Programme

The programme, whose goal is the training of students in conducting excellent scientific research, is open to the MSc students in:
  • Automation and Control Engineering,
  • Biomedical Engineering,
  • Computer Science and Engineering,
  • Electric Engineering,
  • Electronic Engineering,
  • Telecommunication Engineering.
The program combines research activities directed to the production of an original scientific result and its communication together with extracurricular courses.
  • Being a researcher (3 CFU): The course is about scientific research and how to practice it. It is directed to a beginning researcher and tries to introduce him or her to this world, ranging from principles down to practical tips. It covers the following main topics: What is research and why we do it, Research methods and the research process in practice, Publications: What, why, How, Evaluation of research and researchers, The researcher's career, Research ethics.
  • Communication Skills for the Engineering Scholars (3 CFU): This course, also provided as MOOC, provides the groundings to communicate a scientific result. It describes the main formats of communication (paper, presentation, project proposal, CV) and good strategies regarding document organization and writing. Furthermore, strategies to review a scientific article and to reply to a review are analyzed.
  • State of the art review and project proposal (3 CFU): This research activity is directed to produce a state of the art review on a research area and the identification of a prominent research topic that is currently unexplored. This work will be part of the student'?'s MSc thesis. In tackling this activity, the student is required to apply the skills learned in the two courses aforementioned. Furthermore, the document produced by the student must be presented orally.
  • Research laboratory and manuscript (3 CFU): This research activity is directed to the achievement of a scientific result starting from the problem identified in the previous research activity and potentially leading to a manuscript describing the original results.
  • Reviewing, rebuttal, and presentation (2 CFU): This research activity is directed to introduce a student to the revision of a paper and to present orally the original results. The student is required to review papers of other students, to reply to the reviews on her/his manuscript (if produced), and, finally, to defend her/his results in an oral presentation in front of a scientific committee.
The organization of the program is as follows.
  • Application to the call: A student must apply to a call specifying the research areas she/he is interested in.
  • Selection and research area assignment: A student is selected and assigned a research area.
  • Beginning with the activities: The student joins the research group corresponding to the assigned research area and starts to work on the preliminaries for her/his future research, which will be part of her/his MSc thesis.
  • Courses: A student attends the two classes.
  • Research activities: A student is required to tackle the three research activities State of the art review and project proposal, Research laboratory and manuscript, and Reviewing, rebuttal, and presentation.
In order to conclude the programme with success, the students are subject to the following requirements:
  • Average mark: Having, once all the exams are passed, a GPA of at least 28.5.
  • Graduation time: Graduating in a period no longer than 3 years.