The unifying element of the PhDs is the cultivated plant, for both agricultural and forestry aims. The scale of the research goes from the cell to the ecosystem, covering three main areas (click for more details):
Research topics of the PhD
The PhD spans a wide range of research topics across agricultural, environmental, biological, and food sciences, reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the doctoral program.
Many projects address plant–insect–microbe interactions, with studies investigating the ecology of wood-boring and invasive beetles, plant stress signals, microbial symbioses, and sustainable pest management in forests and crops.
A substantial body of research has been carried out on sustainable agriculture, including soil health, soil compaction, precision farming, remote sensing, and digital tools for monitoring crop growth and stress. Advanced technologies—such as machine learning, sensor networks, and imaging systems—are increasingly used to support data-driven decision making in agricultural systems.
Genetics, molecular biology and physiology represent another key area, with research on self-incompatibility mechanisms, floral induction, plastid biology, gene expression under stress, and genomic/transcriptomic approaches to understand plant physiology and adaptation. Several works address plant diseases, mycotoxin contamination, and the development of diagnostic tools to improve crop protection and food safety.
Finally, another area explores food technology and food quality, covering processing innovations, shelf-life extension, nutritional evaluation, and sensory analysis. Environmental sustainability, climate-change impacts, and biodiversity conservation are cross-cutting themes throughout the research portfolio of the PhD in Crop Science.
The Professional Profile
The professional roles that are expected to be trained, in addition to those in the academic field, coincide with figures of highly qualified technicians differentiated in relation to the line of research followed, however the neo-doctors will have a solid general training which sees the cultivated plant as a common element. Finally, for employment purposes, the launch of initiatives aimed at development is of particular importance for autonomous professional activities, also linked to the organization of spin-off proposals or start-ups (highly innovative new companies).
A list of research topics (not exhaustive)
- Plant genetics, genomics and proteomics
- Dynamics of epigenetic states
- Genetic improvement of traits influencing yield
- Resistance to biotic and abiotic stress
- Alteration of plant architecture and control of flowering
- Genetic determinants of apomixis
- Genetic control of fruit development and ripening
- Fruit postharvest management and physiology
- Plant hormone physiology and molecular biology
- Floral induction in tree crops
- Plant-environment interactions and ecophysiology
- Microbial conversion of residual biomasses in added value products (i.e. biofuels, bioplastics)
- Interactions between crop production and agronomic techniques
- Crop rotation
- Potential productivity and soil fertility
- Soil C and P dynamic
- Root systems and microbial symbionts
- Ecophysiology and productivity of agricultural and forest plants
- Biochemical, physiological and molecular responses of plants to pathogens
- Insect-plant relationships in agricultural and forest ecosystems
- Biological and integrated control of pests and diseases
- Ecological and molecular analysis of pests and pathogens