IMT Institute for Advanced Studies Lucca is an international Graduate School and Institute of Technology that acts as a research university with the aim of forming human capital –specifically with regard to its PhD programs- in disciplines characterized by their high potential for concrete application. IMT strives to reach the fusion of theoretical comprehension and practical relevance. The following goals are at the core of IMT's mission statement:
- to establish itself as a research center that promotes cutting-edge research in key areas, structuring its Ph.D. Programs in close connection with research activity;
- to attract top students, researchers and scholars through competitive international selections;
- to contribute to technological innovation, economic growth and social development.
These objectives are met by means of the fundamental principles (the IMT Policy) adapted by the governing bodies of the Institute.
IMT Institute for Advanced Studies is characterized by three unique yet interrelated identities; it can be simultaneously defined as a Graduate School, an Institute for Advanced Studies and an Institute of Technology.
Within the IMT Graduate School, the integration between research and education is designed around two broad multidisciplinary research areas (Economics and Institutional Change, Computer Science and Applications), which, while stemming from the fundamental concept of "The Sciences of the Artificial" (Herbert A. Simon), sustain four PhD programs: Computer Science and Engineering, Economics, Markets and Institutions, Institutions, Politics and Policies and Management and Development of Cultural Heritage.
As an Institute for Advanced Studies, IMT is characterized by its mission to reach the international research frontier and to contribute to push it ahead, concentrating its activities within a limited number of key areas. Moreover, the Institute relies upon an extensive network of scholars and on a variety of contractual solutions to attract a persistent flow of visitors, active in research, teaching, and supervision.
IMT’s identity as an Institute of Technology is defined by the aim of integrating relevance and excellence in research. Against this background, IMT has decided to adopt an innovative organizational model for its activities, which will evolve around a platform called the IMTLAB.
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
The doctoral program aims at preparing researchers and professionals with a wide knowledge about the foundations of informatics and information engineering, and about their application to a variety of systems in many different domains. The program introduces new perspectives in formulating and solving technical challenges that are currently a target of very active research areas. The research activity focuses on key aspects of informatics and information engineering such as open-endedness, dynamics and control, autonomy, security, concurrency, cost-effectiveness, quality of services, dependability, optimization, and is concerned especially with the application to networked and large-scale systems with high degrees of interaction.
ECONOMICS, MARKETS, INSTITUTIONS
The program aims at dealing with issues in political economy, applied public economics, the functioning of industries and markets, the impact of macroeconomics on productivity and growth.
A distinctive feature of the PhD program is the strong integration of theoretical, technical and pratical expertise, aimed to educate highly qualified professionals, who analyze, plan, and manage concrete interventions of political economy.
Theoretical methodologies and models are tested through the methodical/systematic investigation of real world cases. At the end of the program, students are able to identify commonalities as well as distinctive characters of economies, markets, and industries.
MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF CULTURAL HERITAGE
Program in collaboration with Polytechnic University of Turin
The program aims at formalizing in a consistent multidisciplinary course, specific know-hows needed by researchers and professionals operating at the highest levels of management of culture and cultural heritage. The PhD program rests on three main educational pillars: historical/humanistic, economical/managerial, juridical, which are cut across by a technological area that focuses on IT applications commonly used for the valorization and fruition of cultural heritage.
The PhD program integrates the theoretical approach with the technical and pratical ones, in order to educate both highly qualified professional operating in the concrete field of cultural policy and researchers who will be active in the field of cultural heritage.
INSTITUTIONS, POLITICS AND POLICIES
Program in collaboration with the Libera Universit Internazionale degli Studi Sociali "Guido Carli"
The PhD in Institutions, Politics and Policies is a multidisciplinary course analyzing political institutions, politics and policies from the point of view of history and political science, and to a lesser extent economics and law. It adopts a comparative perspective, and pays particular attention to processes of change over time. It aims at forming analysis able to: understand and, if possible, channel processes of transformation of politics and political institutions; plan and manage public policies, assessing their impact; confront their specific problems of countries in transition towards democracy and a market economy.
PhD Scholarships in Economics, Computer Science and Engineering, Management of Cultural Heritage and Institutions, Politics and Policies
