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The PhD in Ecological Transition focuses on issues related to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out in the UN 2030 Agenda, which are strategic for addressing the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, population growth, adequate access to food, education and equal opportunities.

The PhD in Ecological Transition therefore offers a training programme, structured also through research and experimental development, aimed at enhancing and implementing the culture of environmental, economic and social sustainability in an interdisciplinary and transversal way, in order to aim at safeguarding the planet and the well-being of its inhabitants.

PhDs will be trained through a composite approach on transversal aspects related to the theoretical principles of experimentation and analysis of environmental problems, which will be integrated with fundamentals and methodologies belonging to specific strategic sectors (e.g. engineering, economics, medicine, agriculture, ecology, mathematics, law, pedagogy and education sciences, urban planning) and will therefore be trained to examine problems related to ecological transition from an interdisciplinary point of view, horizontally integrating sustainability and ecological transition in the development, implementation and evaluation of solutions to environmental problems.

Objectives

The training aims to develop knowledge, skills and abilities to address the multiple challenges facing society today, such as combating climate change, sustainable development and ecological transition, contributing to the development of new (social, economic and ecological) models associated with ecological transition.

It has among its objectives: implementation of participatory and shared solutions and strategies aimed at environmental, economic and social sustainability; activation of ecological transition pathways; identification of actions contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 2030; creation of an integrated, equitable and sustainable approach to teaching and research.

In this perspective, the PhD in Ecological Transition will also have among its educational objectives the achievement of the competences identifiable in the perspective of the four pillars identified by UNESCO at least since the 1990s

Learning to know: learning to understand and use knowledge, i.e. to use critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making skills in informed actions;

Learning to do: learning to handle the cultural tools to act, i.e. to apply what one has learnt to the needs of life;

Learning to be: learning agency, i.e. learning skills of self-awareness, self-esteem, self-confidence and self-reliance, with a view to building identity, valuing oneself and oneself, defining one's goals;

Learning to live together: learning personal skills including communication, negotiation and all those skills that define a person as a social being;

Learning to transform oneself and society: understanding the complexity of the global dimension as part of everyday life in the local dimensions, i.e. understanding one's relationship with the environment and the people with whom one shares the planet. It is therefore a matter of educating to global citizenship with awareness of one's environment, with the will to act by valuing diversity.

Expected occupational and professional outlets

The PhD in Ecological Transition will be able to play the role of manager of sustainability and ecological transition as he/she will have acquired the technical, economic and managerial skills and competences that will allow him/her to both promote and manage processes and activities with a high degree of complexity and articulation aimed at the design and implementation of sustainable strategies for ecological transformation, in line with the Agenda 2030 sustainable development goals.

The PhD in Ecological Transition will have a highly innovative and multidisciplinary professional profile, which will allow him/her to exercise "leadership" of an "interdisciplinary" type, fundamental for the realisation of "learning forums" among different stakeholders on shared environmental policies and on "multi-level" networking systems, which are progressively placed on appropriate "collaborative platforms".

There are numerous potential professional outlets that the acquisition of these competences and skills will provide access to. In particular, these include: research and training institutions; 'think tanks'; public administrations at all levels; companies in the commercial, agricultural, industrial and service sectors; non-governmental and non-profit organisations; 'Community-based' and 'Backbone' Organisations; management consultancy and advisory companies on EU programmes; international organisations.