Ph.D. Program

The taught part consists of three categories:

• Immigration courses on each of the three pillars to provide foundational knowledge and skills.

• Core courses on selected topics of central interest to the Ph.D. program that provide students with the necessary background to start their research work.

• Advanced courses focus on cross-cutting research topics in the area of interacting heterogeneous distributed systems.

Immigration courses are woven together with a twofold aim: to give the students the tools needed to successfully attend the subsequent courses, and to start to expose the students to relevant research challenges arising in interacting heterogeneous distributed systems.

Core and advanced courses are given by top-level international scientists selected among faculties of the most acknowledged institutions worldwide. The topics of such courses have been defined to best fit with GSSI – Computer Science research vision on interacting heterogeneous distributed systems. All the courses are meant to provide the necessary background and knowledge to the students for taking up their learning paths towards the defence of the PhD thesis.

Students must pass immigration and core courses according to the Computer regulations; exam Science PhD regulationsmarks are awarded according to the ECTS grading scale. 

Apart from the courses offered at GSSI, students can attend courses that fit with the topic of their Ph.D. research also at summer schools or at other national or international institutions. Participation to such courses must be authorised by the coordinator of the Ph.D. program and students' advisors. After having attended an external course, a student should:

• submit to the coordinator of the Ph.D. program a short written report describing the topics and the presentations as well as the areas for future research suggested by the lecturers he/she found most interesting;

• deliver a 20-minute talk to students and faculty at the GSSI describing the content of the report.

The official academic roles (besides students😉) relevant for the Ph.D. program are

• lecturers who deliver courses and assess students' progress in the taught part of the modules

• advisors who mentor students in their research path

• coordinator of the Ph.D. program who supervises and coordinate the academic activities

• academic board whose members deliberate on various academic matters as per our regulations

The following two roles have been designed to establish a friendly and thriving scientific community: 

• tutors provide a point of contact for general academic support and advice. All students have a tutor nominated by the coordinator who chooses them among the CS faculty. The tutor of 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-year students is their internal advisor.

Tutors of 1st-year students should arrange monthly meetings with their tutees. These meetings are meant to provide guidance, advise, and support related to the academic activities of the first year. Students are welcome to ask their tutor for private meetings if they need to discuss specific matters.

Tutors are not permetted to reveal any confidential matters without the consent of their tutees.

• buddies are senior students volunteering to act as point of contact for practical matters (e.g., to introduce new students to the cultural life in L'Aquila, or give advice on social life, etc.).

Students are (the most important) part of our community and they are welcome to suggest activities that could strengthen the academic and social relationship of the group.