The PhD course in Inflammation, Immunity, and Cancer offers an interdisciplinary training program designed to equip the next generation of doctoral candidates with advanced knowledge and skills for a an holist approach to the study of cancer biology, and of the roles of immunity and inflammation in health and disease.
Our program goes beyond traditional academic training by involving the doctoral candidates in cutting-edge research projects on multidimensional analyses of complex model systems and patient tissues. This initiative is supported by a multidisciplinary team of experts from cell biology to clinical research, ensuring a rich, collaborative learning experience.
The doctoral candidates will benefit from unique learning opportunities across various settings, including academic institutions, clinical environments, patient advocacy groups, and the publishing system. The course emphasizes the societal implications of biomedical advancements, preparing young scientists to ethically and thoughtfully evaluate the impact of their research.
A key component of our curriculum, focuses on developing skills for inclusive engagement with patients, clinicians, and policymakers, fostering greater public trust in scientific endeavors.
By completing our program, graduate students will emerge as strong and adaptable, ready to lead in various sectors of biomedical science, making significant contributions to their fields and society at large.
TRAINING OBJECTIVES
The PhD Course aims to equip young researchers with
- Specific Research Skills: involvement in cutting edge research projects supported by our advanced infrastructure and dedicated team. The supervisors' laboratories, combined with our international collaboration network, ensure comprehensive training in specialized methodologies.
- General Research Skills: dedicated actions such as courses, workshop, mandatory secondments at international collaborators will cover for training sub-objectives such as science communication, problem solving, biostatistics, inclusivity. Hands-on experience within individual laboratories will also contribute towards increasing competence in scientific writings.
- Personal development: we emphasize the development of personal skills also through the exposure of the students to different cultural environments. This will be further stimulated through mandatory secondments at international research institutions.
PhD SUPERVISION
The faculty members of the PhD course constitute the supervisory board (SB). Each doctoral candidate will be assigned a supervisor from the SB and a co-supervisor from a different institution. Together, they will monitor the candidate's progress and provide evaluations critical for the student's advancement. Each candidate will receive initial hands-on training and supervision throughout the project from senior scientific staff, such as post-docs, in the hosting laboratories. Doctoral candidates are required to report on their work progress during the course's PhD Day. During secondments, hosting institution scientists will assume supervisory roles.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Our PhD course prepares DCs for diverse roles across the Life Science ecosystem, including:
- Research and Development
- Data science and analytics
- Academia and Research Institutes
- Healthcare and Clinical Research
- Policy and governmental organization
- Consulting and Advisory services
- Quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
Engagement in inclusivity and communication activities opens doors to additional opportunities in
- Science communication
- Project management
- Education
Overall, the PhD Course aspires to provide young researchers with a highly innovative and interdisciplinary training experience that will facilitate access for the young researchers to the career landscape that they encounter at end of program, be in science, industry, or education.
RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES
The doctoral candidates will have access to modern laboratories and facilities which are equipped with advanced technological platforms including single-cell sequencing technologies, flow cytometry, and proteomics.