Computer Science and Engineering

The PhD program allows one to obtain the title of Philosophy Doctor (Ph.D.). This is the highest level of education, which, in addition to being required to pursue an academic career,  is increasingly required for senior roles in industry.

The Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering lasts three years and offers a broad-spectrum preparation that, following the nature of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering of University of Bologna, considers both scientific and engineering aspects of computing.

At the beginning of the PhD program, each student is assigned a supervisor plus a co-supervisor  who guides the student  throughout the Ph.D. studies; at least one must be part of the Academic Board.

The first 24 months include integration and deepening of the student expertise, according to a personalized learning plan (proposed by the student in agreement with the supervisor(s) and then approved by the Faculty Board). The learning plan foresees reaching 30 CFU (credits) by attending courses and passing evaluations.
By the 15th month (from the beginning of the PhD) the student  submits a thesis proposal to the Academic Board (Collegio dei docenti) for approval. By the end of the 24th month the student has completed the personalized learning plan and reports on the progresses towards the final thesis.
At the end of the third year, entirely devoted to the thesis work, the Academic Board approves the admission to the final exam, on the basis of the reviewers' comments to the thesis.
The Academic Board may authorize a student to spend  periods of viariable lenght in universities, research centers or companies in italy. It is mandatory for a student to spend a period of at least 3 months abroad (6 months are recommended), between the 1° and 2° year or between the 2° and 3° year.

Research topics

• Distributed systems and algorithms
• Programming languages and systems
• Computer networks and applications
• Software engineering
• Formal methods and semantics of programming languages
• Artificial intelligence
• Real-time and fault-tolerant systems
• Parallel algorithms and probabilistic algorithms
• Image Processing
• Bioinformatics and biometric systems
• Information systems and databases
• Concurrency theory
• Security
• Logical foundations of computer science
• Multimedia systems

Job opportunities and potential areas of employment

The course is designed to train people able to carry out academic and industrial research and to work as managers in companies. The main career opportunities are: university career; research activities for industries or institutions; management in ICT companies.