)

Admission

Available places
8
Admission
Admission selection
curriculum evalutation + interview
Cost
420 €
Scholarships
8

Employment opportunities

https://dottorato.unipi.it/index.php/en/component/k2/item/184.html

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Other editions of the same course
Academic year edition 2023/2024Academic year edition 2022/2023Academic year edition 2021/2022
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