Programme Structure

TEACHING PROGRAMME

A.Y. 2024/2025

The PhD program in Politics at Luiss is a fully funded three-year programme, aimed at giving participants the skills needed to embark on an academic or professional career in international institutions, NGOs, public and private research institutes, and political and institutional communications.

The programme, which requires full-time attendance and is taught in English, is structured along three elements:

1. Supervised Research

2. Taught Courses (only in the 1^st and 2^nd years)

3. Research Seminars

To proceed to the following academic year, the PhD candidates must achieve:

– Satisfactory completion of the courses taught in the first year

– Satisfactory presentation of the extended research proposal at the Annual Departmental Postgraduate Conference

– Positive recommendation from the supervisors in their annual monitoring report

Candidates will be assigned a supervisor and one or more co-supervisors who will guide their research throughout the whole duration of their studies. Furthermore, the programme facilitates exchanges with partner universities abroad and provides additional financial support to enable study periods and field work outside of Luiss University.

During their first year, candidates will attend taught courses encompassing the areas of political science, political theory and research methods (both qualitative and quantitative).

At the end of each year, candidates will present thesis progress at the Annual Departmental Postgraduate Conference, commonly scheduled in mid-June. The result of this presentation will determine their admission to the following years of study.

The second year will see candidates attend additional courses focused on Applied Methods (both qualitative and quantitative), and Mixed Methods.

Both the second and third year of study are mainly devoted to research activities and to the submission and defence of the thesis. PhD candidates will also take part in the academic seminars organised by the Department.

An outline of the teaching programme of the current academic year is provided below, and more information on the individual courses can be obtained by clicking on their respective links.

1^st YEAR 2024/2025

Semester 1 – September/December 2024

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Philosophy of Social Sciences	Sillari	20	5
Theory in Political Science I: Democracy and Representation	De Sio and Emanuele	20	5
Quantitative Methods	Bellucci	20	5
Research Design	Emanuele and Mannoni	20	5
Departmental Research Seminars	TBC	20	5
PhD in Politics Seminars	TBC	8	2
Thesis Research and Writing	TBC	20	5

Semester 2 – February/May 2025

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Contemporary Debates in Political Theory	Gentile	20	5
Theory in Political Science II: IR, Political Economy and European Integration	Fabbrini, Christiansen, Marchetti and Thatcher	20	5
Qualitative Methods	Thatcher and Stoeckl	20	5
Research Skills I	Christiansen and others	10	3
Departmental Research Seminars	TBC	20	5
PhD in Politics Seminars	TBC	8	2

2^nd YEAR 2025/2026

Semester 1 – September/December 2025

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Applied Quantitative Methods	Marolla	20	5
Applied Qualitative Methods	Thatcher and Stoeckl	20	5
Departmental Research Seminars	TBC	20	5
PhD in Politics Seminars	TBC	8	2
Thesis Research and Writing	TBC	40	10

Semester 2 – February/May 2026

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Mixed Methods	Zamaro	20	5
Research Skills II	Christiansen and others	10	2
Departmental Research Seminars	TBC	20	5
PhD in Politics Seminars	TBC	8	2
Thesis Research and Writing	TBC	40	10

3^rd YEAR 2024/2025

Semester 1 – September/December 2026

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Departmental Research Seminars	TBC	8	2

Semester 2 – February/May 2027

SUBJECT	PROFESSOR	HOURS	CFU
Thesis Research and Writing	TBC	280	70