PHD PROGRAMME

To be admitted to the PhD programme, students must hold a University Master of Science degree (or equivalent). The most relevant background university studies are those in the fields of economics, management, and industrial engineering.
However, students who hold degrees in other technical and scientific disciplines or in social sciences may also be admitted to the programme.

The online application opens once a year around mid-April for the full time format (Annual Call); application and eligibility check are permanent for the executive format.

Application period

The PhD academic year starts at the beginning of November.

The application period for each new PhD cycle starts with the Annual call, running from mid-May to June.

After the annual call, there may be some Additional Calls for PhD places with scholarships linked to specific research topics. Candidates who apply to these additional calls will be enrolled to the ongoing PhD cycle.

Knowledge of English is required; to this end, applicants are required to submit one of the certificates listed here (Admission Criteria)  no later than end of October, if not already submitted at the closing date of the call.
Failure to submit certificates within the established closing date for enrolment irrevocably results in the loss of the right to enrolment. Certifications are valid regardless of the date when they were awarded.

Citizens of Countries in which English is an official language are not required to certify their knowledge of English; the same applies to applicants who have been awarded or will be awarded academic qualifications by an institute in which all teaching activity is carried out in English.

These applicants must attach official documents to their application; in particular, where all courses are carried out in English, this needs to be certified by the corresponding academic institute.

To be admitted to the Doctorate Programme in Management Engineering (DRIG) applicants must apply through a competitive selection process.

Admission to the PhD programme is limited to a predetermined number of candidates according to the scholarships available in the programme. This ensures the optimal development of each candidate while enriching the group’s learning and investigation process.

The candidature may apply to different types of scholarship classified as:

Generic Scholarship (Annual Call)

• Elective Research in Management Engineering
• Oriented Research in Management Engineering
• Thematic Scholarship, also including interdisciplinary scholarships (Additional Calls).

Check the page Calls and Regulations – Dottorati di Ricerca (polimi.it) to read further details and apply.

For futher information please visit the PhD School website.

For further information about scholarships, please visit the following page.
Check the “open calls” section, then look at the table of available places in Management Engineering: there you will find all the active scholarships.

The PhD programme can be full time or part time, depending on the typology of tracks:

• General track (full-time): 3 years;
• Executive track: 4 years. For more information click here.
• International Agreements and Double PhD: 3/4 years. For more information click here.

The programme is built on three main pillars:

• Development of the doctoral thesis. The thesis is the hallmark of the Ph.D. programme. It allows students to develop leading-edge research competencies and to produce an original scientific contribution on a topic relevant for academics and practitioners.
• Main courses on research methodologies and leading-edge topics in management, economics and industrial engineering.
• Elective training activities. Students can customize their study plan depending on their research interests. The aim is to develop students’ scientific knowledge on specific topics and to expose them to the international scientific community by attending Ph.D. schools or workshops and presenting their research at international conferences.

Ph.D. candidates fulfil their research and training requirements under the supervision of scholars who are experts in their research fields.

At the following link you can find the research lines.

The Ph.D. thesis (125 ECTS) is an original contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the candidate’s research field.
The research will be supervised by members of the doctoral faculty, who will provide guidance to the candidate in setting out and arranging the everyday activities involved in the thesis development.
The thesis can be edited in the form of a monograph or a collection of papers.

At the end of each year, candidates will present the progress of the research project in front of a committee and will discuss it with a Discussant from the PhD Faculty. This is a fundamental step to advance from one year to the next.

At the conclusion of the PhD studies, the Faculty Board evaluates the candidates. Candidates who receive a positive evaluation submit their theses to two external reviewers for refereeing.
If the evaluation is positive (or in any case after the comments received from the external reviewers are integrated), the candidates may defend the thesis in front of a Committee composed of three members, at least two of which must be external to the Politecnico.

The resulting thesis needs to be coherent with the research lines developed in the Department where the PhD programme is developed.

Ph.D. yearbooks and thesis

The thesis abstracts are published in our yearbooks: https://www.dottorato.polimi.it/en/phd-programmes/engineering/management-engineering

Each PhD candidate must obtain at least 25 ECTS from courses.
Each course lasts approximately one week and is composed of classroom lessons, individual study and group works.

All courses are taught in English.

• Schedule of courses 2021-2022
• Schedule of courses 2022-2023