The Doctoral (Ph.D.) Course in Food Science (Corso di Dottorato di Ricerca in Scienze degli Alimenti)" is offered by the Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma. The focus of the programme is the 3-years PhD research project (setting up, planning and performing research, then writing it up and presenting it), which leads to a thesis and associated publications. The research is done under the supervision of a member of the PhD Course Board.
The PhD Course in Food Science aims at organising the training of PhD candidates to become self-reliant, societal skilled researchers in the field of fundamental and applied research on food science. The PhD Course in Food Science is designed to cover all the step along the food supply chain, “from the farm to the fork”, to address cutting-edge topics (i.e. local food systems, circular bioeconomy, human microbiome, and dietary patterns), and to provide the candidates with the knowledge required to tackle the next-to-come challenges in food quality and safety.
The research portfolio, based on a strong interdisciplinary environment, is mainly composed of the work done within the Department of Food and Drug in the following areas:
Food microbiology
Food technology and processing
Human nutrition
Plant production and animal science
Food chemistry and circular bioeconomy
Agro-economy, consumer’s science, and food systems
PhD Programme: research, educational/training activity and credits
PhD students are asked to undertake an original research project, promoted by a member of the PhD Board (supervisor), and attested by publication on peer-reviewed scientific journals. In addition, they are asked to attend academic activities for a total of 24 ECTS in three years (1 ECTS = 6 hours classes). Courses are taught in English, and tailored for increasing the disciplinary knowledge and interdisciplinary skills at post-graduate and young professional level. In addition, conferences, workshops, and PhD Schools attendance is strongly promoted.
The educational activity must be planned by each candidate with her/his supervisor, and approved by the PhD Course Board before the annual evaluation, and the admission to the next year of the Programme or to the final exam.
