Ph.D in Sustainable Development

“With just under ten years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, world leaders at the SDG Summit in September 2019 called for a Decade of Action and delivery for sustainable development, and pledged to mobilize financing, enhance national implementation and strengthen institutions to achieve the Goals by the target date of 2030, leaving no one behind. The UN Secretary-General called on all sectors of society to mobilize a decade of action on three levels: global action to secure greater leadership, more resources and smarter solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals; local action embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities; and people action, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations.” https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development- agenda/

This PhD programme contributes to academia’s response to this call for action. For this reason, the PhD in Sustainable Development is an interdisciplinary programme presenting "alternative" narratives and paradigms in contrast to the dominant meta narratives across the key areas. The students will be free to collaborate with scholars across the various disciplines on original interdisciplinary research. In so doing, students will help create new fields of inquiry that will have a wide impact in many aspects of daily life. In addition to the skills and competences outlined above, the programme of study is organised to attain the following objectives:

• enable students to engage in advanced study and high-quality research with scholars in a variety of fields relevant to sustainability;

• foster original and scholarly research that contributes to these field/s;

• explore practice, policies, theories and new ideas relating to the field of study;

• facilitate the integration of students’ professional and educational experience with the larger problems of the professions involved in sustainability;

• acquire theoretical and applied knowledge of contemporary issues and develop a theoretical lens through which to perceive specific issues related to sustainability;

• systematic analysis of complex systems, as the multi/trans/interdisciplinary nature of action for sustainable development requires a system thinking approach in order to understand drivers in the existing system;

• identify leverage points for sustainable development. Through this lens, such points may be transcribed into a call for action.

In order to attain these objectives, students following the PhD programme are monitored closely by one or more faculty members and/or experts from related fields of study. To this end, Dilemma Workshops shall be organised wherein papers will be evaluated and students will be required to demonstrate empirical, theoretical, structural and critical capabilities.

Candidates shall possess a Master’s degree (EQF/MQF level 7) in any area deemed relevant by Pegaso International’s Post-Graduate Admissions Board. Candidates should have proficiency in English or Italian language. Candidates applying for this Ph.D. programme are expected to hold basic IT skills and appropriate research skills and competences. Such skills are considered to be a pre-requisite for this Ph.D. programme. Candidates unable to meet the aforementioned requirements are invited to follow separate dedicated courses to gain such skills.

The PhD degree programme has been designed with a strongly formative character in mind and with sound theoretical foundations. To ensure a smooth transition for the student, collaborations and partnerships with a variety of industry players are in place. To further promote industrial experience development, a student can also carry out research for the thesis in collaboration with an industrial partner. Because sustainability is so interdisciplinary, there is no set career path in this field, though sustainability jobs in scientific and engineering fields have certain degree and certification requirements. Those interested in sustainability can pursue careers in clean energy, technology, education, management, political science, business, international development, international relations and more.