Environmental Sciences

The doctoral programme provides preparation and training in research in the various fields typical of Environmental Sciences, promoting interdisciplinary interaction of students with Italian and foreign research groups and with institutions that study and manage the environment, land and human health. The primary objectives of the programme include providing adequate knowledge of the multiple methodological, instrumental, analytical, statistical and model-based approaches to study of the environment; the skill to perform interdisciplinary integration and synthesis of know-how resulting from the study of the various components of environmental systems and their complex interactions; qualification and scientific productivity as preparatory elements for a career in research institutes or other professional frameworks.
The doctoral programme is highly interdisciplinary, centred on ensuring high standards of learning in the integrated study of complex environmental systems regarding: biodiversity expressed at all levels of organization of biodiversity, from the genetic to the molecular levels, to the organization of organisms, populations and communities; relations at all organizational levels between biological factors, and between the latter and the abiotic environment; diachronic and other interactions between humans and the environment in terms of effects of human activities and disturbance on natural environments and of the quality of living and working environments on toxicological risk and health hazards.
The programme particularly focuses on general themes, namely: analysis of natural and disturbed environments; study of environmental pollution and its ecotoxicological consequences, in vivo and in vitro (damage to the DNA and to proteins, cell damage, reproductive anomalies, developmental changes, teratogenesis and other biomarkers in animal and human models), and genetic, epigenetic and molecular mechanisms that control the cell cycle and metabolism, or that form the molecular basis for resistance to parasites (in plant models); study of plant and animal models of genetic and environmental adaptation and determinism of phenotypic variability in morphological, physiological and behavioural characters; expression of phenotypic plasticity and evolution of populations, in response to variable environmental conditions due to natural and human effects, consequences of climate change, fragmentation and alteration of habitats and direct human interference; study of symbiotic relations with particular reference to pathogenic mechanisms in antagonist symbiotic systems, evolutionary and phylogenetic aspects of symbiotic relations and application of symbionts for biocontrol; analysis of consequences of climatic factors, alterations in the structure of past and present natural habitats and transformations in zootechnical, agricultural and forestry practices on demography and population distribution, community composition and conservation of endangered species, and development of remediation methods for degraded environments and biocontrol of antieconomic species; study of land surface modelling processes and evolution with regard to the structural and lithological component, climate control, human component and present and past biotic communities; conservation of cultural and paleontological heritage and landscape; variations in geomorphological systems and subsequent changes in environmental hazard and risk scenarios; study of soil, surface deposits and landscape as evidence of interactions between humans and the environment; environmental indicators of climate change and palaeobiology of fossil populations; research on teaching methods used in secondary schools for subjects related to the programme.