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The PhD programme in Social Sciences lasts three years and is based in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA) of the University of Padua. The PhD aims to deepen theoretical and methodological background of social sciences, in particular for the analysis the processes of social change typical of highly complex societies. The training is based on the acquisition of competences and skills from sociology and applied psychology, supplemented by the contribution of anthropology, political science and social statistics. The interdisciplinary nature of the PhD programme together with its methodological focus and specific internationalisation experiences included in the programme, contributes to a unique training context for research, where students will be able to develop cutting-edge research on social and psychological phenomena in an innovative manner.
The programme is structured in 2 curricula: one curriculum in Sociology and one in Applied Psychology, each of them characterised by a specific selection process and a dedicated teaching and research pathway.
The Sociology curriculum dwells in particular on three crucial areas of research in order to grasp the most significant discontinuities in contemporary societies:

• Intercultural relations: mobility, religions, family, gender;
• the relationship between society, technoscience and the media;
• the relationship between institutional processes and the practices of production and reproduction of everyday life.

These three areas identify paths of study and theoretical reflection that can find multiple connections with many research themes, in the perspective of developing skills for the critical analysis and management of the processes that characterize today's contemporary complexity. Particular emphasis is placed on the cultural construction of social processes and practices; qualitative, quantitative and digital-based methodologies currently available in social sciences; comparative research approaches; internationalization of topics and research activities, through extended periods of research abroad.
The Applied Psychology curriculum focuses on the psychological processes that characterise the several spheres of individual, relational and collective life, with the aim of developing theoretical, methodological and applicative knowledge required to carry out evidence-based psychological research and interventions. The objectives are structured around a diversified spectrum of topics, including:
- the social sphere, with particular reference to the investigation of attitudes and behaviour, intergroup relations and various forms of prejudice, environment and culture, violence and perceptions of safety, individual dispositions, well-being and positive social relations, social
construction of meaning
- the work and organisational sphere, in relation to issues such as personnel selection, the centrality of work on a psychological level, organisational well-being;
- the clinical and dynamic sphere, in relation to personal and relational distress and suffering, couple and parenting relationships, preventive, support and psychotherapeutic interventions.
Particular emphasis is given to psychometric and methodological aspects, transversal to the various fields, involving training in relation to quantitative and qualitative methods, instruments for detecting and measuring psychological variables and constructs, formal models in psychology.

  Curriculum

• APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• SOCIOLOGY

  Other information

• PhD Programmes Calls and Admissions
• PhD Programmes
• The International PhD guide
• More informations