Call for Applicants

The call for applicants, valid for all Politecnico di Milano PhD programs, is published on the PhD School website and in the Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana, usually in April.

The Design PhD program offers a certain number of positions each year, both with and without stipend, as specified in the call. Places will be assigned according to candidates’ ranking in the results of the call.

In order to be considered for the call, candidates must meet the admission requirements.

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Application

From the date of publication of the call, aspiring candidates will have one month to submit their applications through the dedicated online procedure at: phd-admission.polimi.it
The full list of documents to submit with the application, the number of positions offered (with and without stipend), and the financial terms are detailed in the call for applicants.
In the following it is presented:

Candidate evaluation

Candidates are evaluated by a committee appointed each year by the Design PhD faculty and made up of Politecnico di Milano faculty and/or explicitly selected experts.
Evaluation is based on the following features:
  • academic qualifications and publications,
  • statement of motivation,
  • research proposal.
Research Themes
Executive PhD
International Programmes
Other procedures

Research Themes

Find here the research themes of the 2023 Call for Applicants for the XXXIX cycle.
Admission opening: 26th April 2023 (10am) [Italian time]
Deadline for admissions: 26th May 2023 (2pm) [Italian time]

See all

Executive PhD

Know more
The Politecnico di Milano Doctoral School has set up channels for doctoral studies co-managed by companies and outside organizations (Executive PhD). Admission to the Executive PhD is through the call for applicants.The main difference compared to the traditional PhD program consists in its duration. Rather than three years, it ranges from a minimum of four years to a maximum of six. This is established by mutual agreement between the company and the Design PhD faculty.

 

The Executive PhD is addressed to:

  1. employees of companies or outside organizations who, while keeping their jobs and salaries, attend PhD program courses and earn their PhD degree;
  2. recent graduates who have been hired by companies or external organizations on a advanced-degree apprenticeship contract for gradual integration into the company while they complete doctoral studies. In this case, the duration of the advanced-degree apprenticeship coincided with the term of studies. Such new hires must be at least thirty years old.

For further information, visit the PhD School website.

International Programmes

A core characteristic of the Doctoral Programs of the Politecnico di Milano is their close connections with national and international organizations (manufacturing and service companies, public bodies, universities and research centers).

Co-tutoring and double Phd programmes

PhD students from other Universities with whom an agreement is stipulated can apply to co-tutoring and double PhD programmes

1

Application

The candidate, through a reference professor, submits the application to segreteriadottorato-design@polimi.it
2

Assessment

The internationalization committee of the PhD programme in Design evaluates the candidacies and communicates the results to the PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design
3

Agreement format

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design sends the agreement format to the internationalization committee
4

Admission

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design prepares material for the admission for the resolution of the Board, and the committee prepares the agreement
5

Documents collection

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design collects signatures and documents of the candidate and prepares material for the admission for the resolution of the Board
6

Registration

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design sends the resolution to the PhD School Secretariat that brings it to the Board and proceeds with the enrollment as for all the other PhD candidates
7

Enrollment

The candidate carries out the enrollment procedures

China Scholarship Council (CSC)

Politecnico di Milano provides a period of about 3 months to apply.
The CSC application for the PhD in Design has two deadlines: mid January and mid February.
For 2024 the deadlines will be: 8th January 2024 – first deadline + 8th February 2024 – second deadline.

CSC students are regularly enrolled PhD students who follow the normal academic career.

The full procedure is described on the PhD School website.

 

Know more

Internal procedure to the Design PhD Programme

The design PhD programme, in agreement with the PhD School bodies, has set up an internal pre- evaluation window.
As said, two deadlines have been set to access the evaluation process – mid January and mid February.

These two deadlines will allow the Permanent Committee to evaluate the first applications received (to draw up a first ranking list of suitable candidates of about 50% of the total number of CSC students that can be accepted in the whole year) and then make a comparative assessment with the applications received within the closing deadline, that will allow to draw up the final ranking list with all the places available.

The early closure of about 15 days, compared to the University deadline, will allow the commission to plan and carry out the interviews.

In any case, all candidates must wait until the end of the evaluation process to know if they are confirmed or not as suitable candidates, in compliance with the University schedule.

The comparative assessment will be carried out by the internationalization commission, according to the following criteria, to standardize the selection to that of the candidates that take part in the call.

Criteria – Areas subject to assessment

CV in European format

(include date of birth and postal address)

  • Additional training: study experiences within the Erasmus project or exchange programmes in relation to international networks; participation in workshops, specializing programmes and master; work experience related to design research field
  • National or international publications (reports, essays, articles, conference proceedings,…)
  • Participation in teaching activities (tutoring or contract courses) or research.
Transcripting of records

The “weight” of the graduation score is assessed in relation to the position of the university in which it has been obtained – a high “level” positioning is usually above the 75 point threshold; the duration of the study programme is also assessed.

Evaluation of the qualification(s) obtained (University level diploma)

The evaluation must also take into account the ranking related to the university of origin as well as the score obtained.

Research proposal

(with indication (name and surname) of reference Tutor of the Design Department)

Topic: must be relevant, original and in line with the department research, structure
Skills on the subject in relation to previous knowledge (teaching, research, publications, training and specializing courses,..)

Motivation statement/Letter

Through this document the motivation of the candidate can be evaluated, in particular for what concerns the choice of the PHD programme in Design at Politecnico, but also the coherence and relationships between the proposed research and the ongoing research activities at the design department of Politecnico di Milano, by outlining important future prospects.

Reference letter (without score)

Reference letter by a professor/expert/designer related to the design field.

Transcript of english certification

If available, or verification of the language knowledge through the interview.

Interview

The interview aims to check the knowledge of English of the suitable candidates, but also to understand their “real” scientific-disciplinary profile, and their objectives.

Note: It should be noted that PhD students with CSC scholarship, during their academic career (maximum duration 4 years), will be subject to an evaluation and verification process by the Chinese Scholarship Council,  for renewing the scholarship. This process must be in line with the evaluation processes already planned by the PhD Board.

Other foreign student admission procedures

Foreign students applying with other institutions fundings (e.g.: Innovative Training Networks – Marie Curie Actions, and Home Country Funding) follow a specific procedure.

Foreign candidates with sponsor

1

Submission

The candidate, through a reference professor, submits the application to segreteriadottorato-design@polimi.it
2

Validation

The PhD School validates the sponsor
3

Assessment

The internationalization committee of the PhD programme in Design evaluates the candidacies and
communicates the results to the PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design
4

Admission

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design prepares material for the admission for the resolution of the Board
5

Registration

The PhD Secretary Office at Dept. of Design sends the Board resolution to the PhD School Secretariat which
proceeds with registration as for all the other PhD candidates
6

Enrollment

The candidate carries out the enrollment procedures

Please note: it concerns regularly enrolled Ph.D. students who follow the normal academic career

Foreign candidates with scholarship through European Research Projects (ITN - Marie Curie)

1

EU application

The candidate applies to a call for a European research project covered by the scholarship and then the candidate is selected within the project
2

Enrollment

PhD School Secretariat enroll the student as for all the other PhD students
3

Registration

The candidate carries out the registration procedures

Further information are available on the PhD School website.

Please note: sub condition to attend courses based on the availability of each professor/course