PhD Scholarships

A doctorate in Italy (dottorato di ricerca) runs on a different logic from the other scholarships: the funding is attached to the position, not to you. Each year universities open places through official calls known as “bandi”, and a substantial share of the positions are advertised as funded (“con borsa”). A 2022 ministerial decree raised the floor: a funded doctoral student now receives no less than €16,243 gross a year, rising by 50% for research periods spent abroad.

How Do You Find a Call?

There is no single central portal; every university publishes its own bando page. The practical route is to watch your target universities’ pages for “bandi dottorato” and to follow the listings on Euraxess. Calls mostly open between May and July, interviews are held in September, and teaching starts in November. At most programmes the interview is in English and online.

What Goes in the File?

The standard set: CV, research proposal, two reference letters, master’s degree certificate and transcript. For a foreign degree, universities ask for either a Dichiarazione di Valore or a CIMEA comparability statement — the bando says explicitly which they accept, and you do not need both. English is usually sufficient for the degree and transcript translations, but some programmes insist on Italian; don’t choose the translation language before reading the bando.

You are not obliged to submit your research proposal in Italian — but citing a few Italian-language papers from the group you’re applying to creates a “they’ve actually read us” impression at interview. If you’d like language support on the final polish of your proposal, write to us.