The PhD

Coordinator: Antonio Biondi
Scientific area: Agricultural science
Duration: 3 years

The international PhD programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science was established at the Di3A in the year 2013. The doctorate has a duration of three years and covers all the scientific disciplines of the Agro-food-environmental sector. We are associated to the Instituto Superior de Agronomia of the University of Lisboa (Portugal) and our students are required to spend at least four months in a foreign institution. Among the different teaching activities, the Doctorate proposes a number of specific seminars and an annual workshop organised jointly together with the Universities of Foggia and Udine. The coordinators of the PhD course are Professor Cherubino Leonardi (Cycle XXXIII) and Professor Alessandro Priolo (Cycles XXXIV, XXXV and XXXVI).

Course Overview and Educational Aims

Due to its interdisciplinary nature covering all sectors of Area 07, the Ph.D. course aims at training professional figures qualified for both pure and applied research in the domain of agriculture, food and environment, capable of:

organizing and conducting experiments in the diverse phases of the interested industries, interpreting results by means of suitable statistical methodologies;
making choices allowing to obtain programmed production in terms of quality, quantity and time and without negative impact on the environment and the healthiness of products;
managing agri-food and environmental systems for the protection of land and water resources;
managing machinery and products utilized in agriculture and agri-food industry;
checking, also by means of innovative, eco-compatible technologies, adversities, both biotic and abiotic, threatening agricultural and food produce and agricultural and forest ecosystems;
analyzing agri-food systems in order to intervene on the planning and management of the diverse industries and to know economic instruments to protect and manage the environment;
transferring advanced, innovative technologies to agricultural and food processes and products, with respect to eco-sustainability;
training experts on rural development.