Earth and Marine Sciences

The EMAS PhD program is structured into various research topics:

• Mineralogy with applications to sustainable materials, both natural and synthetic; genesis of magmas and volcanoes;
• Environmental geochemistry and applications to agriculture;
• Stratigraphy and sedimentary facies associations with applications to subsurface geology;
• Paleobiology of marine ecosystems and climatic and paleobiogeographic variations;
• Rock mechanics and tectonic deformations;
• Earthquake geology;
• Slope stability, hydrogeology, and dynamics of rivers and coasts;
• Applications of geophysical methods;
• Physical oceanography and marine geology.

The specific and transversal training objectives contribute to the training of a researcher who can independently: (a) evaluate the hazard of natural and anthropogenic phenomena (landslides, floods, coastal erosion, seismic events, dispersion of pollutants, airborne particulate matter), (b) propose risk mitigation, and (c) design the enhancement of geological heritage.

It should be noted that many of the training objectives correspond to skills useful for responding to the strategic objectives established in the European Union's political agenda (such as Horizon Europe) with reference to the area of "Food economy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment" and "Climate, Energy & Mobility".

EMAS PhDs will be able to exercise the acquired skills in national and international academic environments, as well as in national and international public and private institutions, in public and private institutions.

The doctoral program will be organized into:

1. Specific courses focused on the research topic developed by the doctoral student;
2. Specific courses that can serve to complete the doctoral student's training path, based on their previous career or the type of degree obtained;
3. Specific seminars at the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences (Unife) or at other Italian and foreign university departments or research centers;
4. Advanced study schools organized by Italian and foreign societies or research groups;
5. Study periods in other departments of Italian or foreign universities or research centers with which the faculty members have ongoing collaborations and where the doctoral student can both learn the most appropriate and advanced analytical techniques and deepen the scientific topics related to their doctoral thesis.

Doctoral students must acquire 60 ECTS per year, divided into institutional training (disciplinary activities; specific activities for each PhD program), interdisciplinary training (complementary skills), scientific activity, and research. Institutional disciplinary training activities, organized according to the needs of doctoral students with annual integrations, are activated every year and provide for the recognition of training credits (1 hour of frontal teaching = 0.5 ECTS; for courses related to first and second level degree programs, the ECTS provided for in the study plan are recognized). In addition to the disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching activities specific to the PhD program and highlighted in the first point of this section, there are the interdisciplinary training activities referred to in article 4 paragraph 1 letter f of DM 45/2013, for which the Council of the University Institute of Advanced Studies IUSS Ferrara 1391, in its council meeting of July 10, 2013, approved the programming and deliberated the obligation to acquire at least 20 ECTS per doctoral student (to be acquired within the first two years). IUSS-Ferrara 1391 organizes English language reading courses with a native-speaking teacher with a practical focus to provide the skills necessary to follow and/or give conferences in English. At the end, doctoral students can freely take the PET or FIRST, CAE English certification exams. Italian courses for foreigners are organized by the University Language Center. IUSS-Ferrara 1391 organizes seminars and lectures for the acquisition of adequate computer knowledge on advanced information technologies and computing/simulation environments; Systematic evaluation of the level of training of doctoral students is verified annually by the joint Ferrara-Cadiz Phd Board, during which doctoral students orally present and in written form the activities carried out and the results obtained. The reports are an integral part of the meeting minutes and allow for precise monitoring of the training path of individual doctoral students in relation to the predefined objectives. In addition, at the end of each year, the student must complete a form with all the activities carried out (i.e., institutional training, interdisciplinary training, scientific activity, research) and the Faculty Board will evaluate both the quality and the coherence of the type of path followed and may simultaneously direct the doctoral student's activities for the following year. The Faculty Board, based on the oral presentation, the written report, and the completed form, will decide whether to admit the student to the following year and will indicate any possible gaps in the research carried out. The public dissemination of the activities of the PhD program takes place through the websites of the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences and the IUSS.

The transversal training activities (specialized courses and/or seminar cycles) are defined annually and for all active cycles by the Council of the IUSS Ferrara 1391 Doctoral School before the beginning of the academic year, also reported in the "Document of Planning of training and research activities" , which details the content, whether or not attendance is mandatory, the ECTS credits assigned, and any methods of verifying the acquired skills. Disciplinary training activities (specialized courses and/or seminar cycles) are defined annually and for all active cycles by the Faculty Board before the beginning of the academic year and explained in the "Document of Planning of training and research activities".

Once a year, the EMAS Open Day will be held during which doctoral students will present their research to students of the Master's Degree in Geological Sciences, Georesources, and Territory.

Doctoral students carry out teaching activities in the form of free support for teaching and paid tutoring, not only at the department where the doctorate is based but also in other degree courses. They also play the role of co-supervisor for undergraduate and master's theses and support the orientation of trainees from abroad within the Erasmus+ program.

Academic supervisors are selected by the board in the most relevant scientific-disciplinary field to the topic proposed by the winner of the position. Before assigning the topic or tutor, the enrolled students give a brief presentation on the chosen topic to the faculty board, which deliberates on the academic tutor(s) and the training activities to be followed to fill any gaps in the second-level training that gives access to the PhD program. If the topic is transversal and specific with requests for skills external to the board, tutors are chosen from the world of public and private research. In the case of scholarships with a specific theme, the internal and external academic tutors are the referents of the funding.

See the activities

The relationship with researchers in coastal geomorphology, marine geology and oceanography at the University of Cadiz has been consolidated for twenty years and the Spanish university has been a partner together with UNIFE in various projects funded by the European Union starting from the FP7 MICORE project (www.micore.eu) coordinated by the University of Ferrara in the period 2008-2011, laying the foundations for the creation of the EMAS doctoral programme. The research areas concern all topics of the Earth Sciences, with particular reference to the problems of coastal and fluvial geomorphology. The University of Ferrara joined the "CeiMar" Center of Excellence of the University of Cadiz in March 2016. The University of Cadiz has designed a site parallel to the EMAS site on UNIFE, which is accessible at the following link:

Go to the website

The EMAS PhD program is similar to the Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias y Tecnologías Marinas of the University of Cadiz (Spain) with which it collaborates. The PhD program is accredited by the national agency ANECA (Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación) - Agencia Andaluza del Conocimiento - Dirección de Evaluación y Acreditación. A framework agreement is active with the University of Cadiz for student mobility and a joint master's degree in Geological Sciences, Georesources, and Territory - Integrated Management of Coastal Areas, and on several occasions EMAS PhD students have come from this second-cycle training channel. The current Coordinator carries out part of the teaching activities of the double degree in Spanish at the University of Cadiz, promoting the doctoral program to a group of potential candidates coming from the European Union, African, Asian and South American countries. The Coordinator has also promoted the doctoral program having been one of the teachers of the Erasmus Mundus WACOMA Master, having carried out part of the teaching at the University of Cadiz.

The minimum period of mobility abroad and/or at research institutions is three months and is defined by the supervisor based on the research and training needs of the PhD student, and is presented and discussed during the PhD student's annual report to the faculty board.

Equipment and/or Laboratories

Laboratories of: Spectrometry, Micropaleontology, Microscopy, Cartography and GIS, Wet chemistry, Photogeology, Applied geochemistry, Geophysics, Tectonics, Geomorphology, Paleontology, Sedimentology, Thin Sections, X-ray diffraction, Micro-gas-chromatography, Laboratory of isotopic stratigraphy and paleoclimatology; Thermogravimetry, Archaeometry, Atmospheric Physics Radioactivity, Oceanographic sensors, Geodesy. Oceanographic vessel UCADIZ, single-seater bathyscaphe and surface drone Codevintec CRK for bathymetric surveys. Chemical analysis laboratory (elemental and isotopic): X-ray fluorescence spectrometer; scanning electron microscope (SEM) for BSE images and semi-quantitative microanalysis; ICPMS for trace and ultratrace analysis; with IsoPrime 100 mass spectrometer, Pyro Cube Elementar elemental analyzer for isotopic measurements of light elements. Thermophysics and Geothermal Laboratory, Seismic Room for monitoring human activity in Casaglia. It is currently being acquired by the Laser Granulometer Sedimentology Laboratory. For topographic surveys in the field, both the University of Ferrara and the University of Cadiz have a fleet of remotely piloted vehicles; a Leica Laser Scanner is also available at the University of Ferrara in Ferrara.

 See the laboratories

Library Holdings

Potentially the entire university library heritage is of interest to the course topics.

The number of scientific journals related to the topics developed in the EMAS PhD program exceeds 20,000 units. All this heritage is easily accessible online by PhD students through their laptop or the one available in their room.

E-resources

The following subscriptions are relevant to the course topics:

• 3 packages activated at the consortium level (Elsevier, Springer-Kluwer, Wiley-Blackwell);
• 7 scientific databases (JSTOR, Scopus, American Chemical Society journal package, Science online, ISI-Web of Science, CAS Scifinder, UNI Standards);
• Geological and geophysical database collected in Cadiz during numerous oceanographic campaigns;
• Satellite database NOAA and METESAT antenna from CACYTMAR

Specific software for the analysis of oceanographic and geographic data (GIS), seismic and bathymetric data for the morphodynamic modeling of coasts;

• Multiple programs for both 3D geological mapping and modeling of surface and deep Earth processes. These softwares are continuously updated and used by the faculty members, and made available to PhD students.

The department's computing and networking service manages computing resources and the updating of operating systems and applications; collaborates with Garr for the management and coordination of geographic and metropolitan networks and for security incidents; assists users in the installation and configuration of hardware and software; and manages the user and equipment registry. Between the two universities, there are at least ten computer rooms with a capacity of more than 150 students.

Other

PhD students have access to a study room equipped with PCs, printers, and internet connection, both fixed and wireless, and can also use a room for seminar meetings.