The core topics of the PhD programme are:

• Technical and economic Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (EES) in end uses, including buildings and industrial production processes, from the user to a regional scale
  •  Energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality in buildings, from design to control
  •  Energy efficiency in production processes
  •  Management of energy consumption at district level, optimization of district heating systems
• Renewable Energy and Energy Conversion Technologies (RECT)
  •  Exploitation of renewable energy sources (particularly biomass and biofuels, hydropower and others), environmental and industrial fluid mechanics and development of the related technologies
  •  Efficiency in thermal processes, energy generation, and technologies for industrial and civil cogeneration (electrical and fluid power machines)
  •  Energy storage solutions, fuel upgrading, energy recovery, energy vectors, novel mobility and powertrains in the automotive, industrial and agricultural sector
• Sustainable production and supply chain management

  •  Circular Economy in Production and Supply Chains

  •  Decarbonization and Life Cycle Engineering

  •  Eco-intelligent Production Processes and Factories

  •  Smart, Resilient and Human-Centric Production

  •  Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain Management

A specific focus is laid on the peculiar contexts of the Alpine territory of South Tyrol, but also its integration in the international context.

The admitted candidates will design a study plan with their supervisor in order to define the purpose of their research project and the necessary steps to implement it, after compiling a comprehensive literature review. Candidates will then have to regularly verify and, if necessary, update, their research and study plan, taking into account the development of the project itself and the latest developments in their field of research. During the course, particularly during the first year, candidates will regularly attend classes specifically designed for postgraduate students and also technical workshops and specialised lectures by researchers and specialists in the chosen disciplines.

The doctoral programme is divided into four stages which end after 6, 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively. In stage 1, the candidate defines the research area, the specific topic, the research question and the methodology. In stage 2, in the second half of the first academic year, candidates will gain all the required skills and knowledge to carry on their research project and start their investigations. In stage 3, which indicatively starts with the second year, candidates are expected to apply the approaches and the acquired methodologies and skills in order to tackle their research questions and disseminate the early results by presenting them at national and international conferences. In the fourth and last stage, in the third year, candidates will have to collate the results of their research project and write a paper in an International peer-reviewed Journal and their doctoral thesis.

During the three years of the PhD programme, candidates are required to commit full-time to the PhD and the programme will include both working on the research project and learning activities. Students are also required to carry out part of their research in another University or Research Centre abroad, for at least three months and up to a year. This is an extremely valuable opportunity for a PhD candidate to study specific aspects of their research in depth under direct supervision of world experts in their chosen research topic. It's also an opportunity to carry out research in highly stimulating and competitive contexts, while exchanging ideas with other scholars and establishing an early network of colleagues in the world of research.

The Faculty of Science and Technology has established partnerships with many universities and research centres in Italy and abroad.

Within academia, our university has long-established partnerships with the following institutions:

• KTH Royal Institute of Technology, specifically, the School of Architecture and the Built Environment - Division of Building Technology, and the School of Chemical Science and Engineering - Division of Chemical Technology (Stockholm, Sweden)
• University of Western Australia, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering (Perth, Australia)
• Strathclyde University of Glasgow, Energy System Research Group (Glasgow, Scotland)
• Technische Universität Wien, Vienna (Austria)
• Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana (USA)
• University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado (USA)
• EPFL, Lausanne (Switzerland)
• Bioenergy 2020, Graz (Austria)

Other partners include research centres in the public and private sector. Among these, some are linked to the territory of South Tyrol, like Eurac and the Fraunhofer Italia Research.