Presentation

Scienze e Culture dell'Umano. Società, Educazione, Politica e Comunicazione Presentation

PhD School in Human Sciences and Cultures Society, Education, Politics and Communication—SCU

XXXVIII courses cycle

Director Full Professor Filippo FIMIANI

Contacts:

Council members direzione.dottorato.SCU@unisa.it

PhD students segreteria.dottorato.SCU@unisa.it

The new Doctoral School in Human Sciences and Cultures: Society, Education, Politics and Communication—SCU has two mains goals. On the one hand, it aims to provide a higher level of education to young professionals able to leverage the opportunities provided by Horizon Europe 2021-2027, by national and international politics driven by the NextGenerationEU and post COVID-19. On the other hand, it has the ambition to promote productive and critical skills to match global challenges and contemporary challenges posed to the human and the knowledges about the human today, in the times of the Anthropocene and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs, of the pandemic crises and the radical digital renovation of environment and life forms.

By exploring innovative research paths experimentations and unconventional connections between vocal practices and epistemics/material fields, between empiric methodologies and complex theoretical objects, the PhD School in Human Sciences and Cultures proposes a synthesis and expression of consolidated traditions of studies and researches of three Departments and two Doctoral Courses of University of Salerno: the Political and Communication Sciences Department– DISPC-POLICOM, the Human, Philosophical and Formation Sciences Department–DISUFF—both already included in the Doctorate in Sciences of languages, politics, society and education–SLIPSE—, and the Political and Social Studies Department–DISPS—previously hosting the Doctorate in Social Theory, Digital Innovation and Public Policies—. The seven Curricula of the PhD School are fed by the richness and plurality of these experiences and histories, which are constantly intertwined and compared, and propose a didactical and formation offer for humanistic research that is unique in the University of Salerno for complexity and interdisciplinarity.

Administrative headquarters

Department of Political, Social and Communication Sciences (DSPSC-POLICOM)

International conventions

Universidad Católica de Colombia (Bogotà, Colombia) Universidad Católica de Pereira (Pereira, Colombia)

Duration

Triennial

Bodies

Interdepartmental coordination, composed of PhD School Director in Science and Human cultures—SCU and the Directors of the three founders Departments (DISPC-POLICOM, DISUFF, DISPS), rules over cultural and planning topics, politics and government relative to PhD School.

Didactic Commission, composed of the Director and the curricular representatives, is called to define the types of research training activities envisaged by the current Rulebook for Doctoral Research (including the compulsory and chosen attendance by PhD students of lectures, seminars, exercises, supplementary activities etc.), of the planning, organization and scheduling of the three- year didactic offer of the Doctoral Course. The Didactic Commission also regulates and instructs the procedures for verifying the training and research of doctoral students, in particular the six-monthly reporting and the annual report necessary for admission to the following year or the final exam.

The Didactic Commission also reaches the qualified and relevant identification of the tutors and any co-tutors of the PhD theses, and, finally, the determination of the didactic and tutoring activities of the PhD students carried out for the PhD course, including the tutoring to undergraduates, of lectures and seminars which is one of the institutional tasks envisaged.

All educational, verification and supplementary activities are detailed in the Rulebook and the Educational Offer of the PhD School in Human Sciences and Cultures—SCU, to which reference is made (Annex).

The Council, composed of all the professors who have joined the PhD Program, has full and ultimate cultural, scientific and ethical responsibility for the contents, activities and behavior of its members and doctoral students, in accordance with the provisions and regulations of the University and Ministerial Regulations and the Code of Ethics for PhD programs, to which reference is made. The Council submits for approval what is deliberated, proposed and regulated by the Interdepartmental Coordination and by the Didactic Commission, as well as with regard to the evaluation commissions designated for the competitive examinations for admission to the Doctoral Course and the final examinations of the three-year doctoral period.

Curricula

Curriculum A) Sciences and cultures of Communication

The Curriculum of Sciences and cultures of Communication articulates, around the original pivot consisting of computational analyses, with original NLP software and application languages, and experimental psycholinguistics research, a flexible and articulated network of skills and knowledge that are both theoretical and methodological, hermeneutic and analytical. Not only applicative and inherent to multi- and trans-disciplinary fields and objects, these knowledge practices are today— in the transformations of the forms of production and circulation of documents that emerged with COVID-19 and at the heart of global political agendas such as NextGenerationEU—capable of to grasp and exploit the transformations introduced by Digital Humanities and Big Data, thanks also to openly interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches such as studies of contemporary aesthetics and visual culture, to studies of digital ethnography—attentive to participatory productions of social habits and networks values—, to qualitative, quantitative and mixed sociological methodologies, and to comparative perspectives, such as comparative law of information, communication and Copyright.

  1. Analysis and testing of languages and environments for the development of NLP tools and applications; trans-disciplinary methodological synergies for the development of hybrid systems of Big Data analysis and visualization in the contemporary society of knowledge and communication, including public and institutional, cultural, commodity and informal.
  2. Basic theoretical and experimental research on cognitive processes and on the understanding and production of language; linguistic, psycholinguistic and neuro-imaging analysis based on oral and written stimuli (in collaboration with the neuroradiology group of UNISA).
  3. Contemporary aesthetics of communication and media, analog and digital environments; theoretical, methodological and field research for the production of documentaries, interviews, participatory and therapeutic filmmaking (Audiovisual Storytelling Laboratory— LABSAV/DSPC-POLICOM in collaboration with the "Scuola Medica Salernitana" Department of Medicine and the Videotherapy and Therapeutic Filmmaking Clinic for Autistic Spectrum Disorders—DIPMED-UNISA and AOU San Giovanni di Dio and Ruggi d'Aragona of Salerno).
  4. Digital Humanities: research theories and methodologies and trans-disciplinary applications; Big Data, Data Mining and info-design; ethnographies and digital cultural geographies and Digital Capital.
  5. History, theories and methodologies of contemporary visual culture, with a critical and interdisciplinary approach to images, languages, media environments, vision devices and performative and embobied practices of material and immaterial production and consumption; Everyday Aesthetics (subjects, genres, objects, devices and media, institutions and spaces).
  6. Artisticity and artificiality, creativity and communication of young people, informal practices and participatory cultures (Observatory Communication and Participation of Youth Cultures—OCPG).
  7. Comparative law, information and communication; Communication Law; Advertising Law; Copyright and copyright.

Employment and professional opportunities

Companies and institutions specialized in the management of semantic content, NPL, Big Data, and in DH. Researchers and professionals and in centers and institutes of excellence, scientific and academic research, public and private, as well as in institutional communication structures and networks, mainly digital. Professionals in service companies and editorial, design and production of communication and storytelling, traditional, digital and transmedia, as well as formats and contents, highly transversal and innovative for environments and themes, devices and channels.

Members/SSD

Alessandro LAUDANNA (Referente, Full Professor, M-PSI/01), Felice ADDEO (Associate Professor, SPS/07), Maria Giovanna CONFETTO (Senior Researcher, SECS-P/08), Rosanna FATTIBENE (Associate Professor, IUS/09), Filippo FIMIANI (Full Professor, M-FIL/04), Giorgia IOVINO (Associate Professor, M-GGR/02), Stefania LEONE (Associate Professor, SPS/07), Mario MONTELEONE (Senior Researcher, L-LIN/01), Maria Gabriella STANZIONE (Associate Professor, IUS/02), Daniela VELLUTINO (Associate Professor, L-LIN/01), Simona VIETRI (Full Professor, L-LIN/01)

Curriculum B) Theories and History of Institutions and government

The Curriculum of History and Theory of Institutions and Government is structured and articulated around research and analysis methodologies traditionally similar and, today, engaged in profound epistemic, categorical and thematic renewals, such as the history and theory of institutional formation processes modern and contemporary politics and law, as well as the construction of the state-form and its transformations, governance techniques, the Hard Power and Soft Power apparatuses, international relations and conflicts, now redefined in the post-Covid-19 geopolitical agendas and in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs. Particular emphasis is given to the critical perspectives on new political subjectivities and on key words of modernity and contemporaneity, such as secularism, religious freedom and the public sphere, political and legal secularization, multiculturalism, humanitarianism and rights human, biopolitics and extra-human nature.

  1. Historical and theoretical analysis of the formation processes of modern and contemporary political institutions, of the form-state and its transformations, of Hard Power and Soft Power. Theory and history of international relations and conflicts, of war, of hostility figures. Theory, history and critical perspectives on human rights, cosmopolitanism and humanitarianism.
  2. Political rationality and techniques of government, with particular attention to the theory and history of neoliberalism. Establishment and transformation of the relationship between public and private space. Transformation and crisis of representative democracy, emergence of new political subjects. Forms of populism, social democracy, movements, biopolitics and life management.
  3. Theory and history of legal institutions, public law and private law. Secularism, public space, multiculturalism, religious freedom and the public sphere, analysis of political and legal secularization processes.
  4. Theoretical and epistemological research on the relationships between human nature, forms of life and political institutions; on the relationship between extra-human natures.
  5. History and theory of welfare institutions and Webfare. Poverty and processes of social exclusion. History and tradition of sociological thought and contemporary social theories applied to the processes of change.
  6. Theoretical study and empirical research on social change, on processes and situations of social and territorial inequality and on cohesion policies, at national and international level, also in a comparative historical perspective.
  7. Analysis of political texts concerning the integration of the young Latin American republics that arose from the decolonization processes of the 19th century: culture, institution and politics.

Employment and professional opportunities

Public and private research. Professionals and researchers in research and academic institutes, in centers of excellence and methodological, theoretical and thematic innovation, in EU bodies, in institutional archiving and historical documentation structures and in digital networks. Publishing.

Members/SSD

Massimo de CAROLIS DI PROSSEDI (Referent, Full Professor, SPS/01), Luca CASTAGNA (Researcher, M-STO/04), Mariarosaria COLUCCIELLO (Associate Professor, L-LIN/07), Silvana D’ALESSIO (Associate Professor, M-STO/02), Giuseppe D’ANGELO (Associate Professor, L-LIN/06), Domenico MADDALONI (Full Professor, SPS/07), Gianfranco MACRI’ (Full Professor, IUS/09), Graziano PALAMARA (Associate Professor, SPS/06), Annamaria Giulia PARISI (Associate Professor, IUS/02), Roberto PARRELLA (Associate Professor, M-STO/04), Giovanna TRUDA (Associate Professor, SPS/11).

Outside of University of Salerno:

Francesco DI DONATO (Full Professor, IUS/19)

Curriculum C) Methodology of Educational Research

The curriculum Methodology of Educational Research aims to ensure the necessary skills to perform research both in the theoretical-methodological and empirical-experimental fields and to promote the development of innovative application practices by systematically cooperating with national and international research groups. The areas of specialization respond to the growing needs of research to develop complex interpretations of socio-cultural and educational systems, to deepen conceptual, theoretical and methodological models, to design and evaluate technologies, educational techniques and interventions in the training field, to encourage the development of the methodological skills necessary for didactic and docimological research.

  1. Epistemological status of pedagogy and lines of intersection with the human sciences. Theories and methods of pedagogical research. Historical-comparative analysis of the different paidetic contexts (scholastic and meta-scholastic). Historical-narrative lines of pedagogical research. Emerging paradigms of educational research.
  2. Pedagogy as a reflective system (open and complex) around the educational as well as constantly recognizable in human existential-evolutionary-training contexts, which can be investigated through the multiple (and always interconnected) scientific paradigms. The subject of privileged investigation are the issues of Communication, Relationship, Care, considered transversal (implicit / explicit) in every research project, because they are the foundation of the educational and, at the same time, the human.
  3. Research, theoretical and empirical-experimental and qualitative grounded on the processes of co-construction of identity (personal, family, social, professional, mainly in the socio- educational, health, pedagogical professions) and pedagogical skills.
  4. Educational and training phenomena: qualitative, quantitative and experimental approaches in different formal, non-formal and informal learning contexts.
  5. Theories, methodologies and survey tools for product (learning), process (teaching) and system (quality) evaluation in education and training.
  6. Theories, methodologies and tools for surveying and researching specific docimological aspects relating to the functions of evaluation and the validity / reliability / effectiveness of the measurement systems.
  7. The impact of teaching methodologies, Media Education (education to / with / the media), Education Technology, the effectiveness of virtual learning environments and evaluation in e-learning (e-assessment).

Employment and professional opportunities

Access prominent roles in the workplace and educational methodologies and docimological analysis, in various sectoral areas: universities, research organizations and national and international training, public administrations and businesses.

Members/SSD

Antonio MARZANO (Referent, Full Professor, M-PED/04), Marinella ATTINÀ (Full Professor, M- PED/01), Chiara D’ALESSIO (Associate Professor, M-PED/01), Maria Grazia LOMBARDI (Researcher, M-PED/01), Emiliana MANNESE (Associate Professor, M-PED/01), Paola MARTINO (Associate Professor, M-PED/01), Erika Marie PACE (Researcher, M-PED/03), Rosanna TAMMARO (Full Professor, M-PED/04), Rosa VEGLIANTE (Researcher, M-PED/04).

Curriculum D) Didactics, Special Pedagogy and Technology for Inclusive Education

The curriculum in Didactics, Special Pedagogy and Technology for Inclusive Education, based on the recognition of the complex nature of Special Pedagogy and General and Inclusive Didactics, intends to promote its study through inter- and transdisciplinary approaches in order to favor inclusion in formal educational contexts, non-formal and informal. The curricular path also provides for the acquisition of specific skills relating to the use of educational technologies for inclusion, focusing attention on the issue of differences with a view to individualization and personalization of training and educational processes. More specifically, the curriculum is divided into modules/strands of study and/or educational following:

  1. Definition of the study objects and epistemologies of Special Pedagogy and General and Inclusive Didactics. Design, implementation and evaluation of research designs. Quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods. Ethical aspects of educational research.
  2. Theories, models and practices of Special Pedagogy and General and Inclusive Didactics. Study of educational processes and teaching-learning dynamics in an inclusive perspective. Study of inter- and transdisciplinary approaches aimed at identifying and implementing best practices in educational and training contexts.
  3. International policies for the development of quality, equitable and inclusive educational contexts. Analysis of the educational policies that have characterized and characterize the inclusion of all those who are at risk of exclusion globally; focus on inclusion as a central and priority issue of the strategies identified in the political agendas (post Covid-19, Horizon Europe 2021-2027, Sustainable Development Goals 2030-SDGs, NextGenerationEU, OECD Learning Compass etc.).
  4. Inclusion and life project. Study of the constructs of difference, diversity and special educational needs through reference interpretative models. Study of the cultural barriers that hinder inclusive processes. Theories and approaches aimed at promoting self- determination, empowerment, well-being and quality of life for the realization of a life project.
  5. Knowledge and education technologies for the autonomous production of inclusive digital content through new media. Design and/or use of software to promote inclusion (Digital Storytelling, Digital Tales, Serious Games, Learning Objects, formatting for high readability). Identification of hardware and software developed in inter- and transdisciplinary areas and transposition into educational contexts with the aim of promoting full participation and quality, equitable and inclusive education.
  6. Design for inclusive teaching in hybrid learning environments, accessible, flexible and oriented to the enhancement of individual differences. Identification of approaches and design models for inclusive education with a specific focus on the use of technologies (for example, Universal Design for Learning).

Employment and professional opportunities

Research activity in the academic field. Scholars and professionals in research institutes which deal with Training, Evaluation and Educational Research (INDIRE and INVALSI) as well as CNR institutes that deal with educational technologies for inclusion; in local companies for research, design and planning of training actions and surveys within the scope of the doctoral course; in the context of educational institutions and in support of initiatives of networks of schools and/or territorial centers in the subjects of the doctoral course; in local subjects operating in scientific dissemination for the design of learning environments centered on face-to-face and digital interaction. Production of media content in the field of digital publishing (with specific reference to the production of digital content for school texts adhering to the standards required by law No. 221 of 2012); in the field of videogames producing software houses (with specific reference to the design of edugames and seriousgames); in the field of museum education (with specific reference to digitization and accessibility of the artistic and cultural heritage).

Members/SSD

Felice CORONA (Referent, Full Professor, M-PED/03), Paola AIELLO (Full Professor, M-PED/03), Maria ANNARUMMA (Senior Researcher, M-PED/03), Daniela CALABRÒ (Associate Professor, M- FIL/01), Diana Carmela DI GENNARO (Researcher, M-PED/03), Stefano DI TORE (Associate Professor, M-PED/03), Giuseppe MASULLO (Associate Professor, SPS/07), Fausta SABATANO (Researcher, M- PED/03), Maurizio SIBILIO (Full Professor, M-PED/03), Davide TARIZZO (Associate Professor, M- FIL/03), Iolanda ZOLLO (Senior Researcher, M-PED/03).

Curriculum E) Cultural Psychology of Education, Clinical Psychology, Physical Activity and Sport Sciences

The PhD Curriculum in Cultural Psychology of Education, Clinical Psychology, Physical Activity and Sport Sciences offers international training and prepares students for an academic career within its reference fields. The PhD Curriculum not only provides high-profile knowledge in the research fields of doctoral projects, but pays special attention to those essential skills for an international academic career such as the ability to create partnership networks (Networking) and to publish results, according to rigorous scientific criteria (top standard Publishing).

Students are carefully supervised in the choice of academic path both in a European (European Research Council—ERC Scheme) and extra-European context in order to guarantee the maximum possible degree of development of their research ideas.

In doing so, students will be able to make a significant contribution to the development of scientific knowledge in their field of interest. The PhD Curriculum is divided into the following lines of research (1, 2, 3, 4) and scientific activities (n. 5, 6):

  1. The research line in Cultural Psychology of Education examines how the educational experience is culturally organized. This line of research emerges from Cultural Psychology and aims to understand the relationships between developing people and educational contexts and to provide new qualitative theories and methodologies for the study of these dimensions. Cultural Psychology of Education investigates how human experience is culturally guided through semiotic mediation, symbolic action and the exchange of intersubjectively shared representations of living spaces. This line of research challenges the "ontological" conceptualization of education and promotes an idea of education as a liminal experience.
  2. The line of research in Clinical Psychology refers to principles, methods and procedures for understanding, predicting and alleviating emotional, biological and social distress and conduct disorders. Particular attention will be given to the strategic approach and the acquisition of "clinical strategies for solving the problem", also offering integrated and multidimensional clinical models capable of intervening on specific needs at an individual, group and community level. From a positive psychology perspective, the aim will be to promote well-being and personal development. In addition, special attention will be given to health psychology, psychotherapeutic intervention and its relations with neuroscience in the management of complex and/or chronic diseases related to the interaction between mind, body and genes as well as its epigenetic implications.
  3. The research line in Physical Education offers models, theories and practices in the field of physical education for different population targets. This line focuses on teaching-learning approaches capable of identifying and implementing best practices in the field of exercise sciences.
  4. The research line in Sports Sciences refers to research, theories and methodologies in the field of sport. Through the adoption of quantitative, qualitative and mixed research methods, this line of research investigates the different motor skills and sports performance.
  5. The Design and Implementation of Joint Research activities will be carried out in partnership with international scholars and research groups. Each student will be supervised by an internal supervisor and an external supervisor chosen "ad hoc" according to the student's research project.
  6. For the Networking and Publishing activity, the curriculum will guarantee access to international scientific collaborations of excellence that will allow the student to develop his academic network. Inbound and outbound mobility is considered a priority axis and is strongly encouraged. The curriculum aims to support high-profile scientific production by providing the student with the necessary training in the field of academic writing.

Employment and professional opportunities

The curriculum aims to train highly specialized students able to work both in the field of scientific research and in the non-university sector. Below are the job opportunities identified for the four lines of research.

PhDs in the field of Cultural Psychology of Education will be particularly oriented to work at universities and research centers. They will also find opportunities for employability in institutions (such as schools and other informal educational settings), public bodies and international agencies. Foundations, Associations and NGOs dealing with globalization, culture and education.

PhDs with focus on Clinical Psychology will be able to work in academia as well as in the public and private health care services implementing projects aiming to improve both patients/citizens and well-being professionals with attention to scientific knowledge.

PhDs with focus on Physical Activity have competences in academic work in the field of physical education and learning processes. They will also find employment opportunities in a variety of settings ranging from industries to non-profit sector related to physical exercise.

PhDs with focus on Sport Sciences find career opportunities at university level as well as in the highly specialized teams and tech companies working in the field of sport activities that includes performance analysis, physical education and rehabilitation, sport for wellbeing and good health promotion.

Members/SSD

Rodolfo VASTOLA (Referent, Associate Professor, M-EDF/01), Ruggero ANDRISANO RUGGIERI (Associate professor, PSI-07), Silvia COPPOLA (Researcher, M-EDF/01), Mauro COZZOLINO (Associate Professor, PSI-08), Francesca D’ELIA (Associate Professor, M-EDF/01), Chiara FIORETTI (Associate Professor, PSI/08), Giuseppina MARSICO (Associate professor, PSI-04), Maurizio MERICO (Associate Professor, SPS/08), Carmen PALUMBO (Associate Professor, M-EDF/01), Gaetano RAIOLA (Associate Professor, M-EDF/02).

Curriculum F) Politics, Law, Market

The Curriculum of Politics, Law, Market is a gathering of politics, law, social sciences, economics and marketing and identifies in the new global geographies of power and production and in the transformations of subjects an unprecedented field of interdisciplinary and critical investigation. If traditionally political science has power as its object, its methods of acquisition, distribution and exercise, the studies in this Curriculum question this tradition in the light of the holding, crisis and/or overcoming the concept of sovereignty: political studies intertwine with those on the structures of global governance, the government of the economy and the institutions and organizations of the global market, with legal comparison, political economy, changes in welfare models and public policies, with critical theories on the transformations of the subject and of citizenship, feminist theories, gender studies, postcolonial and decolonial approaches.

  1. Crisis and transformation of constitutional arrangements. Market institutions, economic governance, business form and legal regimes; financialization of the economy. Crisis of the Bretton Woods assets and changes in the system of international relations after the overcoming of a bipolar logic (Cold War). The geopolitics of digital networks; the government of the Internet as a new terrain of conflict between superpowers. The role of international institutions (IMF, OECD, World Bank) and non-governmental ones in global challenges (migration, climate change, energy resources).
  2. Analysis of parties, social movements and systems of representation. The transformations of collective actors and the changes in the nature of political representation. The resources for acquiring and managing consent. Political communication strategies—languages, symbols, rituals—in the age of social networks and digital platforms. The nature and perspectives of social movements: forms of mobilization and organization between horizontality and verticality. Formation of a supranational non-governmental public sphere; new forms of global civil society and NGOs.
  3. Public policies: Policy Approach, public administrations, evaluation. Welfare and webfare as a field of tension between neoliberal policies (individualization of the approach and demands, selectivity, privatization and corporatization of services) and the collective logic of needs and demands (social rights, global health, city governance and access to urban spaces, common goods etc.). Policies not only as points of balance between economic macro-factors and the interactions between interests and institutions, but as real constitutive dimensions of the phenomenology of politics: health policies, environmental policies, international policies, economic policies, digital policies, etc.
  4. Citizenship, subjects, rights. The transformation of subjectivities and the criticism of the subject. Citizenship as a field of tension and conflict. Beyond the dominant subject: Gender Studies, postcolonial and decolonial approaches, intersectionality. The critical theory between power relations and production/consumption systems: domination and exploitation. Rights and sovereignty: supranational spaces and global constitutionalism.

Employment and professional opportunities

Public and private research. Professionals and analysts in management bodies of international, national and local institutions, in non-governmental organizations and non-profit associations, in EU and PA bodies in charge of territorial governance, planning, organization, management and evaluation of public policies, in public and private authorities with an international influence, in parties and trade unions. Publishing. Planning, organization, execution and evaluation in international cooperation. Participation in transnational research and information networks in the context of social and trade union movements and global activism. –

Members/SSD

Adalgiso AMENDOLA (Referent, Full Professor, IUS/20), Massimiliano BENCARDINO (Full Professor, M-GGR/02), Germana CITARELLA (Associate Professor, MGGR/01), Francesca CONTE (Researcher, SECS-P/08), Virgilio D’ANTONIO (Full Professor, IUS/02), Chiara D’AURIA (Associate Professor, SPS/06), Marianna ESPOSITO (Associate Professor, SPS/01), Domenico FRUNCILLO (Associate Professor, SPS/11), Emiliana MANGONE (Associate Professor, SPS/08), Grazia MOFFA (Associate Professor, SPS/09), Paolo PICIOCCHI (Full Professor, SECSP/08), Ingrid SALVATORE (Associate Professor, SPS/01), Giordana STRAZZA (Researcher, IUS/10), Roberta TROISI (Associate Professor, SECSP/010), Agostino VOLLERO (Associate Professor, SECS-P/08).

Curriculum G) Social Theory, Digital Innovation and Public Policies

The Curriculum in Social Theory, Digital Innovation and Public Policies provides advanced knowledge of the social, computer, economic, legal and political sciences, and offers the conceptual and methodological tools and research skills suitable for the investigation and understanding of social, economic, mediological dynamics and cultural in the digital innovation society. Particular attention is given to: interaction between social systems and low-cost hardware systems in mobile contexts; social network analysis; human-machine interaction; interactions between media and social actors; relations between actors (nationally and internationally) and technologies, as well as the resources they activate for development and sustainability. The aim of the curriculum is comprehensive and specialized training in social theory and research and cultural and innovation processes, in the implementation of innovative public policies.

  1. Theories, methodologies and quantitative-qualitative analyzes of social research; history and models of sociological thought; Social Theory; digital society; social change and technological innovation.
  2. Sociology of cultural and communicative processes, of the media, of the public, of digital cultures; audiovisual media, social media; individual and collective narratives and identities; of the artistic-cultural sectors; of social change.
  3. Theoretical, methodological analysis and IT applications in digital technological environments; Social Networks; Cyber Warfare and Cyber Intelligence; data security; Big data Analytics.
  4. Comparative law and critical study of law; differences and similarities between legal systems in the micro and macro dimension, legal techniques and values; society and law.
  5. Sociology of political and legal phenomena and institutions; contemporary political theories; order of political discourse; post-truth and documediality; control society, security and emergency policies; politics and legal forms.
  6. Theoretical, methodological and analytical studies of political science, in particular on politics and technological innovations; forms of politics; consent and Internet Governance; media, social media and political participation.
  7. Theory and analysis of economic processes; historical and quantitative methodology; economic processes and social and institutional changes.
  8. Studies and methodologies of historical research in and of Modernity, of the state and forms of power; riots, revolutions and social effects.
  9. Sociology of economic processes, work, the environment and the territory; crisis and transformation of work; labor and welfare policies; capitalism and digital society; migration and socio-economic impact.
  10. Didactics and learning of the Spanish language, cultural forms connected to the language, history, role of Spanish culture in contemporary society.

Employment and professional opportunities

Research in academic contexts, institutes and research centers of excellence; researchers and professionals in research institutions dealing with Social Theory, Digital Society and Digital Innovation, Media and Social Media, Social Networks, Network Analysis, Cultural Innovation, New App and Quality of Life; professionals in the Public Policy sector for the design, research and development functions to support strategic and operational decision-making processes (Educational, Social, Socio-Mediological, Urban, Health, Migration, Gender and Generation Policies).

Members/SSD

Luigi FREZZA (Referent, Full Professor, SPS/08), Giuseppina ALBANO (Senior Researcher, SECS-S/01), Paola ATTOLINO (Associate Professor, L-LIN/12), Gennaro AVALLONE (Associate Professor, SPS/10), Karia BALLACCHINO (Associate Professor, M-DEA/01), Davide BUBBICO (Associate Professor, SPS/09), Guido CAVALCA (Senior Researcher, SPS/09), Giuseppina CERSOSIMO (Full Professor, SPS/07), Fabrizio DENUNZIO (Associate Professor, SPS/08), Giuseppe FOSCARI (Associate Professor, M-STO/02), Clemente GALDI (Associate Professor, INF/01), Gennaro IORIO (Full Professor, SPS/07), Mariadomenica LO NOSTRO (Associate Professor, L-LIN/04), Rosaria MINERVINI (Associate Professor, L-LIN/07), Massimo PENDENZA (Full Professor, SPS/07), Serena QUARTA (Researcher, SPS/07), Geraldina ROBERTI (Associate Professor, SPS/08), Roberto ROSSI (Associate Professor, SECS-P/12), Diana SALZANO (Associate Professor, SPS/08), Pasquale SERRA (Associate Professor, SPS/02), Mario TIRINO (Researcher, SPS/08), Adriano VINALE (Associate Professor, SPS/02).

Doctoral activities

In addition to the educational and training and research activities granted by the Rulebook and the Educational Offer (Annex), PhD students are required to:

  • Regularly attend the teaching and training and research verification obligations defined by the Didactic Commission and approved by the College and provided for by the Regulations and the Training Offer;
  • Develop research activities assigned to them and publish according to the practices of the scientific sectors of reference;
  • Carry out teaching and tutoring activities within the course;
  • Organize conferences and seminars;
  • Support the educational and training offer;
  • Support courses, exams and graduation sessions;
  • Support the management of teaching and research laboratories;
  • Support the reception of visiting professors and foreign researchers;
  • Support the management and use of libraries (paper and electronic resources);
  • Support the management of archives, databases and statistics;
  • Support the management of applications (procedures and databases);
  • Carry out other activities related to information systems;
  • Carry out activities related to the design and management of funded research projects.

Internationalization

As required by the Rulebook and the Educational Offer (Annex), the PhD program can involve:

  • Discussion of the final thesis upon presentation of at least one counter-report on the thesis by a academic scholar and/or professor from a foreign University;
  • Discussion of the thesis, one part at least, in one of the official languages of the European Union, other than that of the country where the thesis is being discussed (French, English, German, Spanish);
  • Carrying out part of the research during stays of at least 3 months, even if not consecutive, in a European or foreign country other than that of the candidate;
  • Participation in lectures, seminars or supplementary activities in English or another official language of the European Union;
  • Stipulation of agreements and conventions with foreign countries–co-tutelage, issue of the title.

Training activity

For a detailed description of the Educational Offer of the PhD course, please refer to the Annex.

Language skills

A strong integration between teaching of their own field and transversal teaching is expected. A certified acquisition (B2, C1, C2, English, French, Spanish and German) is required for a critical knowledge of the international scientific literature on the research topic and an adequate study experience abroad.

Computer knowledges

Computer techniques and languages beneficial for an adequate methodological training for research and for the application of these skills in the study and preparation of the PhD thesis.

Management of research, knowledge of research systems and funding systems

Basic methodological skills related to the ability to design, set up and carry out research; specific skills related to the address/discipline/topic of the PhD student and the researcher; transversal skills related to the ability to prepare and manage attractive projects of regional, national, EU, international funding.

Development of research results and intellectual property

Given the multidisciplinary nature of the PhD School, and the massive quantity of academic scholars and professor and students of humanistic background in it, the exploitation of the research results will be adapted to the different source disciplines. They will also be adapted to the diversified channels and parameters of excellence and evaluation of the humanities (non-bibliometric) areas and not (bibliometric).

Literary collection

Library "Placanica" (4.000 volumes) Library DISUFF (1000 volumes) Library of Athenaeum

E-resources Linguistics Data Banks

  • WordNet
  • MultiWordNet
  • SentiWordNet
  • API Twitter

Software, Tools, ambients, program libraries, editors

  • Nooj
  • NLTK
  • Pattern
  • TextAnalysis
  • Gensim
  • Java
  • HAL
  • TreeTagger
  • Mallet
  • Gephi
  • Cytoscape
  • OpenRefine
  • Google spreadsheet
  • Pycharm
  • Atom
  • Emacs
  • Eclipse
  • LateX
  • Markdown
  • Nilde

Spaces and resources Doctorate room "Placanica". 10 computer workstations

1 projector

1 printer

Operational and scientific structures

  • Computational Linguistics Laboratory
  • Laboratory of Experimental Psychology—LAPSUS
  • Audiovisual Storytelling Laboratory—LABSAV
  • Digital Humanities + Info Design Lab
  • Political Studies Laboratory
  • Interdepartmental Laboratory of History and Audiovisual Media
  • Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Human Nature & Society
  • Anthropological Laboratory
  • Social Research Laboratory
  • History Laboratory
  • Laboratory of Studies and Research on Human Nature
  • Italian Thought Laboratory and European Philosophies—WORKITEPH
  • Movement Analysis Laboratory
  • Laboratory of Didactics, special educational needs and corporeality
  • "Ernest Lawrence Rossi" Clinical and Experimental Research Laboratory on Psychosocial Genomics, Translational Neuroscience and Hypnosis—PSG Lab
  • Media Education and Laboratory Didattica @ttiva—RIMEDI
  • Laboratory for the Evaluation of training processes and actions
  • Laboratory of didactic experimentation, data collection and analysis
  • Distance Learning Laboratory
  • Pedagogical Research Laboratory
  • Research Laboratory for the evaluation of products, processes and educational systems "Luigi Calonghi"
  • Educational-Multimedia Laboratory
  • Handicap Laboratory
  • Physical, motor and sports education Laboratory
  • Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Studies and Research on the Relationship
  • Laboratory on Methods of Psychological Intervention—MIP
  • Laboratory of historical documentation and Italian and European territorial cultures—DocSto
  • CATI laboratory for the collection of socio-economic and political data
  • Spatial Analysis & Local Development Lab—SPLOD
  • Narratives & Social Changes-International Research Group
  • Research Group on Social Interactions—"Giovanni Abignente" Psychology Laboratory—GRIS
  • International Network-Cultural Changes, Inequalities & Sustainable Development—CcISuD
  • OCPCG Communication, Participation & Culture Observatory
  • Sati Didactic & Research Observatory
  • Observatory on training processes and territorial analysis
  • Center for European Studies
  • Documentation center on new migrations
  • Media Culture Society Studies Center
  • Interdepartmental Center for the Diffusion of Human and Social Sciences and for the Construction of Human Capital
  • Interdepartmental Center for Sciences of Health Promotion, Sport and Integration Processes— PROSPI
  • International Center for Studies and Research "Saperi del Mediterraneo"/ICSR Mediterranean Knowledge—ICSR

Partnerships, affiliations

  • Universidad Católica de Colombia
  • Universida de Externado de Colombia
  • Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (Colombia)
  • Universidad Nacional de San Martín—UNSAM (Argentina)
  • Pontificia Universidad Cátolica Argentina (Argentina)
  • Universidad Nacional del Sur (Argentina)
  • Università del Pernambuco di Recife (Brasile)
  • Università Asces di Caruaru (Brasile)
  • Universidad Pompeu Fabra de Barcellona (Spagna)
  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spagna)
  • Univerdidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spagna)
  • Universitad de Alcalà (Spagna)
  • Universidad de Huelva (Spagna)
  • Universidad de Murcia (Spagna)
  • Universidad de Cordóba (Spagna)
  • Facultad Latinoaricana de Sciencias Sociales—FLACSO (Spagna)
  • Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas—CSIC (Spagna)
  • Heinrich Heine Universität (Germania)
  • Université de Neuchâtel: Institut de Psycologie et Education (Svizzera)
  • Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales de Paris—EHEES (Francia)
  • Université Paris Descartes: Groupe d’Etude des Méthodes de l’Analyse Sociologique de la Sorbonne—GEMASS (Paris Sorbonne/CNRS) (Francia)
  • Université Paris 1-Sorbonne: Institut: Normes, sociétés, philosophies—NoSoPhi (Francia)
  • Université Paris 1-Sorbonne: Institut Arts-Créations-Théories-Esthétique—ACTE (Francia)
  • Université de Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelles: Laboratoire International de Recherches en Arts— LIRA (Francia)
  • Université de Paris VII Denis Diderot (Francia)
  • Université Paul Valery de Montpellier (Francia)
  • Université de Rouen (Francia)
  • Université Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès: Laboratoires d’Etudes et de Recherches Appliquées en Sciences Sociales-LERASS (Francia)
  • Université de Besançon (Francia)
  • McGill University of Montréal (Canada)
  • Florida International University (USA)
  • University of Stanford (USA)
  • University of Wolverhampton (UK)
  • University of South Wales (UK)
  • University of Exeter (UK)
  • National University of Ireland (Irlanda)
  • Monash University (Australia)
  • University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (Rep. Ceca)
  • University of Warsav (Polonia)
  • University of Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
  • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Grecia)
  • University of Malta (Malta)