Student at II year

Aim of the seminar

This seminar has two objectives.

The first is to provide a comprehensive ‘map’ of the main forms of reasoning, or types of inference.

The second is to discuss the form of reasoning that seems to be the most characteristic of the empirical sciences, namely abductive reasoning.

Brief description of the speaker’s professional background

This course is designed as a brief practical introduction to the Python programming language, specifically for students with a biological background. It consists of four lectures covering the basics of the programming language, followed by hands-on exercises aimed at understanding specific simple examples of usage and analysis. No prior experience in programming is required; however, the course is intended for students genuinely interested in using Python in their research work. Deliverables: provide students with basic knowledge and a working methodology to further explore programming through more advanced courses and studies. 

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.