The Neuroscience Area offers research-led doctoral training for graduates who want a career in brain science. From the start, students join a laboratory and work on an original project with their supervisor. Specialist lectures, methods courses, seminars and shared facilities support their work. Teaching and research are entirely in English, in an international environment.
The Area runs three PhD programmes. Each looks at the brain and nervous system from a different angle, from genes and molecules to cells, circuits, behaviour and cognition. Shared activities bring students from the three programmes together.
Cognitive Neuroscience
How human and animal brains create perception and turn it into thought and action. Research ranges from single neurons to population dynamics, and from systems neuroscience to cognitive science. Topics include touch and vision, the perception of time, space and number, memory, language and reading, and social cognition.
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Neurobiology
The cellular and physiological mechanisms of the nervous system. Topics include the olfactory system, somatosensation, spinal cord physiology, flexibility in circuits and behaviour, visual systems, and how neurons interact with nanomaterials.
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Functional and Structural Genomics
The molecular and genetic bases of how the nervous system develops and what goes wrong in disease. Topics include cerebral cortex development, neurogenetics in Drosophila, prion biology and computational genomics.
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The Area also contributes to master's programmes run with partner universities and institutions. Depending on the programme, SISSA faculty teach advanced courses, host students in their laboratories and supervise master's theses.
Master's Degree in Neuroscience · University of Trieste An international two-year master taught in English. Faculty from SISSA's neurobiology group teach some of the advanced courses alongside University of Trieste lecturers.
Programme website
Master's Degree in Cognitive Science · University of Trento (UniTrento–SISSA Programme)
Up to four students of the Trento master are selected each year for a joint programme. They spend the first year in Trento and the second year at SISSA, where they take additional courses and carry out their internship and thesis, with a supervisor in each institution. Students receive financial support and graduate with the Laurea Magistrale from Trento and a Diploma in Cognitive Science from SISSA.
Programme website
Master's Degree in Engineering Physics, Physics of the Brain track · Ca' Foscari University of Venice
A joint pathway within the Quantitative Biology curriculum, offered in collaboration with SISSA, for students who want to apply physics and engineering methods to the study of the brain.
Programme website
International Master in Physics of Complex Systems · Politecnico di Torino, ICTP, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, Université Paris-Saclay A French-Italian programme. Students on the international track spend their first semester in Trieste at SISSA and ICTP, then move to Turin and Paris, and earn a double Italian and French degree.
Programme website
Master in Data Management and Curation (MDMC) · SISSA and Area Science Park A one-year postgraduate programme, jointly organised by SISSA and Area Science Park, that trains data professionals in data management, open science and FAIR data. It includes a six-month internship and a final project that can be developed at SISSA.
Programme website