IMT School PhD Program in “Mind, Brain and Human Thought”
Call for applications 2025/2026
Executive Summary
PHD PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca has launched the call for applications for the PhD Program in “Mind,
Brain and Human Thought” (2025/2026 academic year).
The IMT School adopts equal opportunity principles in its selection procedures and rejects any type of discrimination
based on sex, gender identity, nationality, ethnicity, religious belief, sexual orientation, state of health, and any other
status or quality that is not strictly relevant to the call outlined in this document.
Program official duration: 3 years.
Programs start on November 1st, 2025.
Program official language: English.
Scholarships funded by the School: 7 (distributed among PhD Tracks as follows)
PhD Track Scholarships
Neuroscience, Experimental Psychology, and Psychophysiology (NEPP) 5
Human Thought: Philosophy, History, and Science (HT) 2
The number of positions may be increased in the event that additional funding is made available after the publication
of the Call.
Scholarship gross amount: 16,243.00 Euros/year (see the “Scholarships” paragraph).
Additional benefits:
• All PhD students admitted are exempt from paying tuition fees, although they are still responsible for paying the
yearly Regional Education Tax (currently 140.00 Euros/year);
• An annual budget equal to 10% of the annual scholarship amount to fund the research activities;
• All PhD students are offered free meals (lunch and dinner) at the on-campus canteen;
• All PhD students are provided with free accommodation in shared double rooms within the campus residential
facilities.
REQUIREMENTS
Applications are open to candidates who meet the following requirements:
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1. Degree:
• "Laurea Magistrale" or "Specialistica" (according to DM no. 509, of November 3, 1999), or a four- or five-year
degree (according to the previous rules of the Italian higher education system) obtained in Italy;
• Foreign degrees that give access to the PhD in the Country where it has been awarded.
For the selection procedure, candidates are required to upload the documents indicated in Table 2 - Attachments to
the application.
Applicants who obtain their degree by no later than October 31st, 2025, can also apply. These candidates will be
admitted to the selection procedure “with reserve” and must provide their degree certificate by the date of
enrollment, or they will be excluded from the Program.
2. Knowledge of the English language: Applicants are required to indicate their level of English.
APPLICATION
The application form must be mandatorily filled out in English through the School’s online procedure by June
30th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. (CEST).
Applicants must upload the documents in PDF. The maximum size is 30MB for each attachment.
The Selection Committee will accept attachments in Italian or English only (unless otherwise specified in the
table below).
Table 1: Information
It is possible to apply for more than one track,
submitting a new application for each track selected.
Track compulsory Applicants cannot register more than once with different email
addresses and/or different names or submit more than one
application for the same track (in this case, only the last one
will be considered valid).
In this section, applicants must enter their personal data
Personal information compulsory
(name, address, contact details, etc.).
English Language Level compulsory Applicants must indicate their level of English.
Applicants have to indicate the modality for the interview (IMT
Additional
compulsory School campus, videoconference, or similar, or by telephone
information/Interview
at an Italian embassy/consulate).
Additional Applicants should indicate if they need assistance to
optional
information/Disability participate in the selection procedure.
2
Additional information/How
Applicants are required to indicate how they found out about
did you first find out about compulsory
the IMT School.
IMT?
Applicants are required to indicate their university degrees
(whose duration must be equivalent to at least 4 years of
Education compulsory
university studies), the average exam mark, and final grade (if
any) for each degree obtained.
In this section, applicants may list any other qualifications
Additional qualifications optional
considered relevant in relation to their application.
Applicants can list their own published articles, books, or any
Publications optional material that may be considered relevant for the PhD and
research activity.
Candidates are required to complete the section dedicated to
the Application Letter, in which they must
- Specify the research area they feel aligned with based
on their interests and/or background;
Application Letter compulsory - Write a 'Motivation Letter' (max 350 words), which
must be in English;
They are also required to write a 'Research Proposal' in
English, with a maximum of 3,500 words for HT and a
maximum of 1,500 words for NEPP.
Table 2: Attachments
Applicants have to upload a copy of a valid identity document:
• For Italian and EU citizens: Valid National Identity card or
Passport
• Non-EU applicants: National Identity card or Passport (the
latter is highly recommended).
Copy of National
The copy has to be signed by the candidate, indicating the date
1 Identity Card or compulsory
and place of the signature. In particular, the document has to
Passport
contain the applicant’s photograph, personal data, and document
number, place and date of issue. If any of the above information is
missing, the document will not be accepted.
If the document is not in English or Italian, a translation into English
or Italian should also be uploaded (an official/legal translation is not
required).
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In the event that the copy of the document is unreadable, the
Selection Committee may request a new submission.
Applicants must upload their curriculum vitae et studiorum/resume in
Curriculum vitae et Italian or English (the latter is highly recommended),
2 compulsory
studiorum/Resume indicating their university degrees, work and research experience, and
publications (if any).
Candidates are required to upload one of the following documents in
Italian or English:
• for degrees obtained in Italy and/or in France, Ireland,
Belgium, Denmark (Bruxelles Convention of May 25, 1987),
and Germany (Italian-German Convention, ratified by the
3 Education compulsory Law no. 176 of 1973): a self-declaration stating the
possession of a degree, conferral date, issuing University, and
final grade;
• for degrees obtained in all other EU and non-EU
countries: an official certificate indicating the possession of
a degree, conferral date, issuing University, and final grade.
For each degree, the applicant has to attach one of the documents
listed below in Italian or English (English is highly
recommended):
• Academic transcript: an official document detailing the
course, classes attended or subjects studied and results,
Academic completion date, graduation date;
4 transcript/Diploma compulsory
supplement or alternatively,
• Diploma Supplement: document produced by the
University accompanying the diploma, providing a
standardized description of the nature, level, context, content,
and status of the studies completed by the applicant
(https://ec.europa.eu/education/diploma-supplement_en).
Candidates are required to upload a writing sample in Italian or
English that they consider to be the best work they have produced in
the last 5 years. By way of example, the writing sample may be a thesis
5 Writing Sample compulsory (or a chapter or an extended abstract of the thesis, if the full thesis is
not available before the application deadline), an abstract or a
conference paper presented at a national or international conference,
or an article published in a scientific journal or in an edited volume.
If the application lacks a piece of information or an attachment referred to as "compulsory", applicants can be
conditionally admitted to the selection procedure. Their application will be considered valid only if they produce the
required documents by the day scheduled for the interview.
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The correct completion of the online application procedure is confirmed by an automatic email sent to the email
address indicated by each applicant while registering for the procedure; the message only confirms the receipt of
the application. The School will not verify the validity and completeness of applications before the call closes.
After the submission, no changes are allowed to the entered data.
Candidates are also required to fill out a separate section of the application form dedicated to referees:
Applicants are required to provide the names and contact information of two
referees.
The referees who are invited to submit a reference letter in English through the
References compulsory IMT School’s online application system, by July 7th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. (CEST),
will receive an automatic notification from the School’s application system.
Applicants will receive an automatic notification when a letter is submitted, but they
may not access any reference provided.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
The Selection Committee is nominated by decree by the Rector of the IMT School in accordance with the School
regulations.
The Selection Committee may be assisted by Preliminary Evaluation Committees, which are also nominated by the
Rector and can comprise IMT School Professors, Assistant Professors, Post-Doctoral Fellows, or experts from relevant
fields.
EVALUATION CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCEDURE
Evaluation criteria
The Selection Committee will evaluate candidates’
• academic background, knowledge, skills, and scientific potential;
• general aptitude for research and potential to collaborate in the specific research activities of the selected
Track in the application form;
• Scientific quality of Writing Sample and Research Proposal;
• interdisciplinarity, knowledge, and skills with reference to the multidisciplinarity of the PhD Program;
• pertinence to a Track different than the one selected in the application form.
Assessment of qualifications
The first phase of the selection procedure is the assessment of qualifications. This assessment is carried out in
relation to the specifics of the PhD Program and specifically to determine who is admitted to the interview.
In the assessment of qualifications phase, the evaluation of the candidates is carried out by the Committee, defined
in the previous paragraph “Selection Committee”, and based on the candidates’ application form, uploaded
documents, and reference letters provided by referees.
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Based on the assessment of qualifications, the Selection Committee will draw up a shortlist of candidates admitted
to the interview in alphabetical order.
The shortlist of applicants admitted to the interview and interviews schedule will be published on the
School’s website and Online Notice Board (“Albo Online”).
This is the only official communication of the preliminary results to all applicants.
Interview
During the comprehensive interview, the Selection Committee will assess the candidates’ knowledge and skills with
reference to the specific characteristics of the PhD Program.
The Selection Committee will assess all interviews by assigning a score (up to 100 points): applicants scoring at least
70 out of 100 will be eligible for the Program and, therefore, listed in the final ranking.
Final ranking
At the end of the interviews (which will take place on September 4th and 5th, 2025), the Selection Committee
will draft the final ranking of the eligible candidates for each track according to their scores obtained in the interview.
In the event that additional subject-restricted positions become available after the opening of the present call for
applications, the Selection Committee reserves to assign eligible candidates to the relevant rankings.
If multiple candidates get the same score, preference will be given to the youngest candidate.
In the event of the withdrawal or exclusion of a candidate, they shall be replaced by the next suitable candidate
according to the ranking.
If the ranking of a track does not list enough eligible candidates to allocate all available positions, the remaining
scholarships will be assigned according to the ranking of other eligible candidates of the other PhD Program’s track.
If the ranking of the PhD Program does not list enough eligible candidates to allocate all available positions, the
remaining scholarships will be assigned according to the ranking of other eligible candidates of the other PhD
Programs.
All rankings will be published on the School’s website and Online Notice Board (“Albo Online”).
ENROLLMENT
Once admitted to the PhD Program, candidates wishing to enroll must submit the complete enrollment form to the
IMT School no later than five (5) days from the publication of the results on the School’s Online Notice Board
(“Albo Online”) and website, using one of the following methods:
• in person or by post to:
IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
PhD and Higher Education Office
Piazza S. Ponziano, 6
55100 Lucca – Italy
• by email to
[email protected] • by certified email to
[email protected] 6
Failure to submit the enrollment request by the deadline and through the above-mentioned methods will result in an
automatic withdrawal of the candidate from the Program.
The enrollment request is valid only if all the requested documents have been enclosed.
If any of the documents submitted during the application procedure do not correspond to those submitted during
enrollment due to an intentional false declaration, the applicant will automatically lose their right to enroll in the
program.
Enrollment is effective on the first day of official classes. Unauthorized absences may nullify the enrollment procedure.
SCHOLARSHIPS
The scholarship amount is 16,243.00 Euros/year and shall be disbursed in monthly installments.
For any research or training activities at universities or research centers abroad, the scholarship amount is increased
by 50% for up to 12 months. This period can be extended up to 18 months in case of co-tutored Programs established
with a foreign institution and/or in case of Programs established in agreement with other institutions.
Scholarships are subject to the payment of social security contributions (INPS) managed separately under Article 2,
paragraph 26 of Law no. 335 of August 8, 1995, as amended, with two-thirds paid by the Administration and one-
third by the scholarship recipient.
Admitted candidates who have already benefited from a PhD scholarship in Italy cannot be assigned another one.
The scholarship has a maximum duration of three (3) years and is subject to annual confirmation: according to
articles 15 and 16 of the IMT School PhD Regulations, students must complete all the activities provided for each
academic year.
If a student withdraws or is excluded within 45 days from the beginning of the Program, they are not entitled to the
scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded to the next eligible candidate according to the final ranking. For this
reason, the first scholarship payment will be made only after the successful completion of the first 45 days of the
program.
If a student registers after 45 days from the beginning of the Program, he/she is entitled to the scholarship starting
from the actual date of enrollment.
FACILITIES
Residential facilities: accommodation
All PhD students who are granted a scholarship have free accommodation in shared double rooms with private
bathrooms, priority being given to on-campus residential facilities, for the entire official duration of the Program (3
years), except for periods spent off campus for study and/or research.
The School can revoke the right to accommodation if it is rarely or not used.
Residential facilities: canteen
All PhD students are offered free meals (lunch and dinner) at the School canteen located on campus for the entire
official duration of the Program (3 years). Lunch and dinner are served each day, Monday through Sunday, for the
entire academic year, except for the closing periods.
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Other facilities
All PhD students have access to library facilities and can benefit from the IT support services for all technical requests
related to study and research until the thesis defense.
The School subscribes to an insurance policy for all PhD students. It provides coverage against accidents and injuries
incurred by students in Lucca or abroad while performing academic activities. The IMT School also provides students
with health insurance policies for research trips outside Europe (students are automatically covered in European
countries).
All international PhD students are offered the possibility to take an Italian language and culture course.
TREATMENT OF PERSONAL DATA
The IMT School will use the personal data provided by applicants solely for selection procedures and institutional
aims in accordance with the provisions of the current European and Italian legislation (EU Regulation 2016/679 and
Italian D. Lgs. 196/03 - Italian Privacy Code, as modified by the D. Lgs. 101/2018) and the relevant School
Regulations.
Applicants are granted all the rights established by art. 15, sections 2, 3, and 4 of Chapter III, and art. 77 of the EU
Regulation 2016/679.
For further information regarding the call and the selection procedure, please contact the PhD and Higher Education
Office by email at
[email protected] or by phone at +39 0583 4326530.
Further information regarding the PhD Programs and the IMT School is available at www.imtlucca.it.
FINAL PROVISIONS
Relevant laws and the IMT School PhD Regulations shall be applied to any issue or item not covered by the present
call for applications.
