The MST PhD Programme offers a series of Advanced Technical Courses (Hard Skills) covering a wide range of experimental and numerical techniques, designed to strengthen the technical skills of doctoral students. The courses are multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary in nature, encouraging students to connect knowledge and methods across different fields of Materials Science and Technology.

Each course consists of 8 hours (1 ECTS) of teaching combined with practical or laboratory activity, and adopts modern teaching strategies such as problem-based learning, case studies, and hands-on exercises. Courses conclude with a final exam to certify the acquisition of the relevant competencies.

Courses are offered across two semesters: the First Semester in January-March, and the Second Semester in June-July.

The list of courses activated for the current Academic Year is available for download below (updates may occur throughout the year)
<https://wwwassets.unipd.it/sites/default/files/2026-03/Offerta%20Formativa%
202025-2026_Materials%20Science%20and%20Technologies_ENG.pdf>
https://wwwassets.unipd.it/sites/default/files/2026-03/Offerta%20Formativa%2
02025-2026_Materials%20Science%20and%20Technologies_ENG.pdf

To enrol and access further details, please visit our Moodle platform:
https://stem.elearning.unipd.it/course/index.php?categoryid=728

To fulfil their training requirements, PhD students must also complete at least 24 hours of soft skills, which can be earned by attending the PhD Educational Week on Transferable Skills, organised by the University of Padova. Further information will be provided as soon as it becomes available.

We also recommend the dedicated course on Information Literacy organised by the Polo Bibliotecario di Scienze and the set of training paths provided by the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R) on the platform ResearchComp - European Competence Framework for Researchers available through the moodle:
https://elearning.unipd.it/formazione/course/index.php?categoryid=81