Admission

Admission to the BMCS doctoral program is by application to a call posted on this page. The ordinary call, open to all nationalities, is issued annually in spring; other calls targeting specific themes or nationalities may also open and are posted on this page.
IInternational students who are already winners in their own country of a full doctoral fellowship can apply for a special admission procedure ("Borse stati esteri").
Personal funding is not permitted.
Doctoral students who are already enrolled in a doctoral program outside Italy and interested in visiting BMCS for a limited period can use a dedicated application procedure for visiting Ph.D. students.

 Calls for application to the 42nd series of the program

SPECIAL CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS AT RISK
DEADLINE June 5th, 2026 AT 13:00 CEST 
3 fully granted positions are available in a UNIPD doctoral program of choice; BMCS is among the eligible PhD programs 
Application information: https://www.unipd.it/en/dottorati-42risk

ORDINARY CALL FOR APPLICANTS OF ALL CITIZENSHIPS
DEADLINE May 20th, 2026 AT 13:00 CEST 
11 fully granted positions are available 
Eligible candidates must have obtained their degree by September 30th, 2026, or earlier
Application platform: https://pica.cineca.it/unipd/dottorati42

Videorecordeded infosession on BMCS program structure, alumni experience, granted positions, and admission process  

Reference documents

- Description of the positions available, selection schedule and specific application instructions for the BMCS doctoral program (in English)/(in Italian)

- General call with information, including eligibility criteria and application procedure (in English)/(in Italian)
- Technical guidelines for the use of the application and payment platform (in English) (in Italian)
Additional information on the bounded topics
Scientific referents and topic descriptions can be found in this table
Additional BMCS guidelines

- Project description: Please prepare the project description, making sure that it is 2000 words long and that it contains the following sections: Research project title, the background of your work based on an updated state of the art in the domain of your research project, overall project goal, expected advances to the discipline, expected impact or outcomes, research plan (main phases of the planned work, expected duration, dependence relation between phases), interdisciplinary aspects of the project, references

- CV: The Europass CV format is preferable (https://europass.europa.eu/en). When organizing the CV entries, please follow a chronological order from most recent to least recent (for example, in the "Qualifications" section, start with the most recent qualification). Furthermore, please report your degree grade in an easily identifiable position and bold type, or, if you have not yet graduated, the average exam grade (for Italian candidates) or the exam transcript (for international candidates).
Schedule
 (all dates refer to CEST time zone)
20 May 2026 13:00: application deadline 

25 May 2026 13:00: deadline for the referees to insert their recommendation letters
 upon the applicant's invitation
10 June 2026: preselection outcome based on the qualifications submitted in the application and interview schedule for successful applicants are published on this page; to open the files, the applicant will need the password received at the time of the application. The request to conduct the interviews online is possible, provided it is entered in the admission form at the time of application.
15 June 2026: starting day of the interviews according to the schedule mentioned above
. The outcomes of the interviews are published on this page (it is not the final ranking, but the grades assigned after the interview). To open the file, the applicant will need the password received at the time of the application.
01 July 2026: applicants' ranking and information about the enrolment procedure are published here 
23 July 2026: enrolment deadline for successful applicants
29 July 2026: publication of a list of replacement applicants here

04 August 2026: enrolment deadline for replacement applicants
25 August 2026: publication of any remaining vacant place here
27 August 2026: application deadline for the remaining vacant places

01 September 2026: enrolment deadline for remaining vacant places
30 September 2026: closure of enrollment in any remaining vacant place
01 November 2026: start of the doctoral program

CSC CALL FOR APPLICANTS OF CHINESE CITIZENSHIP
DEADLINE December 10, 2025 (expired)
2 positions available with a grant from the China Scholarship Council
Application information: https://www.unipd.it/en/scholarships-chinese-phd-students