Student at II year

The course will explore health and aging through an economic lens, addressing key questions such as: How do modern Welfare State systems protect people's health? How is an aging population handled in relation to the labor market and Welfare systems? How much is invested in health protection and ensuring income for the elderly? Finally, are current Welfare systems offering health and social protection economically sustainable?

The course will enable students to understand health and aging topics within their economic and social context. Students will learn how modern Welfare systems ensure the right to health and to financial security for the elderly, even with limited resources.

Teacher: G. Casalone

Lectures and class discussions

4 hours

to be defined

This course is taught by a native speaker instructor specialized in medical-scientific university training with many years of experience as a researcher, principal investigator (PI), and professor of pharmacology, immunology, and molecular biology at Italian and American universities.

This course is aimed at second-year Ph.D. students with at least a B1 (intermediate) level of English who wish to improve their academic writing skills for publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals and submitting project proposals for national and international fellowships (MSCA, AIRC, Cariplo, etc.).

The course is divided into 2 modules:

i) How to write a research paper:

• Outlining, the language of research paper, academic language;

• Paragraphing: structure of paragraph, descriptive and process paragraph, opinion paragraph, comparison/contrast paragraph, problem/solution paragraph, introduction, and conclusion;

• Effective utilization of sentence connectors and conjunctions to improve readability;

• Writing an effective cover letter, title, keywords, abstract, introduction, results, figure legends, and discussion/conclusion;

• In-text citations, editing a paper, avoiding plagiarism;

• Finding a suitable peer-reviewed Journal;

• Submission process;

• Writing a convincing rebuttal: point-by-point reply to the reviewers’ comments.

ii) How to write a fellowship:

• Understanding the goals and requirements of the chosen fellowship (e.g., MSCA);

• Eligibility and proposal guidelines: overview of applicant and host criteria, and proposal structure;

• Research project development: formulating a compelling, innovative research proposal, including title, background, preliminary results, specific aims, research plan, pitfalls and alternatives, deliverables, milestones, and timeline;

• Training and career development: planning for skill development and career progression;

• Impact and dissemination: articulating research impact and communication strategies;

• Ethics and data management: addressing ethical issues and data handling;

• Host institution support: role and commitment of the host institution and supervisor;

• Significance, innovation, impact, and dissemination;

Evaluation and certificate of merit

This basic course includes the following end points:

• A final written test to assess grammatical and writing skills (with a maximum score of 110/110, pass = 72);

• Issuance of a certificate of merit (Certificate of Achievement) in Scientific English Writing, level C1.