The PhD Program in Science and Management of Climate Change was established in 2007, through an agreement between the Università Ca' Foscari in Venice (Unive) and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC), a consortium comprising several Italian public and private research institutions.

Objectives of the PhD

Unive and CMCC joined their efforts to launch a joint PhD Program in order to provide the job market with experts with a broad, in-depth, scientific and socio-economic background, as well as with a sound and innovative research experience focusing on the dynamics of climate change and the methodologies and techniques for evaluation and management, in terms of mitigation and adaptation measures and policies.

Organisation of the PhD Program

The Program is organised in two Streams:

Dynamic Climatology, at CMCC in Bologna

Climate change impact and management, at the Department of Economics of the University Ca’ Foscari in Venice

Twelve 5-credit courses are planned for the first academic year, in order to provide students with the state of the art of the scientific findings related to the two disciplinary streams. These also foresee common activities with the objective of offering tools to build a sound scientific, managerial and economic base for the general comprehension of the broader theme of climate change, with the opportunity for in depth studies of specific issues and for experiencing a multidisciplinary approach.

The second year is aimed at providing the PhD candidates with an experience of research in a foreign institution, while the third year is mainly devoted to the preparation of the thesis.

The PhD admits every year up to twelve students, from Italy and elsewhere.

Research Themes

Examples of themes for the thesis of the PhD candidates are:

a) in depth study and understanding of the functioning of the climatic system in its different components: quantitative approach;

b) in depth study of the climatologic aspects for the comprehension of the climate physics and its variability: process and realistic studies related to the atmospheric/oceanic dynamics in key regions;

c) study of the theories and evidences of the climatic trends of the distant and near past; study of the non-linearity of climate changes, extreme phenomena and natural hazards;

d) identification of physical, climatic and biological indicators for the reconstruction of climatic aspects of the past and present and of their variability;

e) analysis of the economic systems feedbacks under climatic pressure through modelling of economic general computational equilibrium;

f) construction coupled climate-economics global integrated models; analysis of the geographic distribution of the costs of climate change and of the mitigation and adaptation policies;

g) design of models for the study of trading emission permits and their possible integration;

h) in depth study of the environmental issues for the comprehension of the impacts and risks of climate change on the natural and socio-ecosystems, including the risks for the human health;

i) design of decision support systems for the management of decision processes related to the assessment of impacts and risks related to climate change; definition and implementation of adaptation and mitigation policies and measures.