The Ph.D. Program in Information Engineering is addressed to qualified students wishing to acquire research and analytical skills on the generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data, and knowledge in systems. Information Engineering, widely used in all industries, is at the intersection of areas such as computer, control, electronic and telecommunications engineering. Possible research areas concern the analysis, design, and optimization of computer systems, electronic systems, telecommunication systems and networks, and control systems.

The Program includes courses, seminars, field projects, research internships and a final dissertation project. As an integral part of University of Salerno, the PhD program offers strong methodological courses combined with rigorous research activities. Financial support is granted according to merit.

Members of the academic staff are highly performing in terms of international publications, and they are active members of their international research communities. They are at the forefront of research in their fields and publish their findings in top research journals. They often serve on the editorial boards of leading international journals and are able to attract prestigious competitive grants (e.g., by the European Commission or by the Italian Government).

This international program consists of both a research component and a taught component. These components are normally organized in parallel. The taught component offers general research skills (linguistic skills, management of research, and exploitation of innovation) as well as introductory modules to the broader area of information engineering and specialized lectures and seminars on specific research topics. These, together with guided field-specific independent studies, offer a significant degree of freedom for the taught component.

The research component is conducted under the supervision of one or more members of the Academic staff, guiding the student through the research activities. Students might be included in national and international research projects, also in cooperation with companies and/or other universities or research centers.

The aim of the Program is to provide high-level training to talented students in the broad area of Information Engineering. The ultimate objective is that of enabling successful students to not only become independent researchers, but also to be acquainted with organizational skills, making them ready to work in fast-paced research & development environments, including universities, research centers and Companies.

The PhD program therefore aims to train students to:

• analyze the state of the art and identify, propose, develop scientific and technological innovations;
• conduct methodological and/or experimental research;
• promote the acquisition and use of ICT technologies and methods in service and production sectors, eventually starting new companies;
• operate in national and international research projects and establish collaborations with other research organizations and companies.

A PhD is awarded in recognition of the fact that the student has:

• completed his/her PhD studies;
• demonstrated the ability to independently run a scientific project using scientific methods appropriate to the subject;
• helped disseminating research on international journals and at international conferences, workshops and seminars;
• satisfactorily defended a doctoral thesis in a public viva-voice examination.

Professionals holding doctoral degrees gain several professional advantages. If interested in becoming a researcher in Universities and Research Centers (both Industrial and Academic), a PhD is a requirement. Large companies often hire PhD’s at higher levels and, moreover, it is becoming customary for top ranking positions to be reserved to PhD holders. Many Industrial research labs are seeking PhD holders and PhDs can also start their own companies based on their research.

Possible employment opportunities can be summarized as follows:

• small and medium innovation-centric enterprises. These include university spin-offs, and all these companies in need of a professional figure able to produce innovative design solutions, participate in international calls, manage complex projects in collaboration, recognize the strategic value of intellectual property;
• research and development departments of large companies, in which there is a need for researchers able to access to advanced scientific, technological and methodological knowledge and to produce the necessary knowledge for the innovation of complex products and processes;
• public and private research centers, including universities, in which methodological and technological innovation is developed and eventually transferred to the industrial world.

The PhD program is divided into two curricula. The curriculum on Computer and Information Systems Engineering addresses general research topics in the fields of Information Engineering, aimed at the development of methodological and technological innovations in Computer Engineering, Automation Engineering, Telecommunication Engineering, Electronic Engineering and in relevant applicative domain where the mentioned methodologies and technologies play a significant role. Examples of research topics include: Artificial Intelligence, Intelligent Robotics, Embedded Systems and Internet of Things, Control Systems and Industrial Automation, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software Architectures, Multimedia Systems and Applications, Telecommunications Networks, Statistical Inference and Data Fusion, Modeling, design and control of devices and systems for Energy Management.

The curriculum on Information Technologies for Digital Medicine has been introduced in accordance with the project IT4DiMe, funded by the Italian government within the Excellence Departments initiative for the years 2023-2027. The topics addressed by this curriculum are relative to Embedded Systems for Digital Medicine, including methodologies for the analysis, design and development of hardware and software systems (comprising wearable sensors) for digital health, and distributed health applications and services with strict requirements of efficiency, resiliency, security and safety; and to Artificial Intelligence for Digital Medicine, including Machine Learning and Statistical Inference methods for diagnosis, for the analysis of omics data, for the customization of therapies, and assistive technologies (comprising robotic systems) for continuous and customized patient care, integrating Cognitive Robotics methodologies to facilitate the interaction with the patient and health-care personnel.

The PhD Program Director is prof. Pasquale Foggia

Why PhD@DIEM?

Board of Professors

Student Guide