The PhD in Cognitive Brain Sciences is a three-year full-time joint-degree program with the University of Pavia. Leveraging the multi-disciplinary expertise of the Course faculty, the PhD program stimulates the acquisition of high-level research skills in different fields such as cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychobiology, neurology, clinical neuropsychology and linguistics, while fostering doctoral training in innovative areas.
The PhD is aimed at providing an advanced training in neuroscientific research focused on the neural processes underlying cognitive functions and behavior during the lifespan, both in healthy and in neurological and psychiatric diseases, and it is strongly research-oriented from an interdisciplinary perspective. The program of the first two years will entail the acquisition of basic knowledge on these topics through courses on the fundamentals of cognitive science and neuroscience, offering both theoretical and methodological knowledge and stimulating the acquisition of specific skills for the use of current research tools in neuroscience. Great importance is therefore given to the conduction of a research project under the supervision of the faculty member(s), who will offer constant mentoring and advice. The Course provides students with access to different research areas with dedicated laboratories equipped with neurophysiological and neuroimaging methodologies, as well as to hospital facilities for patient studies, to stimulate the ability to independently conduct cutting-edge research projects, including translational ones, and thus facilitate career opportunities also beyond the boundaries of the academia. The goal of the PhD program in Cognitive Brain Sciences is to train a new generation of cognitive neuroscientists capable of synthesizing concepts and methods belonging to different disciplines into an integrated approach to the study of the mind/brain relationship, increasing competitiveness within traditional disciplinary departments, promoting innovation and transferring knowledge to the areas of Health and Education.