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Academic year	2023/2024
Title	Information and Communication Technologies
Curricula	None
Administrative headquarters	Università degli Studi di Palermo
Consortium locations	None
Department of Afference	Engineering
Partnership	Institut national de la recherchescientifique (INRS), Canada Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom UniversitLibre de Bruxelles, Belgio Temple University, United States University of Belgrade, Serbia
Coordinator	Marco La Cascia
Vice Coordinator	Patrizia Livreri
Researchstaysabroad	At least 6 months
Total number of places	16
Services offered to PhD students	Home page Engineering

 

Description and training objectives

The International PhD in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has the objective of training highly specialized professionals, capable of working on research and innovation aspects in the development, integration and application of ICT technologies, which can have an impact in various areas of society (health, training, transport, safety, work, industry 4.0, energy, etc.). To foster exposure to different skills, in a rapidly evolving sector such as ICT, the Doctorate was born as an International Doctorate, to offer doctoral students the opportunity to spend a period of study abroad and achieve a double degree with prestigious Foreign universities and research centers in agreement (such as Canadian INRS, leader in the field of photonic technologies, and the Temple University of Philadelphia, on data analysis topics) or follow co-tutored paths (such as the University Free of Brussels and the University of Belgrade).The course is also currently included in a European Training Network (Marie Curie action), on the subject of communications with visiblelight (https://enlightem.eu).

The research areas covered in the course include various aspects of ICT, from the extremely small dimension of quantum systems and nano-devices, to the infinitely large of applications distributed in the global Internet: software architectures, cloud technologies, big data, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence and robotics; telecommunications networks, 5G systems, IoT, cyber-security; enabling technologies such as nanotechnology, micro and nano electronics, photonics, controllable quantum resources, advanced materials and biotechnology. Thanks to a Board of Professors with skills in various scientific and technological fields, multi-disciplinary study and research paths are encouraged, also in collaboration with experts from other domains of ICT application.

Expected employment and professional opportunities

In line with the National Research Program and the "Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training" formulated at European level, the Doctoral course in ICT seeks to form international, interdisciplinary profiles that can be used in various sectors, public or private.

PhDs in the ICT sector are required not only in research centers and universities, but increasingly in both the traditional ICT industry, for telecommunications networks, cyber-security, electronic systems, photonics and optoelectronics, nanoelectronics, the development of semiconductor devices, etc., both in other industrial fields (with the advent of the so-called 4.0 industry) for monitoring, control, optimization, robotic applications in all production processes. The figure of the Data-Analyst is also increasingly important, capable of extracting new information and meanings from the growing amount of data available, thanks to the pervasive availability of ICT technologies.

The monitoring of our PhD students who have obtained the title in 2018 and 2019 (cycles XXX and XXXI, 10 PhD students in total) shows that 2 have RTD positions, 3 have post-doc roles also in prestigious foreign institutes (MIT, INRS) , 2 have had collaborative relationships in various capacities with the CNR and 3 instead work in ICT companies on research and development issues.

Examples of companies where our PhD students have found employment are: STMicroelectronics, AleniaSpazio, Telespazio, Engineering, Italtel, Telecom, Open Fiber, Leonardo.

The ICT doctorate was organised as part of the SoBigData.it (Prot. IR0000013 - Call n. 3264 of 12/28/2021) project initiatives aimed at training new users and communities in the usage of the research infrastructure (SoBigData.eu).” SoBigData.it receives funding from European Union – NextGenerationEU – National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza, PNRR) – Project: “SoBigData.it – Strengthening the Italian RI for Social Mining and Big Data Analytics” – Prot. IR0000013 – Avviso n. 3264 del 28/12/2021