Internship for experimental thesis

Students must find a laboratory where to perform the internship for experimental thesis and an internal supervisor.

The internal supervisor must be a professor of the University of Pavia, not necessarily from the Biology teaching board, and can be the head of the laboratory where to perform the internship activity. 

IMPORTANT for insurance purposes - in case of internship for experimental thesis in a laboratory external (not belonging) to the University of Pavia - partially or entirely, students must follow the procedure below: 

• Before starting the internship for the thesis, students MUST submit via Filo Diretto an authorization request form signed by their thesis supervisor and hosting institution. Students must wait for the confirmation of the Student Administration Office before starting the activity in the external laboratory. The authorization request form can be downloaded from this link;
• In case an extension of the internship duration is needed, the student MUST communicate it via Filo Diretto, so that the Student Administration Office can accordingly extend the duration of the required insurance coverage.

In DBB such procedure is:

• not mandatory in case of "thesis internship" carried out in a laboratory internal to the University of Pavia;
• mandatory in case of "thesis internship" in a structure external to the University of Pavia, as it is necessary for starting the mandatory insurance coverage.

For any doubts about the need of following such procedure or not (i.e. if the laboratory is internal or external to the Univesity of Pavia), please contact directly Filo diretto asking if in your specific case such procedure is mandatory and providing the following information: degree course, laboratory's specific denomination and web page, name and last name of the head of the laboratory.

PLEASE NOTE: In case of a thesis internship carried out within the framework of an Erasmus mobility (Study or Traineeship), you must refer to the International Mobility Office.
If the thesis internship is partially carried out within the Erasmus mobility framework and partially outside of it, for the second part, you will need to follow the instructions outlined on this page of the University site.

a. In a laboratory of the University of Pavia

In this case the head of the laboratory will be your thesis supervisor.

Laboratories of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology - check the full list here, otherwise you can find them organised by topic here. 

Laboratories of other departments of the University of Pavia, see examples below:

• Department of Molecular Medicine - check here;
• Department of Drug Sciences - check here;
• Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences - check here;
• Department of Physics - check here;
• Department of Chemistry - check here;
• Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering - check here.

You can also browse UNIFIND https://unipv.unifind.cineca.it/ to identify potential other thesis supervisors based on specific research themes.

b. In a laboratory external to the University of Pavia, in Italy

In agreement with your thesis supervisor that must be a teacher at the University of Pavia, you can perform your internship for the thesis (partially or entirely) in a laboratory outside the University of Pavia.

In this case the head of the laboratoty will be your thesis co-supervisor.

Just as examples, find below a list of institutes based in Pavia or close by, where there are laboratories that might be suitable for your internship for the thesis:

• Institute of Molecular Genetics IGM-CNR (link)
• Policlinico San Matteo (link)
• Fondazione Mondino (link)
• Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri (link)
• IFOM (link)
• IEO - European Institute of Oncology (link)
• San Raffaele Hospital (link)
• Humanitas Hospital (link)

c. Abroad

You have the opportunity to conduct your thesis internship, either partially or entirely, in a laboratory abroad. To do so, you must find a foreign laboratory willing to host you for your thesis work, either independently or with the assistance of a faculty member from the University of Pavia. The head of the foreign laboratory will act as your thesis co-supervisor, while your University of Pavia faculty member will serve as your primary supervisor.

First of all, as an MBG student, you might want to look into the COIMBRA Cancer Biology exchange program.

Apart from that, please notice that a thesis internship performed - partly or entirely - abroad can be part of the Erasmus+ program and included in the correspondent learning agreement:

• Erasmus+ traineeship program (check this page here) - from 2 till 12 months, no limits to the destinations and student must find the hosting institution by himself/herself;
• Erasmus+ Studio program (check this page here) - from 2 till 12 months, only in the institutions the University of Pavia has got an agreement with - warning: not all hosting institutions accept students for thesis research; 
• Overseas Exchange program (check this page here) - from 5 till 6 months - warning: not all hosting institutions accept students for thesis research.

Before planning to participate in a mobility program and submitting the application, we recommend you to identify your thesis supervisor from the University of Pavia and coordinate with the relevant mobility delegate and representatives (find their contacts here). 

For any support needed you can refer to the Mobility office (outgoing.erasmus@unipv.it) or book an appointment here. 

For students enrolled from the academic year 2022-2023 in curriculum Molecular and Digital Biology: the credits of the internship for experimental thesis will be automatically registered after the thesis defence.

For students enrolled since academic year 2022-2023 in curriculum Molecular Life Sciences, 

• the credits of the internship for experimental thesis of the first year: students must follow the instructions here.
• the credits of the internship for the experimental thesis of the second year will be automatically registered after the thesis defence.

In case students participate in a mobility program (Erasmus studio, Erasmus traineeship, overseas program...) and in their Learning Agreement are included credits related to the internship for the thesis, for the registration of the related credits, students should follow the instructions provided by the UOC International Mobility (outgoing.erasmus@unipv.it) . 

IMPORTANT: At the end of the mobility period, at least 45 days before the graduation date, students must send all the required documents to the UOC International Mobility. They will check the documents and send the request of validation to the Erasmus Delegate of the Department, who will present such a request of validation to the Teaching Board, that is gathering once a month. Please keep in mind that the whole process might take more than a month.