Education in the Contemporary Society

In the course of the three-year doctoral programme, students are required to conduct a major education, psychology, philosophy, or interdisciplinary research project.

The doctorate has a strong international focus: PhD candidates are required to study and/or carry out research abroad and to present their work at international conferences; co-tutoring and exchanges are offered at locations around the world, thanks to UNIMIB’s partnerships with a range of leading universities. Grants are available for PhD students from other European and non-European universities, with a view to ensuring lively debate and cultural exchange within the various cycles of the programme.

The excellence of the course offering is reflected both in its theoretical-epistemological depth and in the high level of methodological expertise for which it is known, with faculty teaching a wide variety of research methodologies: qualitative (narrative, ethnographic, interpretative, phenomenological, art-based, participatory, etc.), quantitative, mixed-methods, experimental.

The University’s cooperation agreements with social services, schools, and educational services, as well as public and private institutions and businesses, facilitate applied research, thus enhancing the impact of candidates’ research outcomes at the societal level. Industry and executive internships are also offered, in partnership with companies, social institutions, services, and schools, in Italy and internationally.

The educational, psychological, philosophical, and interdisciplinary research projects carried out in fulfilment of the requirements of the PhD course concern the great educational challenges facing contemporary society, which arise from emergent phenomena including:

• interculturality and migration;
• the use of new digital technologies and new media;
• sustainability, environmental, and ecological education;
• new approaches of cultural heritage valorization;
• changes in the domains of education and teaching/learning;
• the fight against educational poverty and socio-cultural inequalities;
• the transformation of work and occupational settings;
• radicalization, violence, and fundamentalism;
• emergent and latent forms of exclusion, social injustice, educational poverty;
• lifelong, lifewide, and lifedeep learning;
• access to professional development and employment opportunities;
• recognition of informal competences and learning;
• communication as a source of individual and collective well-being;
• efforts to promote the holistic development of the person.

These form a set of dynamically evolving challenges that may only be effectively tackled in light of the most recent research findings.

In addition to pursuing traditional academic careers, the graduates of the PhD programme boast highly specialized training that makes them eligible for employment in public and private organizations (schools, health services, training and research institutions, social enterprises, international cooperation agencies, socio-educational services, etc.) where research is drawn on to enhance innovation, quality assessment, and professional development, educational, teaching-learning, guidance, social, and care processes.

The specific theoretical and methodological competences acquired during the programme – including the ability to collect, analyse, organize, and interpret complex data, and experience working in international and intersectoral settings – equip a Doctor in Education to work in applied research, consultancy services, or the management of educational processes, and to take responsibility for the design, writing up, monitoring, and evaluating of projects, especially with a view to winning research funding.

Expertise in these areas is required, for example, in:

• the design, evaluation, and supervision of educational processes in general;
• the orientation and job training in public and private companies, in public administration and in social services and enterprises implementing innovative projects at national and international level;
• the coordination of socio-educational services and projects, on behalf of public and private educational, professional development, and research institutions;
• the design of training and educational proposals for cultural and artistic organisations, services and enterprises to enhance the cultural heritage;
• the design of educational, professional development, and teaching/learning programmes in education services and schools for children, adolescents, adults, and elders;
• the design of online environments and digital learning programmes;
• the design of indoor and outdoor environments for the implementations of training and educational processes
• the design of serious games, interactive virtual simulations, and technological applications for communications, training, and learning.

The doctorate program in “Education in Contemporary Society” (ECS) involves the realization and implementation of a research project of international relevance over a three-year period. Under the guidance of a faculty member of the Doctoral Committee (tutor) and one or more supervisors who have expertise at a national and international level, will guide the doctoral student in the construction of their scientific profile, guarantee the quality of the project, and secure placement in a scientific community consistent with their research interests. The research project is individual, but ECS encourages collaboration and participation in research groups.

To support the development of the multiple and complex skills required of researchers today, the ECS doctoral program proposes an educational pathway structured as follows:

- curricular/disciplinary courses

- other educational activities/seminars

- interdisciplinary courses offered by the doctoral school

The ECS program includes: Three monitoring meetings per year, mid-term and final evaluations for each year of the course, the State-of-the-Art Research Week (once a year), meetings with the tutor/supervisor and opportunities to discuss with experts from the national and international scientific world. Doctoral students will also participate in department facilitated Internationalisation Days: https://www.formazione.unimib.it/en/internationalization/internationalisation-days

The curricular/disciplinary courses offered by the ECS-Doctoral Program are divided into four modules (for a total of 13CFU):

• Pedagogical Issues in Educational Research;
• Methodological Issues in Educational Research;
• Psychological Issues in Educational Research;
• Philosophical Issues in Educational research.

The courses cover theoretical and methodological models, as well as key issues in research in humanities and social sciences with reference to the scientific sectors represented in the PhD (PED, PSI, FIL), focusing on the educational challenges of contemporary society. Ethical and gender issues, both on a theoretical and methodological level, are included as cross-cutting themes in all teaching activities. The teaching activities are carried out by the professors of the Doctoral Committee and are representatives of the different scientific areas of the program and may include the participation of distinguished Italian and foreign scholars/experts from academia, research organizations, as well as national and international cultural/social institutions. Attendance for curricular courses is compulsory and takes place in the first 12 months of the PhD to enable doctoral students to engage in field research and mobility activities in the following months and years of the program.  Teaching is interactive and participatory; lectures make use of innovative teaching methodologies while always encouraging the active involvement of students.

Seminars and other training activities offered by the ECS includes cross-cutting topics such as “literature reviews”, “open science”, “scientific writing and publishing” etc., in conjunction with the interdisciplinary courses offered by the Doctoral School (3CFU), allowing students to build specific pathways according to their research interests. Finally, the RRI training days designed for all doctoral students completes the educational offerings of the ECS program (https://www.unimib.it/didattica/offerta-formativa/dottorato-ricerca/carriera/corsi-interdisciplinari.)

In addition to attending courses and seminars, all doctoral students are required to actively participate in the cultural life of the department by attending regular meetings with the tutor (faculty member), supervisor(s), and with the Coordination Group. In order to ensure the quality and progress of their research project, doctoral students are also expected to participate in formative evaluation activities.

The ECS encourages and stimulates the development of a community of peers. It facilitates opportunities for exchange between doctoral students in the different active cycles of ECS as well as with students in the different doctoral programs of the department, promoting the activation and empowerment of doctoral students as participants and protagonists of formative and cultural initiatives.

The doctoral program is constantly seeking to promote the autonomy of its students, not only in conceiving, designing, and implementing their research but also in the dissemination of the results of their work through publications, conferences, scientific and cultural initiatives during and at the completion of the three-year period. In order to support the integration of doctoral researchers into international networks, the ECS encourages the participation of doctoral researchers in summer/spring/winter schools. The participation of doctoral students as speakers at national and international conferences is also encouraged and supported.

Teaching activities can be accessed on the e-learning platform. https://elearning.unimib.it/course/index.php?categoryid=6412