About PHD

The International Graduate Program of the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS is organized in collaboration with the Open University (Milton Keynes, UK), which confers a PhD title recognized worldwide. The Program is part of the educational and training activities taking place in the two campuses of Milano and Bergamo.

The major aim of the Graduate Program is to train students for research careers in the fields of Pharmacology and Toxicology with particular reference to Cancer, Neurological, Cardiovascular and Kidney diseases. Other areas of interest include Environmental Toxicology, Organ Transplantation, Rare Diseases, Molecular Pharmacology and Public Health.

The entire duration of the course is 4 years.

IRFMN is certified according to the ISO 9001 European standards 2015 for the "Design and provision of specialized training courses in Biological and Medical fields also in Continuing Medical Education".

Selection criteria

Access is generally limited to young investigators with at least one-year experience in any field of experimental or clinical research. The candidate PhD student must hold a valid IELTS certificate (International English Language Testing System), or BULATS or TOEFL test.

Italian students must have an Italian University degree (laurea breve or laurea magistrale) in any scientific discipline.

Foreign candidates must have a graduate degrees equivalent to those required for the Italian candidates.

Procedures for registration with the Open University, UK

The procedure for the registration is divided in four phases.

1. Publication of the competitive call

Please read the PHD Call –Downloads

2. Pre-registration

The candidate must submit the following documents to phd@marionegri.it:

- the applicant's CV

- a valid IELTS (International English Language Testing System) or equivalent certificate. The IELTS score must meet the minimum requirement of 6.5 overall score, and no less than 6.0 in any of the four elements (reading, writing, listening and speaking). IELTS certificate must be no older than 2 years at the point of registration predicted date (October , 2022)

3. Evaluation of the applications

A panel of two internal reviewers, including the Research Degree Coordinator, evaluates whether the submitted applications meet the eligibility criteria in the call.

The eligible candidates are invited to the admission test, which consists of a written and an oral session. The final decision on the acceptance of the candidate is communicated by the School Office.

4. Registration of the accepted students

After notification of the acceptance, the student must transmit the following documents to the School Office:

- the ARC form;

- the Research Project;

- the applicant's CV;

- Animal Care Unit certification (for thesis projects requiring the use of animals);

- the completed Supervisor CV forms of the Director of Studies and the external Supervisor;

- a copy of the IELTS certificate or BULATS or TOEFL test.