[Italy Scholarship]: PhD scholarship in Physics and Applied Physics at University of Naples

Application Deadline: 10th December 2010

Admission to the Research Doctorate program in fundamental and applied physics normally requires passing a selection based on a written and oral examination (in Italian or English), taken in two different days at our University (further information on this selection is provided only in Italian at the following web page). However, international students (i.e. students who graduated abroad and who presently reside abroad) may also apply to a special pre-selection which will be initially based only on the curriculum vitae, qualifications and references as explained below (a master of science or equivalent degree in physics or in a related subject is required for admission; however, a very strong four-years bachelor may also be considered sufficient). Short-listed candidates will be then invited for an oral examination or interview. The latter will typically be held by web-conference or by telephone call from an Italian consular structure.

The call for applications is now open! The deadline for applying is the 10th of December 2010.
You may download here the text of the call and the application form (the latter is to be printed, signed in original and scanned if you wish to apply electronically).

The same information is provided in the central University webpage at http://www.unina.it/studentididattica/postlaurea/dottorato/en/index.jsp

The following email must be used for applying electronically: phdnafedericoII@unina.it (but please, send a copy also to phd@na.infn.it , as cc). In your email, you must include as attachments the signed and scanned application form and all other requested documents (see below).

Pending approval of the University authorities, we expect this year to have 3-4 open positions for international students, 1 or 2 of which endowed with an institutional fellowship (i.e. financial support for three years is included; the stipend is of about 1035 euros per month, net of taxes).

Important dates in the application procedure (some are currently only approximate, will be replaced with exact dates as they are known):

• December 10: deadline for applying
• end of December: evaluations of qualifications and short-list for interviews are approved
• January 2011: short-listed candidates are interviewed (by web-conference or by telephone call from an Italian consular structure)
• February 2011: the final list of admitted candidates is published; the number of available fellowships is approved and the fellowships are awarded to the highest-ranking among the admitted candidates
• end of February 2011: deadline for acceptance of the positions by the candidates
• April 2011: all admitted students are expected to arrive in Naples and start the PhD program

Documents needed for applying, besides the (signed) application form:

• Official certificate/transcript issued by the University of each the relevant degrees obtained (e.g., bachelor, master or equivalent), including the indication of the specific study program attended and of all the examinations taken. If these certificates are not already written in either Italian, English, French, Spanish or German, you will have to add a legal translation into one of these languages.
• List of all courses and examinations taken, with a short description of their contents and with the corresponding grades obtained. Include also a brief explanation of the grading system used in your country/university and, if possible, information about the grade statistical distribution (e.g., the percentile of students obtaining that grade or higher).
• Possible other documents useful for the assessment of your degrees and in particular the equivalence to the Italian ones.
• Certificates/transcripts of further educational qualifications.
• Further scientific/academic titles and information that in your judgment should be taken into account, such as (note: none of the following items is mandatory for applying):

1. List of scientific publications, if any.
2. List of grants, fellowships or studentships obtained for attending a PhD program or to carry out study and research, indicating the starting date, the duration and the amount awarded.
3. Post-graduate degrees obtained, if any (excluding those already reported at point 1).
4. Academic/scientific/study awards.
5. Score of any standard test used for admission in University programs at various levels in your country and internationally, adding the contact information (link, e-mails, ecc.) of the Organizations which may eventually certify to us your test results [particularly valuable for us are GRE-general and GRE-physics tests (GRE = Graduate Record Examination, see its web-site for information). Note: if you have taken these tests, besides mentioning your scores for each separate section of the test (e.g., verbal, quantitative, analytical writing), ask also GRE organization to send the scores directly to us, using our institution code: 7133].
6. a brief statement (maximum 1 page) of your anticipated scientific interests for the near future.
7. References. You may choose between the following two options:

• a) Send us only the names, current positions, and e-mail addresses of two or three references, leaving to us the decision of whom and whether to contact them.
• Send us one or more letters of presentation/reference, closed in sealed envelopes.

8. Curriculum vitae.

Further Information: http://www.na.infn.it/~dottorat/index-en.htm