This document collects a list of useful references and frequently asked questions (FAQs) of interest to Ph.D. students in Physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy DFA (University of Padova).
It is currently an unofficial document: it is written and maintained by the Ph.D. students themselves. The editors of this document are the two student representatives in the Ph.D. Council Board: Pietro Grutta ([email protected]) and Francesco Lorenzi ([email protected]). Feel free to collaborate to this repository by cloning and making a merge request!💫
All information is specific to the Department of Physics and Astronomy (DFA), University of Padova. Some useful general information about Ph.D. programs at the University of Padova can be found at https://www.unipd.it/en/node/4253. Official information about the Department can be found at https://www.dfa.unipd.it/didattica/dottorati-di-ricerca/phd-physics/.
International PhD Guide from UniPd: https://www.unipd.it/en/phd-guide
Contents
- Topics
Ph.D. School Coordinator Prof. Giulio Monaco Email: [email protected] Phone: 0498277194
Ph.D. School Secretariat Webpage: http://www.dfa.unipd.it/servizi/settore-didattica-e-post-lauream/ Email: [email protected] Reference person: Cristina Mazzucco ([email protected], 0498277089)
Ph.D. student representatives in the Ph.D. board Pietro Grutta [email protected] Francesco Lorenzi [email protected]
Ph.D. and post-doc (assegnisti) representatives DFA The list is available here: https://www.dfa.unipd.it/dipartimento/direttore-e-organi-collegiali/consiglio-di-dipartimento/
Research in our department is carried out in many different areas of physics. The main research areas, with contact persons, are given in this link http://www.dfa.unipd.it/en/research/research-areas-and-groups/.
The three-years period of the Ph.D. course is divided in three academic years. At the end of each academic year (occuring around September), an admission exam to the next year has to be given at the end of the first and the second year.
The timetables for the thesis and defense are established year by year. For example, for the cycle 36° they were
- Sept 30th: End of the Ph.D.
- Oct 2nd: Submit your final thesis before 12pm of
- Nov 31st: second submission of the thesis after minor revisions
- Jan/March of the next year: discussion For further information about thesis deadlines: https://www.unipd.it/en/Ph.D.-final-exam.
The admission exam has the purpose of evaluating if the Ph.D. student is on track with his own research, if there are some problems about it, and, importantly, if he or she has completed the needed exams for the year. Currently, it is mandatory to take 4 exams in physics or related areas of research, plus a soft skills exam. This scenario is expected to change starting from the 40th cycle, but the scheme will more or less remains the same.
During the course of the first year, a student is required to attend 3 courses. Also, all the related exams must be completed by the end of the year. The exam for the remaining course (the fourth) one has to attend shall be completed in any case by the end of the second year.
Each of the proposed courses consists in 24 hours of didactics. The type of the final exam depends from the course itself and the lecturer. However, in most cases it consists of an oral presentation on an advanced research topic (typically a discussion of a paper).
It is possible to choose an examination offered by a summer or winter school, or any other examination offered by the University of Padua that is structurally similar to the one offered by the Ph.D. School.
This structure holds up to cycle 39th. Starting from the cycle 40th (included) the structure of the Ph.D. course has been standardised over italian universities. There are a certain number of credits (CFU) for each category that the student has to achieve (exams, schools, seminars, etc.). This information is reported here: https://www.dfa.unipd.it/didattica/dottorati-di-ricerca/phd-physics/didactics/, which is not updated but in this page (https://www.dfa.unipd.it/didattica/dottorati-di-ricerca/phd-physics/didactics/mandatory-training/) there is details about how these CFU are divided. It is worth to notice that in practise, this structure is analogous to the previous one, but with a more detailed and standardized way to report the exams and the credits.
The Diploma Supplement is a document that accompanies a university degree (diploma) and provides additional information about the degree in a standardized format. For the University of Padova, as with other universities in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Diploma Supplement typically includes much information, like
- Results and grades: Information about the student's academic performance, including grades and any distinctions or honors received.
- Credit and grading system.
- Academic context: Information about the university and its status in the higher education system, including accreditation and recognition.
- National higher education system: A brief description of the higher education system in Italy, providing context for understanding the qualification.
Additional exams taken by students during the doctoral programme are mentioned in the document.
When the personal badge is issued, a request is made for access to the DFA for a certain period of time (either 24/7 or 08:00-19:00 Mon-Fri). The document ('Modulo per la richiesta di accesso' - link) determines the time interval during which you have access to the structure. All Ph.D. students are granted 24/7 access. In fact, once you have received the badge, you should be able to access the buildings during the period requested.
The access policy applies to all structured staff of the DFA. In the unfortunate event that the badge does not work as intended (e.g. you can access Via Marzolo but not Via Paolotti), you can send an e-mail to Servizi Tecnici Generali (e-mail: [email protected] to report the problem (remember to include our badge number) ).
Office keys can be requested from the reception staff in each building. The reception keeps an updated list of the PhD students assigned to each office. The keys should be returned at the end of the PhD period.
(If you need to let in a person who is not a member of the department, you are responsible for their safety and the safety of the department's property.)
The referent for allocations is Ugo Gasparini, who is the responsible for the 'Commissione Spazi'. He has an Excel document, containing the DFA staff and their assigned office. The Ph.D. students directly, and the representatives in case of partitucular needs, can relate to him if any needs about allocations may arise. It is suggested to check yourself the availability of the rooms, after you have been assigned.
Your office is assigned at the beginning of the Ph.D., but can eventually undergo modifications due to space needs of the department. It is well known that there could be issues related to the office space, because of the limited resources we have at DFA. Therefore, it is well known that you may be assigned to a shared office space which is already actually full. This problem is caused by the fact that the aforementioned Excel document cannot be all the time updated, and as people leave for periods abroad or change office the document is not updated. In this case, it is suggested to contact the Ph.D. School Secretariat (Cristina Mazzucco).
Ph.D. students are distributed all over the department due to the research groups needs and habits, however, there are some rooms where the students share the office. They are:
| Room number | floor | spaces | location |
|---|---|---|---|
| L216 | 2 | 32 | via Loredan 10 |
| M217A | 2 | 10 | via Marzolo 8 |
| M217B | 2 | 8 | via Marzolo 8 |
| M382 | 3 | 18 | via Marzolo 8 |
| P3A | 3 | 17 | via Belzoni 7 (a.k.a. Paolotti building) |
| P3D | 3 | 14 | via Belzoni 7 (a.k.a. Paolotti building) |
| Palsi | 4 | 9 | via Belzoni 7 (a.k.a. Paolotti building) |
The number of desks is not sufficient to guarantee that every student has his/her own desk. Therefore, it is possible that given a certain number of seats in an office (i.e., 18 in M382) more students are assigned there. This should occur especially for those people who are not based fulltime in Padua (like Ph.D. students working in Legnaro's).
A map of office assignations can be found here.
There is not enough space to provide parking for all DFA staff. The final decision not to allow parking for PhD students has been taken during 2022 ('DFA parking gate').
However, in case of particular needs (i.e., you are not based in Padua, temporary mobility issues, etc.) you can present a request to the ‘DFA Segreteria di Direzione’ (email: [email protected]) requiring a personal space for parking. It is suggested to include the Ph.D. School coordinator (Giulio Monaco, email: [email protected] ) in cc.
There is outdoor bike parking in the backyard of the main DFA-Galilei building, as indicated by the red start in the following figures. The area is accessible through the electronic gate, to be opened using the dedicated badge reader with your own personal badge card.
The sticker can be requested by the personnel of the reception (the people you find first when you access the DFA building by the main entrance from Via Marzolo). In order to get the sticker, you have just to qualify as a Ph.D. Student, and they will give you one.
You can park the bike also without the sticker. However, in such a case there is the possibility that your bike will be removed if left there for a long time. Therefore, it is recommended to request it.
Eduroam is a secure wireless network. It was created for schools and universities and is used by millions of people at thousands of schools in more than 70 countries. (Source: https://www.unipd.it/en/eduroam).
First-time access instructions: https://asit.unipd.it/english-version/eduroam/how-access-eduroam
There is a wide coverage of eduroam WiFi. There is a well-known issue near the Marzolo M382 office. This has been investigated in 2022 by ‘Servizio Calcolo’ (IT department, DFA). The problem is: You have a strong signal (4-5/5 ticks), but poor quality and no stable internet. The cause is related to (from Servizio Calcolo reply) the too many wifi antennas, causing poor network card-router links (e.g., your wifi network card will jump from one router with another one, both with the same SSID). A solution: how severe this instability is depends on the specific WiFi-card you have. There is no definite solution. You can tweak the Wifi setting, to connect to a specific access point. The most convenient solution is to connect with the cable (check next section). You can open a ticket with Servizio Calcolo ([email protected]) asking for further support.
Wired connection can be accessed through any of the outlets you can find scattered over the DFA buildings. The network is managed by the INFN, as a mutual agreement between the DFA and INFN.
The wired network has access both to internal resources (like measurement instruments in the labs, personal computers, printers, etc.) and internet For example, the Window's remote desktop protocol (RDP) port 3389 is blocked on euduroam's wifi while not on the wired network.
Only authorized devices are allowed to connect to the network. Allowance is given to the network card on your computer based on the hardware MAC address of the network card.
The network MAC address can be retrieved with the bash command ifconfig (Linux) or ipconfig (Windows and MacOS).
The address shall be registered in the INFN personal account (accessible at https://calcolo.pd.infn.it/index.php?en).
If you don’t have an account, you can register yourself for an INFN AAI, by following the procedure ‘How to register on AAI’ (on the right in the figure above). Here the guide in detail: https://wiki.infn.it/cn/ccr/aai/doc/rid/istruzioni/userportal/user_loa-eng
After that, you’ll be able to access your own account info:
Click on ‘Aggiungi dispositivo’ and fill in the MAC address of the network card you’re using when you connect to the wired network. Typically, the approval of the request takes up to 1h during office hours.
Make sure you don’t have a ‘random mac address’ option enabled in Windows/Linux.
Since printers are connected to the internet by the same line of the INFN connections, once you have your wired INFN connection you will be allowed to print your documents. You can find an exhaustive list of the printers reachable within the INFN network at http://lpserver.pd.infn.it:631/printers/.
MAC procedure: to connect your device to a printer you have to open your document on preview, launch printing and look for the button “app printer”. Look for the closest printer to your office, and you are done. Black & white and colored printers are available as well.
Other relevant information - i.e. Windows configuration procedure- can be found on the INF website: https://www.pd.infn.it/eng/computing-and-networking/printer-configuration/
Ph.D. students are entitled to request various materials from the warehouse, including electronic items such as wires and power strips, as well as stationery. The materials provided by the warehouse are generally considered consumables, and there is no obligation to return them once your Ph.D. is completed.
The warehouse, located on the ground floor of the Galilei complex (Via Marzolo) near the exit to the bike parking lot, operates on weekdays from 9 am to 12 pm. Additionally, it opens on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:45 pm to 4:45 pm. The work hours can change over time. For particular requests, you can contact [email protected].
In order to be entitled to pick up any item from the warehouse, you’ll need to present your own badge. You will be requested which funds you’re going to use for the item, and the personnel will scan your own barcode (i.e., Mario Rossi) and the barcode of the ‘Ph.D. School funds’. It's important to note that the department covers the cost of the materials, so no deductions will be made from your funds: your name is used only for accounting and statistics.
If you no longer need an item you took and it is still in good condition, it is encouraged to return to the warehouse, for a more sustainable and efficient usage of such resources. Your cooperation in maintaining transparency and adhering to these guidelines contributes to the smooth functioning of the material distribution.
Any item with an inventory number (either INFN, INAF or UNIPD) given in lease to any student cannot by default be carried away from the workplace. It is allowed to bring the item outside of the workplace - i.e., you’re taking the laptop home or an oscilloscope away for a Mission - but the request shall be first issued with a module (contact Cristina Mazzucco) and only after approval the item can be carried away. This material is usually assigned to some individual of the research group (likely your supervisor), so technically they are responsible for the item.
The following content has been produced with information by Marco Agnello during the 40’ meeting on 14/12/2023 at 10:00.
For each Ph.D. scholarship, a fund to cover different expenses (traveling for conferences, visiting periods ecc).
Depending on the scholarship type (more below), a Ph.D. student can have at disposal a given ‘research budget’ that can be spent during the three years. The budget is This depending on his/her scholarship type. There are three main types of scholarship, classified depending on the source the funds came from.
There are two main categories of Ph.D. scholarships, depending on the fact they are totally or partially funded by the University. They are
- (most common one) a scholarship on funds entirely of the Department / University. These types of scholarships are associated with a research budget of €4608 which can be used by the student within the three Ph.D. years;
- a scholarship funded entirely by some external organization (e.g. Cariparo, INFN, INAF). The research budget is not always the same and it is fixed by the specific agreement between the department and the external organization. For example, it can occur that Cariparo can provide a budget higher than €4608. Analogously in the case of INFN, there is no €4608 budget but missions are handled by the INFN itself - which on the basis of the experiment funds can give more or less than over the 3-years.
- half-funded by the external organization and half by the University (e.g. in the form of the DFA or another department). In this case, the budget for travel expenses and missions is regulated by the specific agreement the two entities have signed.
Each student can ask for information about his/her Ph.D. type and funds available by getting in contact with either the Ph.D. School Secretariat (Cristina Mazzucco) and the DFA Secretariat (Marco Agnello). The supervisor is often aware of the type of scholarship, but the agreement document can be requested via email to the aforementioned Secretariat offices.
In relation to the personal budget of €4608, any remaining funds at the conclusion of the Ph.D. program will be reallocated to the department budget. The intention is to ensure that if a Ph.D. candidate has unutilized project funds, they are directed to the department rather than the laboratory or supervisor.
The first kind of additional funds are specifically designed for the research group and/or the supervisor. Importantly, these funds are independent of the personal research budget (€4608). Their usage is subject to the discretion of the respective laboratory, group and Ph.D. school coordinator.
The Ph.D. School has a budget which is of the order of 10-12k€/year. These funds are used for the typical operation of the Ph.D. school. Some of these funds cover the typical scenarios below, where they are used for the Ph.D. students.
Finally, it is possible to apply for language courses funding, subject to approval by the supervisor and necessitating the initiation of a mission, which is typically associated with the abroad period of the Ph.D. program. It's important to highlight that these courses operate independently and are not funded from the Ph.D. allocation; instead, their costs are directly deducted from the DFA.
The typical scenarios where the student can use such additional funds are:
- additional courses - i.e., Italian language courses for foreign students, or foreign language courses for long periods abroad. There is a recent precedent where a student requested for a Spanish language course for a few months in Spain. It is suggested to first get in contact with DFA Secretariats (Agnello, Mazzucco, Monaco).
- monitor, durable IT resources - like desktop computers, laptops. Nowadays, for small electronics (low cost, typically monitors etc.) there is the Amazon Business. Typically the supervisor has access to this service, and the request shall be issued by him/her.
During the course of the Ph.D. typically all the personal budget is used for travel expenses, workshops, schools, and conferences. The typical scenarios where the student can use his/her personal budget cover the following points:
- missions or travels - costs to sustain travel expenses in order to participate in any event that is approved by the supervisor and is consistent with the student research activity. During missions, Ph.D. students can use their research funds to book hotels. It's important to note that there is a set maximum limit established by the university, allowing expenditures of up to 155€/night.
- posters, small expenses - In these instances, you are required to submit the original fiscal receipt and, as an attachment, a printed A4-copy version of the poster and the original fiscal receipt within 60 days. This serves as an alternative avenue for expense management, yet it relies on the funds allocated to the Ph.D. student (€4608). This expense is refunded via the so-called Fondo economale, which is a way these funds are deducted by your budget rather than another independent fund.
- lab. consumables - all the products that are not registered in any inventory, typically wearing over time (hence the name). For example, chemical reagents / disposable gloves / clean-room laboratory materials, etc. Although possible, it is worth noting that it is very unlikely that such materials are acquired with students' personal funds.
- publishing fares - that is, any expense to publish a paper in a scientific journal. Again, most of the time it is the advisor or the research group which covers these expenses.
- IT material - like tablets, laptops, desktop computers, monitors. Such material can be distinguished by consumable electronics by cost and being inventoried in the INFN/UNIPD catalog. An order for such material shall be requested to the ITOffice in the DFA, via the specified module available here (link). It is required to first issue the request and only after approval get the product (as opposed to the ‘little expense’ procedure, where you are refunded rather than the object being acquired by the DFA itself). At the end of the Ph.D. such material shall be returned to the Secretariat or research group which will eventually reuse it or dispose and remove it from the inventory.
Each Ph.D., depending on the scholarship, has some funds to support the research-related travels (missions). Suppose you are going to a conference or some school for a few days and you have to organize your travel and accommodation. Now, it’s time to open a mission with the dedicated portal, from which you access using your unipd account. You can find all the relevant information at the following link (‘Regolamento Missioni’ at the link). When compiling for permissions, the three names to use are the following
Responsabile autorizzazione: FLAVIO SENO Eventuale destinatario notifica richiesta: CRISTINA MAZZUCCO Coordinatore del Corso di Dottorato: Select this option and then, after confirming, write the name of the coordinator of the Ph.D. school. At the time of this writing, GIULIO MONACO.
It is of primary importance for you to collect the receipts of all the places you are going, like restaurants, cafes and so on. Thus, you always have to ask for the fiscal receipts. Once your mission is completed, you go back to your mission portal and follow the closure procedure. Finally, you will give all the (possibly, original) receipts to the apposite office, with a compiled and signed copy of the following document https://www.dfa.unipd.it/fileadmin/amministrazione/Modulistica/ModuloConsegnaGiustificativiSpesaMissioni.doc During the period between the Ph.D. thesis delivery and the discussion, you are not entitled to open any mission and, as such, to be refunded.
Opening of the mission is mandatory also for those students with an INFN/private scholarship. This is because when you go on a mission the University provides insurance covering the period you are abroad. In the case the expense are refunded by INFN, the purpose of opening a mission with the University is limited to the insurance, but still mandatory.
Note that many companies and service providers offer discounts to university students in general, and the Ph.D. students are included. A non-exaustive list of interesting services is:
- Trenitalia Business (30% on high-speed 'Freccia' trains)
- GitHub Students (i.e., Copilot, free web hosting, etc.)
A complete list of discounts that the University of Padua has is available at the webpage (italian only): https://www.unipd.it/convenzioni. This is the Google's english translation.
If you are going to visit another university, you can ask for an increase of +50% of your Ph.D. scholarship. The request has to be sent with an attached formal request to the secretary. Request document: https://www.unipd.it/dottorato/modulistica-dottorati Further information (eng): https://www.unipd.it/en/Ph.D.-courses-fees-grants-and-benefits
When publishing papers, it is important to have some accounting concepts in mind, other than the research in itself. From a fiscal point of view, and roughly speaking, journals are classified in three categories:
- Closed Access: articles are only available to subscribers. The expenses and profits of the publishers come from the subscriptions. In many cases, the subscriptions are handled not by individuals, but by universities or research institutes.
- Full ("Gold") Open Access: articles are available on the web to anyone, and the expenses and profits of the publishers come from the author's payment. This payment is frequently referred to as Article Processing Charges.
- Hybrid Access: the author can decide if publishing in open access or not.
The University of Padova has agreements with many open access and hybrid journals, so to ease the funding of the articles. A complete list of such journals can be found in https://bibliotecadigitale.cab.unipd.it/en/digital-library/about-publishing/agreements-with-publishers.
Much more detailed information is provided by the Sistema Bibliotecario di Ateneo at the link https://bibliotecadigitale.cab.unipd.it/en/digital-library/about-publishing.
Being that the payment of the articles with department or university funds is subject to the national anti-corruption routines (managed by Autorità Nazionale Anti Corruzione ANAC), it is . At the european level, VAT is payed as per the rules of the customer country, and fiscal coordinates of the department must be provided. The common way to tackle all of it is to contact the department administration offices as soon as the article has been accepted by the publishers and wait for their instructions.
Being that the academic production of a person is currently quantified using synthetic indicators, it is important to know what are the metrics currently used to evaluate performance of authors and of journals. Some metrics can also be misleading, and a discussion on them is given here https://bibliotecadigitale.cab.unipd.it/en/digital-library/about-publishing/impact-of-research. While selecting the journal for your research, bear in mind also of the phenomenon of predatory publishers.
When publishing, it is important to be transparent about the funding, and also the affiliations. The institution that must be always present is your funding institution, that can be, in most cases, the department of Physics, or the Padua section of INFN.