Social Work and Personal Social Services

In the context of the Doctoral Course in SW&PSS, one or more internships can be carried out. They consist of periods of attendance by the student, in physical presence or online, at organisations outside Università Cattolica.

The internship is aimed at (1) offering opportunities for the direct performance in the field of operational tasks useful for the development of research skills; and/or (2) enable the collection of data for research purposes.

Therefore, the doctoral internship has research-related purposes and therefore, unlike what is usually provided for in Bachelor's and Master's Degree Courses, it is not aimed at learning the profession of social worker or professional educator, i.e. learning skills directly related to the professional activity that social workers usually carry out in the field.

The internship can be carried out at qualified research institutions, or at Study Centers or Research Centers of Institutions with social welfare purposes, or at Public Administrations or ETS that manage and/or promote services and initiatives to combat social hardship.

The internship locations and/or activities to be carried out may already be provided for in the call for admission in connection with specific research topics; or they are identified by the PhD student concerned in agreement with his/her tutor. In any case, a specific project must be developed to be proposed to the Academic Board, which assesses the appropriateness on the basis of the following criteria: (a) connection of the proposed project with the research areas of the PhD and in particular with the research project of the student concerned; (b) scientific qualification of the proposed venue and/or consistency of the type of venue with the aims of the project; (c) scientific relevance and/or innovativeness of the proposed experience or field of study/observation.