FAQ
REFUNDS
1. Are there any funds available for PhD Students to access?
Yes, there are two distinct funds available to Psychology PhD Students at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore:
- Funds allocated by the Doctoral Office: These funds amount to 10% of the scholarship and are accessible to all doctoral students, whether they have a scholarship or not.
- Funds allocated by the Psychology Department: The Psychology Department allocates these funds based on its annual budget. Additionally, an extra allocation is exclusively reserved for doctoral students without a scholarship.
Each PhD Student can access both sources of funding. Through these allocated funds, it is possible to cover various expenses related to mobility (e.g., transportation, meals, accommodation) and the purchase of goods or services (e.g., books, software, participation in conferences and courses, memberships in scientific societies, and expenses for scientific publications).
PLEASE NOTE: All expenses must be approved in advance – additional information is present in question 2 and 3. Availability of funds and the application process may vary depending on your request, your scholarship, and Academic Policies year by year. For specific details and requirements, you can reach out to the Doctoral Office at dottorati.ricerca-mi@unicatt.it and Psychology Department Secretary at dip.psicologia@unicatt.it.
2. How can I access the Doctoral office funds? To access Doctoral office funds, follow the following steps and the specific refund procedure:
- Complete this reimbursement request.
- Submit the receipts and the completed reimbursement request to the doctoral coordinator (Prof. Margherita Lanz) to obtain authorization for accessing the funds. Follow the following instructions and deadlines:
- Requests: Students must submit their refund requests once a month.
- Submission Date: The request must be sent by the last Friday of the month.
- Recipient: The refund request email should be addressed to Prof. Lanz.
- Email Subject: The subject of the email should be "Refund Request [FirstnameLastname]”. For example: “Refund Request Mario Rossi”.
- File Naming for Refund Requests: The attached files for the refund request must follow this naming format: “Refund_FirstnameLastname_StudentID_monthyear”. For example: “Refund_MarioRossi_12345_January2023”.
- Consolidating Refunds: If a student has more than one refund to request during the same month, a single refund file and email should be prepared. Do not send separate emails for each refund request.
- Delays in Requests: If a student does not submit the refund request by the last Friday of the month, their refund will be considered and processed the following month.
- PhD office: authorization email will be sent by Prof. Lanz directly to the PhD office.
- Doctoral OfficeThe Doctoral Office will make contact only in case of need.
3. How can I access the Psychology Department's funds?
To request reimbursements from the Psychology Department, it is necessary to keep the original tax receipts and follow these steps:
- Verify that the reimbursement amount does not exceed the available funds – If you are not in possession of this information, kindly get in touch with the Psychology Department secretary.
- Send an authorization email to the department director (Prof. Antonella Marchetti), including all information about the requester (Cycle of the doctorate attendance, supervisor, reason for reimbursement), with the department's secretary (dip.psicologia@unicatt.it) in cc.
- Await the approval from Prof. Antonella Marchetti.
- Compile the Excel department reimbursement form obtained by the department's secretary and sign it.
- Send the reimbursement form to the department secretary, making sure to include in cc. Prof. Antonella Marchetti and your PhD Supervisor.
- Bring a printed copy of the department reimbursement form, along with the original tax receipts, to the secretary of the Psychology Department.
4. Do I have additional funds available for my stay abroad?
Yes, but only for PhD Students holding a scholarship. Scholarship holders are eligible for a 50% increase in their scholarship amount throughout their entire stay abroad, with a maximum duration of 12 months for visiting periods, and 18 months for cotutelle agreements. Before leaving, doctoral students must complete and submit the "Request for Study Abroad" form to the Doctoral Office. Upon their return, they must provide documentation to verify their research activities at the institutions visited. More specific information and materials can be found on the Doctoral Students' Mobility webpage.
PhD STATUS, TUITION FEES AND SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM
1. Who is enrolled in the doctoral program is a student?
Yes, people enrolled in a PhD program are considered students in Italy. For this reason, the PhD Students are entitled to the same services (e.g., accommodation place, study grants) as students in graduate programs.
2. Where can I find my PhD Student certifications?
To download your self-certification (indicating you are enrolled at a PhD program and the detail of your scholarship – if applicable), you have to login to your icatt page and click on “online register”. Documents can be downloaded both in English and Italian.
Additional documents and forms (e.g., form presentation of the research project, request for frequency suspension, form for changing personal data, etc.) can be found at the link below:
3. Do enrollment in the doctoral psychology program involves tuition fees?
Yes, enrollment in a PhD program implies the payment of tuition fees of approximately 1,500 € in total, divided into 3 separate payments during the academic year, regardless of the place with fellowship or without fellowship. Deadlines and procedures can be found in your icatt page clicking on “online register” and “Fees and financial support”.
4. Is the scholarship compatible with other income?
The fellowship is compatible with other income, but it should not exceed the amount of the fellowship. For more information, click on the following link:
https://progetti.unicatt.it/progetti-ateneo-faq-e-vademecum-immatricolazione-primo-anno
5. What is “gestione separata” of INPS?
In Italy, PhD programs must provide mandatory social security protection for certain categories of workers, including scholarship recipients. All PhD students with a Scholarship must register to “gestione separata of INPS” within January after enrollment.
6. If I am a registered psychologist and I am a PhD student on fellowship, do I have to pay contributions to ENPAP?
The social security protection related to the income received by Research Grant (including doctoral fellowship), even in the performance of activities as a psychologist, if provided for in the Notice of Assignment, is entrusted to the “gestione separata of INPS” and not to ENPAP.
For specific cases, please follow the following link and contact ENPAP directly.
INTERNATIONALIZATION
1. How can I go abroad during my PhD?
Students’ mobility is strongly encouraged and there are multiple ways to do it. For information concerning this request, follow the link below and read the section “What are the opportunities for internationalization?”
https://scuoledidottorato.unicatt.it/psicologia-scuola-di-dottorato-in-psicologia-la-scuola#content
2. How long before should I start the procedures?
It largely depends on the kind of experience abroad you want to engage in. If you are planning just a visiting period, as the procedures might require several months to be completed, PhD Students are encouraged to plan abroad visiting at least 3-4 months before departure. Timing for EU universities is shorter than Extra-EU universities (due to the bureaucratic process for obtaining the necessary documents).
If you want to engage in a Double or multiple degree program, an agreement must be signed at least 6 months before the start of a doctoral cycle, and its existence must be indicated - as far as the Università Cattolica is concerned - in the announcement of the doctoral competition itself (see Double Doctoral Degree for more information).
Finally, if you want to engage in a co-tutelle program, you must submit your application no later than the first semester of the second year of the doctoral program (see Procedure for a Cotutelle Agreement for more information).
3. Who should I refer to for more information?
The doctoral office should be contacted for more information about internationalization (dottorati.ricerca-mi@unicatt.it)
4. What documents do I need and where can I obtain them?
Depending on your destination, different documents are required: the hosting university will inform you about the necessary documents. The doctoral office will assist you with health insurance and necessary certifications. Please note students are responsible for travel document procedures (e.g., VISA). The time required to issue the documents is not dependent on universities.
5. Is there additional financial support for my activity abroad?
Students with scholarships are granted an additional 50% of the scholarship for their entire stay abroad (regardless of its duration), to a maximum of 12 months in case of visiting periods, and up to 18 months in case of co-tutelle agreement.
ETHICS COMMISSION (CERPS)
1. What is the Ethics Commission?
The Ethics Committee provides an evaluation of all University research projects that have ethical implications. Before starting your research, you and your research team are required to present the request to the University Ethics Committee (e-mail: commissione.cerps@unicatt.it), so to obtain approval for the project in respect of all ethical issues. All necessary documents can be found at the following link:
https://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/psicologia-dipartimento-di-psicologia-commissione-etica#content
2. What is the procedure to obtain approval from the Ethics Commission?
The first thing to do is to download the up-to-date documents from the Psychology Department (see link above). Next, you must fill in all necessary information and appendices (including research tools and, if applicable, participants’ invitation letters). The request must be signed by the research supervisor, who is also responsible for sending the documents to commissione.cerps@unicatt.it. The commission meets once a month and sends back feedback (e.g., approval, minor revision, and major revision) within a few weeks. When required, the documents must be amended following the requests of the Ethics Commission. After the revision, the final documents should be sent by the research supervisor to commissione.cerps@unicatt.it. Once the project has been approved, you will receive a unique protocol number.
PLEASE NOTE: other Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) regarding Doctoral Studies can be found here.