The programme

Overview

Main features of the programme

The Ph.D. programme in Linguistics is an international graduate programme jointly run by the Universities of Verona, Bozen/Bolzano and Marburg (Germany). The programme offers training in Linguistics for the highest cycle of the university system. It is the natural continuation of the master's degree courses in Linguistics (University of Verona) and Applied Linguistics (Free University of Bozen/Bolzano). The programme has strong ties with research institutions such as Eurac Research (which funded a grant for cycle 37 in the field of corpus linguistics), and with local administrative bodies such as the Regional School Office for Veneto (in the field of cultural heritage protection and promotion) and the Autonomous Region of Trentino-Südtirol (which funded a grant for cycle 39 in the field of Ladin language). The programme has concrete internationalization strategies for the recruitment and training of doctoral students: starting with cycle 38, an International Doctoral Track with the University of Marburg (Germany) is active, through which a double doctoral degree can be obtained. Teaching is delivered in a concentrated form during annual autumn/winter/summer schools in order to facilitate collaboration between the different universities, allow for the involvement of external partners, and help doctoral students in scheduling stays abroad without overlapping with the teaching. The programme welcomes research projects in all areas of research within the expertise of the faculty members, but it stands out from other doctoral programmes in Linguistics by a clear thematic focus on research topics shared among the three universities (Verona, Bolzano, Marburg). These topics include multilingualism, language contact, and dialectological studies, especially but not exclusively for German and Romance languages.

International students: please note that languages of instruction are English (main language), German and Italian. Hence, besides English as the main programme language basic skills in Italian or German are required for a successful application.

Programme objectives

The programme aims to provide doctoral training in all levels of linguistic analysis (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, lexicon) and the following research areas: sociolinguistics, discourse and conversation analysis, typical and atypical language development, language teaching, Germanic and Romance philology, and language policy. Research interests shared by all three universities include language contact, Germanic and Romance dialects, minority languages, and multilingualism. Ph.D. students can take advantage of the methodologies, tools and databases developed in the main research projects (PRIN, DFG) directed by members of the teaching board and conducted in cooperation with research institutions active in the area. The programme aims to train professionals with a high scientific standard who have a complete mastery of the content and methods related to their research projects, but also the knowledge and skills related to all levels of linguistic analysis necessary to be able to perform basic academic tasks (e.g., teaching in bachelor's degrees) and acquire new skills independently for application in other specialist fields. As such, the Ph.D. in Linguistics is a programme that combines a clear specialized profile with more general transferable skills that after its completion situates students in an excellent position to pursue either an academic career or a career with a linguistic aspect in public administration or the private industry.

Career perspectives

The wide range of research opportunities and methodologies in the field of linguistics offered by the programme promotes the acquisition of skills that can be used in a national and international context at a high scientific level. These skills are not only necessary for the training of future researchers and university professors, but can also be applied professionally, in the field of automatic analysis and language technologies and consulting to language policy bodies for the training of teachers and health professionals (e.g., speech therapy). The employment statuses of graduated students from previous cycles show that the training provided in the Ph.D. in Linguistics guarantees excellent preparation for academic careers.

Stakeholders

The Ph.D. programme in Linguistics features an International Doctoral Track with the University of Marburg providing a double Ph.D. degree (German and Italian) to the graduates. This international programme is the institutionalization of previous cooperation between the universities of Verona and Marburg which already included individual co-tutelle agreements leading to the double Ph.D. degree. Furthermore, there is academic cooperation of various kinds (including double Ph.D. degrees with further universities) with the following institutions: LMU Munich, Universities of Cologne, Constance and Göttingen (Germany), University of Tromsø (Norway), Sorbonne University Paris and University of Aix-en-Provence (France), University of Málaga (Spain) and State University of New York (U.S.).

The Ph.D. programme in Linguistics has numerous stakeholders which benefit from knowledge and competencies developed in Ph.D. projects, finance scholarships for this reason and offer career perspective for our Ph.D. graduates. At the moment (March 2024), the most important stakeholders are:
- Autonomous Region of Trentino-South Tyrol: funded a 3-years scholarship for a research project on unpublished Ladin texts of the 19th century (39th cycle).
- Eurac research Bozen/Bolzano: funded a 3-years scholarship for a research project related to the grammatical analysis of Italian written by students in primary and secondary education in the Italian school in South Tyrol (37th cycle).
- Regional Agency for the Friulian language (Agenzia regionale per la lingua friulana, ARLEF): funded a 3-years scholarship for a research project dedicated to the comparative analysis of measures of protection of Rhaeto-Romance, Ladin and Friulian minority languages (40th cycle).
- Canalescuola Bozen/Bolzano: non academic partner of the research project "Ensuring inclusive access to the Italian literary, cultural and humanistic heritage: study and enhancement of reading in children with linguistic vulnerabilities", 3-years scholarship funded by PNRR (DM 351/2022) (38th cycle).
- Fondazione Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona: partner of the University of Verona, with which it collaborates on research, teaching and training projects in the field of philology.

"Alumni quotes"

Tekabe Legesse Feleke, XXXII cycle
Currently: Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UiT The Arctic University of Norway

"I attended the PhD program in Linguistics at Verona University from 2016 to 2019. It was an honor to be a part of this program. The teaching-learning process was participatory and reasonably diverse. Seminars, conferences, and lectures were the primary platforms through which knowledge and research findings are shared and disseminated. Each platform entertained various domains of linguistics and accommodates diverse thematic areas. The lectures were exciting both in terms of scope and depth, and they were given by the professors at Verona University and by distinguished invited guests. The PhD program also encouraged experience sharing through exchange programs and bilateral collaborations. I benefited from the collaboration effort; I spent some of my PhD time at the University of Groningen (Netherlands) and at the LLACAN Research Center (France). The collaboration effort helped me to secure a postdoctoral position, right after the completion of the PhD program."

Marta Tagliani, XXXIII cycle
Currently: Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the University of Verona

"I completed my Ph.D. in 2021 by conducting eye-tracking research on negation processing in typically developed and dyslexic populations. The doctoral program gave me the opportunity to pursue a double degree Ph.D. in co-tutelle with the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany). Throughout my doctoral experience, I strengthened my theoretical knowledge across diverse linguistic domains through annual Winter schools organized by the Ph.D. program, featuring international faculty. The program’s strength lies in offering a wide range of teaching courses, allowing exploration of linguistic research fields beyond one’s project and expanding opportunities for collaboration in future research projects. Currently I'm working mostly on multilingualism’s benefits for language development in typical and dyslexic learners. However, despite my psycholinguistic background, my academic education facilitated the collaboration on projects like AlpiLink, investigating local linguistic varieties in the Alpine region."

Joachim Kokkelmans, XXXIII cycle
Currently: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Germanic Linguistics and Lecturer (Linguistics of German, Ladin Department) at the Free University of Bolzano-Bozen

"Das Doktorat an der Universität Verona (2017-2020) war für mich gleichzeitig ein Sprungbrett in eine akademische Karriere, ein Kreuzpunkt zwischen Kulturen und Forschungswelten sowie das spannendste Abenteuer meines Lebens. In Verona und auf Konferenzreisen trat ich in Kontakt mit anderen jungen ForscherInnen aus der ganzen Welt, woraus sowohl intellektuelle und forschungsbezogene gegenseitige Bereicherung als auch Freundschaften für das Leben entstanden. Dank des vielseitigen Bildungsangebots und Forschungprogramms konnte ich meine Wissenshorizonten erweitern und in die Praxis für meine eigene Dissertation umsetzen. Besonders dieses Gleichgewicht zwischen dem Arbeitsleben und den Doktoratsfreundschaften habe ich wertgeschätzt, welches meine Doktoratsjahre unvergesslich und zur besten Entscheidung meiner Laufbahn gemacht hat."

Anne Kruijt, XXXIV cycle
Currently: Researcher and Temporary Assistant Professor at the University of Verona

"I graduated from the PhD Program in Linguistics in 2022. In my research I focused on case systems of non-standard languages varieties in northern Italy, and during the program I had the opportunity to work and gather my data in a project called VinKo (Varieties in Contact). It helped me gain experience working in a collaborative research project involving colleagues working on a variety of topics from different universities. My research was funded via the Project of Excellency in Digital Humanities, and as such I was encouraged to explore the usages of Digital methodologies and to develop my skills in these areas. The program offers many opportunities for going abroad, and so I chose to spend a period at the University of Cologne (Germany) during which I completed the IT-Certificate for Humanities. The teaching program was designed to cover many different topics, and the invited speakers usually specialized in one of the topics that students in the program are working on. At the moment, I am working as a Postdoc Researcher in the AlpiLinK project at the University of Verona, which is a continuation of the VinKo project I was a part of during the PhD."

Paola Peratello, XXXV cycle
Currently: Researcher and Temporary Assistant Professor at the University of Venice

"A Febbraio 2023 ho ottenuto il titolo di Dottore di Ricerca e Doctor Europaeus con un progetto di ricerca in Filologia Germanica intitolato "An analysis and an edition of Codex Runicus, AM 28 8vo (Den Arnamagnæanske Samling, Copenhagen)" finanziato dal Progetto di Eccellenza sulle Digital Humanities Applicate alle Lingue e Letterature Straniere. Il punto di forza del Dottorato in Linguistics è stato sicuramente il taglio internazionale portando ad un continuo scambio con dottorande/i e docenti internazionali provenienti da vari ambiti di ricerca, sia in contesti formali (Winter School del corso di Dottorato, seminari, workshop, convegni) e che informali (LiVE lunch). La mia formazione è stata rafforzata inoltre da un lato da soggiorni di ricerca all'estero finanziati, e dall’altro dalla partecipazione come collaboratrice a tre progetti di ricerca nell’ambito della Filologia Germanica e delle Digital Humanities."


Faculty Board of PhD in Linguistics

Coordinator
Rabanus Stefan
Type of body
PhD committee
Department
Lingue e Letterature Straniere
Records and documents present in the year:

March 27, 2024

February 26, 2024

January 31, 2024

QA Board of PhD in Linguistics

Coordinator
Cappellotto Anna
Type of body
Quality Assurance Board
Department
Lingue e Letterature Straniere
Tasks

Further information on MYUNIVR

Records and documents present in the year:

March 14, 2024

March 6, 2024

February 28, 2024

February 18, 2024

The Italian University system

schema_qualita

First-cycle degrees: Bachelor’s degree programme

First-cycle degrees are aimed at enabling students to achieve a command of general scientific methods and content, and to acquire specific professional knowledge.
Admission requirements: secondary school diploma after completing 13 years of study in total and passing the relevant State examination, or equivalent foreign qualification; admission may be subject to further assessment.
Duration: three years.
Graduation: in order to obtain the degree, it is necessary to gain at least 180 CFU; doing an internship and preparing a dissertation/thesis may also be required. Upon completion of a Bachelor’s degree, graduates may continue their studies by enrolling in a Master’s degree or other second-cycle degree programmes and courses.
Academic title: upon completion of a Bachelor’s degree (Laurea), graduates are awarded the title of “Dottore”.

Second-cycle degrees: Master’s degree

Second-cycle degrees aim to provide students with an advanced training and knowledge to take on highly-skilled roles.
Admission requirements: applicants must hold a Bachelor’s degree, or a foreign equivalent qualification; curricular admission requirements for each course may vary depending on each University.
Duration: two years.
Graduation: in order to obtain the degree, it is necessary to gain at least 120 CFU, as well as preparing and presenting a dissertation/thesis.
Academic title: upon completion of a Master’s degree (Laurea Magistrale), graduates are awarded the title of “Dottore magistrale”. Single cycle/Combined Bachelor+Master’s degrees
Some courses (Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics, Pharmacy and Industrial Pharmacy, Architecture and Building Engineering-Architecture, Law, Primary Education) are offered as Single cycle/Combined Bachelor+Master’s degrees (Corsi di Laurea Magistrale a Ciclo Unico).
Admission requirements: applicants must hold a secondary school diploma or equivalent foreign qualification; admission is subject to passing an admission test.
Duration: five years (six years and 360 CFU for Medicine and Surgery, and Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics).
Graduation: in order to obtain the degree, it is necessary to gain at least 300 CFU, as well as preparing and presenting a dissertation/thesis. Upon completion of a Single-cycle degree, graduates may continue their studies by applying for a PhD programme (Dottorato di Ricerca) or other third-cycle courses.
Academic title: upon completion of a Master’s degree (Laurea Magistrale), graduates are awarded the title of “Dottore magistrale”.

Third-cycle degrees

PhD programmes: these courses enable students to gain reliable methodologies for advanced scientific research through innovative methodologies and new technologies, and generally include internships abroad and lab activities at research laboratories. Graduates wishing to apply for a PhD programme must have a Master’s degree (or a foreign equivalent qualification) and pass an open competition; PhD programmes have a minimum duration of three years. In order to complete the programme, students must produce a research thesis/dissertation and present it at a final examination.
Academic title: upon completion of a PhD programme, students are awarded the title of “Dottore di ricerca”, or “PhD”.
Postgraduate specialisation courses: these are third-cycle courses aimed at enabling students to develop advanced knowledge and highly-specialised skills, such as in the medical, clinical and surgical fields. To be admitted to these courses, applicants must have a Master’s degree (or a foreign equivalent qualification) and pass an open competition. Postgraduate specialisation courses may last from two (120 CFU) to 6 years (360 CFU) depending on the type. Academic title: upon completion of this programme, graduates are awarded a “Diploma di Specializzazione”.

Professional Master’s programme

1st-level Professional Master’s programmes: these courses enable students to further enhance their scientific knowledge and professional skills. In order to apply, applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree, or foreign equivalent qualification. The minimum duration is one year (60 CFU). Please note that completing this course will not provide you with direct access to a PhD programme (Dottorato di Ricerca), or other third-cycle courses, as these courses are run and managed by each University at the local level. Upon completion of this programme, students are awarded a “Master universitario di primo livello”.
2nd-level Professional Master’s programmes: these courses enable students to further enhance their scientific knowledge and professional skills. In order to apply, applicants must have a Master’s degree, or foreign equivalent qualification. The minimum duration is one year (60 CFU). Please note that completing this course will not provide you with direct access to a PhD programme (Dottorato di Ricerca), or other third-cycle courses, as these courses are run and managed by each University at the local level. Upon completion of this programme, students are awarded a “Master universitario di secondo livello”.

Other useful things

Crediti Formativi Universitari (CFU/ECTS credits): Italian university courses are based on the CFU system. 1 CFU is equal to 25 hours of study. The average annual academic workload for a full-time student is generally assumed to be 60 CFU. CFU and ECTS credits serve the same purpose and generally have the same value.
Degree class: Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes that have the same learning objectives and activities are grouped into “degree classes". The educational content of each programme is set autonomously by each university; however, universities are required to include certain educational activities (and the corresponding number of CFU credits) set at the national level. These requirements are established in relation to each degree class. Degrees in the same class have the same legal value.
Double/Joint degrees: the Italian universities may establish degree programmes in partnership with other Italian or foreign universities. Upon completion of these courses, graduates are awarded a joint or double/multiple degree, one from each Partner University.

Partnerships

Academic and scientific partnerships are currently running with Italian and international universities/research institutions in order to enrich the education path of Ph.D. students.

Documents

Title Info File
File pdf UniVr - Köln pdf, it, 2166 KB, 15/04/24
File pdf UniVr - Marburg pdf, it, 363 KB, 10/04/24
File pdf UniVr -Tromsø pdf, it, 6418 KB, 24/04/24