LISTENING TO REPRESENT:

ADI LAUNCHES ITS SURVEY ON THE CONDITION OF DOCTORAL CANDIDATES

This survey seeks to investigate the working and living conditions of Doctoral Candidates in Italian universities, in order to have an overall picture not only of how healthy our workplaces are, but also of the PhD as a whole, which is such a crucial moment for our education and training as researchers, and of our Universities. We’d like to do this from the perspective of those who are the living part of this journey. The survey caters for both PhD candidates enrolled in a traditional PhD program, and PhD candidates enrolled in the so-called “Dottorato di ricerca innovativo con caratterizzazione industriale”.

On the 14th and 15th of May, the elections for the CNSU (Consiglio Nazionale degli Studenti Universitari) will take place. The CNSU represents all university students and PhD candidates on a national level, and interacts directly with MIUR (The Italian Ministry of Education). The elections will identify a new national PhD candidate representative, who will substitute the current outgoing representative, elected from ADI in 2016. All students and PhD candidates in Italy will be able to vote, through the local university voting booths.

Before such an important event, we believe it necessary to pause for a moment and take stock of the situation, and we think that the best way to do this is to start from the opinion of those going through PhD life every day, so that together we can reflect on the direction to take in order to improve whatever needs to be improved. We believe that listening is the most fundamental requirement to continue to represent our community, with the sense of commitment and balance that we have always strived to have.

This is why we ask all of you a little bit of your time to help us represent your needs in the best way possible, by filling in this short survey. It is through this survey that we would like to build a debate throughout all the different layers of our community in relation to the themes we deem necessary for our dialogue with the Ministry of Education (MIUR) in the next few years.

Let’s build our rights together!