Programme description

The goal of this programme is to graduate highly trained historians who can pursue careers not only in academic, archival and cultural institutions, but also in the media,
public administration bodies and in European and international organizations. Our graduates develop specialized expertise within their own research field but are also expected to acquire interdisciplinary skills and historical knowledge beyond their own disciplinary area.

The Doctorate includes two curricula pathways:

• a) MEDITERRANEAN CIVILIZATIONS IN THE PRE-CLASSICAL, CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL ERAS

This curriculum focuses on the civilizations that flourished around the Mediterranean Sea - since time immemorial a crossroad of cultural and trade networks - starting from the great empires of the East in the pre-classical era up to the Middle Ages.
This region has traditionally provided a fertile shared space for different identities to coexist and interact and has given birth to an ever-shifting balance of different political and cultural systems. In this context, both the traditional “classic-centric” approach and a rigid sectoral fragmentation of research fields are increasingly inadequate: the study of the civilizations of the ancient and medieval Mediterranean, in fact, must take into account the complex articulation of different cultural frameworks and requires a broader analytical toolbox than the approaches which are
traditionally associated with these disciplinary areas.
This curriculum therefore aims – with the contribution of professors with decades-long expertise in fields such as ancient and medieval history, archaeology and art history, and oriental studies – to offer a pathway that allows doctoral students to develop unconventional interpretations of the history of the Mediterranean that are best explored within interdisciplinary frameworks rather than being simplistically traced back to individual sectoral areas. Our goal is to graduate researchers with high-level historical expertise within their field of specialization but also with a solid interdisciplinary analytical outlook. Our graduates, both Italian and non-Italian, will also be able to train experts in the history, conservation, and fruition of cultural heritage both within the Mediterranean space and beyond.

• b) SOCIETY, POLITICS AND INSTITUTIONS IN THE MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ERAS

This research area allows the candidates to explore long-term historical processes, straddling across traditional systems of periodization. This approach encourages research that traces the outcomes of multi-faceted phenomena that unfold in multiple spaces and allows for the formation of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary analytical skills.
These skills will be refined and assessed regularly within the context of the supervisor-supervisee relationship, but also by encouraging active participation in national and international conferences, seminars and lecture series, workshops, and ateliers in which the candidates will be able to compare the progress of their individual research activity with that of their peers and established academics and to be exposed to the newest historiographical trends. This curriculum therefore aims is to train experts with a high level of historical expertise who can pursue careers in academic, cultural and media institutions as well as in public administration and European and international organizations, in particular those specialized in international cooperation and development.

The programme is positioned within the academic areas of the humanities and political and social studies. It encourages interdisciplinary thinking and provides training in a wide range of historiographic and comparative approaches and across multiple time periods – from the pre-classical era to contemporary history, both within and outside Europe.

Research projects within the following areas are particularly encouraged:
- History and culture of the pre-classical ancient Near East
- Ancient history and historiography in the Classic era
- Archaeology, topography, and history of Greek, Etruscan-Italic and Roman art
- History and civilisation of the Greek and Latin Middle Ages
- Modern and contemporary history
- Constitutional and administrative history
- History and politics of European integration
- History of Asia and Africa

XL CYCLE

1. METHODOLOGY OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH (32 hours) - first year

The course includes a variable number of lectures focusing on the methodological peculiarities of the historical disciplines, for a total of 32 hours of face-to-face teaching. Particular attention will be devoted to issues concerning the critical use of the documentary apparatuses proper to each of the areas of study included in the doctoral program, taking care that the treatment of specific historiographical contexts highlights at the same time the common features that connote the work of the historian beyond disciplinary specializations, chronological partitions and distinctions d'geographic area.

2. TRANSVERSAL LESSONS (24 hours) - first year

As part of the Ateneo cross-disciplinary doctoral lectures, doctoral students are expected to take the English-language course in “Academic Publishing in the Humanities” (6 CFUs). The course will enable doctoral students to familiarize themselves with the academic publishing process.
In case the course is not taught, doctoral students will be able to take a course of their choice among the cross-curricular doctoral courses of the University, listed in section 10 under “Other didactics,” on topics not strictly disciplinary in nature, including soft skills
(written and oral communication, self branding, entrepreneurship, etc.), open science (open access and open data), research management and European and
international, research ethics and integrity, dissemination, and intellectual property.
https://phd.unipv.it/corsi-trasversali-per-dottorandi/

3. ANCIENT HISTORY QUESTIONS (20 hours) - second year - curr. A

The course will address a different cultural-historical issue related to the world each year. ancient world (e.g., ideology of kingship, issues related to the organization of territory and management of power, interaction between religion and politics, etc.), analyzing it according to the different research methodologies peculiar to the study directions of the field of antiquity (Preclassic Ancient Near East; Ancient History and Historiography in the Classical Age; Archaeology, Topography and History of Greek, Etruscan-Italic, Roman Art) and encouraging the direct participation of doctoral students, who will be entrusted, depending on the topic of their research project, with some of the lecture hours.

4. QUESTIONS OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY (20 HOURS) - second year - curr. B

This course will examine a range of issues relevant to the study of modern and contemporary world history, focusing on research perspectives that characterize the most recent historiographical trends. In particular, categories such as
revolution/counterrevolution over the long/very long period and intersecting spaces such as the Mediterranean and the Atlantic may be the subject of specific insights in light of recent historiographical workshops. The lectures, mainly seminar-based,
involve the active participation of doctoral students.

5. SPECIALIST SEMINARS (10 HOURS) - second and third years

The course aims to explore at a specialized level issues concerning historical research, such as, for example, biographies and autobiographies in history, the theory and history of historiography, the revival of microhistory, cultural history, as well as the work sites of some academic history journals.