The course

Ph.D. Course Details 

Type of Ph.D.: Interuniversity Ph.D. 

Duration: 3 years  

Access: selection by announcement  

Language: Italian/English  

Teaching methods:  

Credits: 17,5  

Starting date: 1 October 2023  

Location: University of Bari Aldo Moro  

Department: Soil, Plant and Food Sciences (DiSSPA)  

Ph.D. website: https://www.uniba.it/it/dottorati/gst 

Coordinator: Prof. Gentile Francesco  

Class of affiliation:  

Control body: 

 

Course description  

The Interuniversity Ph.D. Course between the University of Bari Aldo Moro and the Polytechnic University of Bari aims to integrate in a systemic vision the engineering, agro-forestry and environmental knowledge that is characteristic of the various scientific areas that today contribute, albeit with different approaches, to defining forms of sustainable land management. The aim is to explore new frontiers, both in basic and applied research, that will boost the knowledge needed to manage environmental and territorial complexity, promoting technological innovation in line with the New Green Deal that will characterise national and EU policies in the near future.  

The Ph.D. intends to support a transversal approach that sees, in the development of ecosystem approaches and actions, the ways in which to combine development and environmental protection, preserve natural resources and optimise their use to maximise benefits, and ensure resilience and adaptation to climate and environmental change.  

Thanks to the integration of different disciplines, the Ph.D. Doctor will possess, at the end of the course, the level of skills required to conduct highly innovative research and realise applications, both in technical and academic fields, in the field of land management engineering, biosystem engineering and agro-forestry sciences. Particular care is devoted to the topic of technology transfer.  

 

Course Objectives  

The Course objectives are pursued in the following topics, which are not exhaustive:  

  • the sustainable management of natural resources  
  • climate and environmental change mitigation and adaptation strategies,  
  • construction and management aspects of structures and facilities,  
  • the study of climate-soil-vegetation interaction,  
  • forecasting and defence against extreme events,  
  • the study and mitigation of soil erosion processes,  
  • green infrastructure,  
  • prevention and active intervention against forest fires,  
  • integrated wastewater treatment for the recovery of raw materials,  
  • environmental sustainability assessment methods (e.g. LCA),  
  • the management of information made available by remote sensors (remote sensing) and proximity sensors (precision farming),  
  • the use of technologies for analysing and managing large volumes of data (IoT and Big Data). 

 

Reference Areas and Scientific Disciplinary Sectors  

The reference areas of the course are: 07 - Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, 08b - Civil Engineering, 02 - Physical Sciences, 05 - Biological Sciences, 09 - Industrial and Information Engineering.  

The Scientific Disciplinary Sectors of reference of the Ph.D. Course are: AGR/01, AGR/03, AGR/04, AGR/05, AGR/08, AGR/09, AGR/10, AGR/11, FIS/01, FIS/07, BIO/03, ICAR/01, ICAR/02, ICAR/03, ICAR/06, ICAR/07, ICAR/09, ICAR/20, ING-IND/16, ING-IND/22, ING-IND/35 and ING-INF/07. 

Professional opportunities 

The aim of Ph.D. training is to enable the maturation of a broad vision and awareness of the multi and interdisciplinary context in which today it is necessary to operate in order to face the complex challenges of security, climate change, technological innovation and environmental sustainability. The Ph.D. Course contributes to training public and private managers, professional figures and research staff of high qualification and specialisation, endowed with autonomy, responsibility, high intellectual flexibility, ease of cultural and professional adaptation and individual creative ability capable of rapid insertion, mobility and eventual reconversion, in the sectors of planning and management of the territory and environmental protection. Given the breadth of topics and the interdisciplinary nature of engineering, biosystems engineering and agro-forestry sciences, the professional outlets for Ph.D. Doctors in 'Sustainable Land Management' are wide-ranging in Italy and abroad and, in particular, take the form of the following professional figures: qualified technicians with specific skills, researchers at public or private research centres and laboratories, technical managers in industry or national and international administrative bodies, researchers and lecturers at Universities.