ENTRA A FAR PARTE DEL GRUPPO

Sei uno studente o postdoc brillante interessato ad entrare a far parte del mio gruppo e lavorare con me? Prima di leggere qualsiasi altra cosa ti invito a leggere con molta attenzione la sezione “Informazioni generali importanti”, che spiega come lavoro e i miei valori. Se, dopo averla letta, non hai ancora cambiato idea, puoi consultare la sezione relativa al tuo livello di carriera (postdoc, dottorato, laurea magistrale, o laurea triennale) e contattarmi se ritieni che ci sia un buon fit. In fondo alla pagina trovi inoltre informazioni sulla possibilità di ospitare grant individuali a livello PI (ad es. ERC, FIS, Montalcini).

informazioni generali importanti

A differenza di molti miei colleghi, non sono interessato a massimizzare la dimensione del gruppo, il numero di persone, e così via. Ciò che mi interessa dal punto di vista scientifico è lavorare su problemi divertenti e di impatto insieme a ricercatori eccezionali, con i quali ho una forte affinità scientifica e personale. Il mio stile di supervisione è quindi deliberatamente hands-off, e lavoro al meglio con persone altamente indipendenti e autonome. Questo non significa che io sia menefreghista: pur non micromaneggiando né fornendo una guida continua e ravvicinata, sono sempre molto disponibile a discutere in modo approfondito la scienza, concentrandomi su idee, interpretazione fisica, e strategia, piuttosto che sul debugging di routine. Questo approccio è anche motivato dalla natura stessa della fisica teorica, che è difficile. La mia formazione è stata in larga parte un’esperienza di tipo impara a nuotare o affondi e, pur riconoscendo che questo non vada bene per tutti, questa formazione ha profondamente influenzato il mio modo di lavorare e di fare da mentore. In altre parole: non è “sei da solo, buona fortuna”, ma piuttosto “non ti gestisco, collaboro con te”.

Oltre a riflettere il modo in cui sono stato formato, gran parte del modo in cui faccio da mentore e collaboro deriva dalla mia necessità di lavorare all’interno di un’organizzazione molto strutturata e pianificata. Programmo il mio tempo professionale con largo anticipo, spesso con mesi o anni di anticipo, e devo essere estremamente deliberato nel modo in cui alloco sia il mio tempo sia, soprattutto, la mia attenzione. Questo livello di struttura e prevedibilità è essenziale affinché il mio cervello funzioni in modo efficace, e per gestire sia l’attenzione che il carico cognitivo. Mantenere un contesto cognitivo stabile e una concentrazione prolungata, riducendo al minimo richieste di attenzione non pianificate, è fondamentale per me per lavorare in maniera efficiente.

Al di là degli aspetti scientifici e di come funziona il mio cervello, attribuisco grande importanza all’equilibrio tra lavoro e vita privata, con una certa enfasi (lo ammetto) sulla vita al di fuori del lavoro (vedi anche qui per maggiori informazioni). Per dirla senza giri di parole, lavoro per vivere, non il contrario. Tratto il mio lavoro come un impiego da ufficio, al massimo dalle 9 alle 16, e organizzo di conseguenza la mia vita professionale. So che questo non è il modo in cui la maggior parte degli scienziati lavora; tuttavia, non sono la maggior parte degli scienziati e, dato che questo approccio ha funzionato bene per me finora, non vedo ragioni per cambiarlo.

Come conseguenza di tutto ciò, non sono interessato a costruire un gruppo numeroso né, tantomeno, a reclutare un “esercito” di studenti per il solo gusto di crescere. Prendo pochissime persone, e solo quando esistono una chiara motivazione scientifica e un forte fit reciproco. Questa è una scelta consapevole. Detto questo, una volta che qualcuno entra nel mio gruppo, mi impegno appieno nella sua crescita scientifica e professionale, rispettando il suo tempo e incoraggiando fortemente un sano equilibrio tra lavoro e vita privata. E sì, ci divertiamo anche a fare scienza (il più delle volte)! Per questo, se sei un ricercatore o uno studente eccezionale, esiste un buon fit scientifico e personale e, soprattutto, nulla di quanto sopra ti ha scoraggiato, sarò davvero felice di darti il benvenuto nel mio gruppo 😉

POSTDOCS

TL;DR: if you are truly exceptional, I will hire you if I can and, rather than micromanage, give you huge freedom to do real physics (with or without my direct involvement), trust, and serious scientific collaboration when this is mutually desired (i.e. never forced or imposed).

My approach to postdoctoral mentoring is deliberately hands-off, with strong emphasis on independence and originality, and close collaboration arising when mutually desired. I am always interested in hiring exceptional postdoctoral researchers, subject to availability of external funding, as postdoctoral positions in Italy are typically supported through personal grants rather than University-wide schemes. When I have funding and am actively recruiting, I will advertise an expression of interest (EoI) on INSPIRE-HEP, with material submitted via AJO. Candidates should take the EoI very seriously, in particular the cover letter. Given the difficulty in attracting top candidates to Italy, I ask applicants to explain their motivation for coming despite the comparatively low salaries: personal (non-scientific) motivations are explicitly welcome. In Italy, postdoctoral hiring usually cannot take place directly via AJO, and requires an official public selection (“concorso”): the EoI is not a formal application, but is used to identify candidates who will be subsequently invited to apply to the concorso. While this is formally open, the EoI is the relevant stage for assessing mutual interest.

There are several other opportunities to join my group through independent fellowships. I actively support applications to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) postdoctoral fellowships, both European (2 years in Trento) and Global (2 years outside the EU - typically in North America - and 1 in Trento). I have extensive experience with this scheme, having supervised multiple applications and having won one myself in 2022, and UniTN’s grant office provides excellent support. Applications usually close in September, with projects starting typically one year later. Preparing a competitive application requires a substantial time commitment, I can only a very limited number of proposals each year. Interested candidates should therefore contact me well in advance, ideally no later than February.

The CARITRO Foundation, a private foundation operating in the Trentino region, also offers highly competitive postdoctoral fellowships every year. These are 2-year positions which provide full independence and a generous salary, and require submission of a detailed research proposal (similar in sprit to MSCA, but with fewer constraints). Projects are required to bring measurable benefits to the Trentino region, which for theoretical work can typically be achieved through a strong outreach component in collaboration with local institutions. Because funding is limited and each department at UniTN can support at most 2 applications, these fellowships are highly selective. Interested candidates should therefore contact me well in advance and monitor the foundation’s calls (“bando post-doc”).

In addition to the above opportunities, many countries offer national postdoctoral fellowship schemes that support long-term research stays abroad. These are for all intents and purposes postdoctoral positions, often with extremely competitive salaries, and typically restricted to nationals or to researchers who completed their PhD in that country. These vary substantially in structure, duration, and eligibility, but I am generally happy to support extremely strong candidates who wish to join my group through these schemes, provided the fellowship has a duration of at least 24 months. Shorter ones do not allow sufficient time for impactful work. I reserve full discretion in deciding whether to support externally funded fellowships, subject to institutional, legal, and ethical constraints.

The process of identifying relevant schemes and ensuring they meet all eligibility and mobility requirement is sole responsibility of the candidate, and part of the expected level of independence for postdoctoral researchers. If you are interested in applying for one of these schemes, please contact me at least 4 months before the deadline, as supporting a competitive application requires significant time commitment, and several bureaucratic steps to clear. Examples of such schemes include:
* Sweden: VR international postdoc grant, Blanceflor Foundation
* Japan: JSPS overseas research fellowship
* Canada: Canada postdoctoral research award program
* Switzerland: SNSF Postdoc.Mobility fellowship
* Germany: DAAD PRIME, Fedor Lynen research fellowship
* Denmark: Carlsberg international fellowship
* Estonia: ETAG mobility funding
* Netherlands: NWO Rubicon
* Norway: FRIPRO
* Austria: FWF Erwin Schrödinger fellowship
* Taiwan: postdoctoral research abroad program
This list is not exhaustive and is meant to illustrate the range of national mobility schemes that may be relevant.

PHD STUDENTS

Admission to the PhD programme at UniTN is through a centralised public selection (“concorso”). Compared to the USA and Northern Europe, the process starts relatively late: applications typically open in April/May, interviews take place in June/July, and offers are made in June/July for a start date of November 1. Interested candidates should keep the Physics PhD programme webpage monitored closely during the application period.

There are two types of PhD positions at UniTN: a) topic-specific positions funded by dedicated grants, and b) open positions funded by UniTN or INFN scholarships. I usually do not offer topic-specific positions, so interested candidates should apply for open positions. In the admission call, these are usually labelled “University of Trento” or “INFN” in the financer column. For INFN, the relevant choice in the possible reserved topic column is “Particle, astroparticle, nuclear, theoretical physics, related technologies and applications, including medical physics”. Each year there are typically between 6 and 9 such open positions in total. These are highly competitive, attract the strongest applicants (mostly theorists), and have very low success rates. Most previous PhD students of the Theoretical Gravitation and Cosmology group were funded by UniTN or INFN scholarships.

If you are nevertheless interested in working with me, this should be made very clear in the required statement of purpose (“lettera motivazionale”). The admission process is organized at the departmental level, and I generally have no direct role in admission decisions, except when serving on the admissions committee. As a result, unsolicited enquiry emails are generally of limited use. That said, if you are an extremely strong applicant with a genuine interest in working with me, it can help both me and your case if you write a short and focused email outlining your background and interests (see here for how not to do this). Due to the high volume of enquiries and the fact that I do have a life, lack of response should almost always be interpreted as lack of interest. For the reasons explained in the “General important information” section above, I take at most one new PhD student per year, but typically much fewer.

In terms of background, PhD students working with me need to have exceptional preparation in cosmology (in particular cosmological perturbation theory, the CMB, and large-scale structure), be comfortable with Python (ideally C/C++ too), and not be afraid of tackling numerical calculations and simulations. Work on black hole physics requires, in addition to the obvious strong familiarity with the subject, also experience with Mathematica. More generally, to thrive under my mentorship, PhD students must be extremely independent and self-driven. If this is not the case, working with me is unlikely to be a good experience (to say the least) for both of us.

MSc students

If you wish to carry out your MSc thesis under my supervision, you must have attended my Modern Cosmology MSc course, and performed exceptionally well, with a final grade of at least 29/30. Grades above 28/30 are awarded only to students who demonstrate strong critical thinking and the ability to apply conceptual tools in contexts beyond the material covered in lectures, skills which are essential prerequisites for working with me. If you meet these requirements, please contact me after passing your exam. For the reasons explained in the “General important information” section above, I supervise only a very small number of MSc students at any given time (no more than 2, at most 3 in truly exceptional cases). Supervision is deliberately hands-off, with meetings taking place no more than once every two weeks, so successful MSc students must be highly independent and self-driven to thrive under my supervision. If you feel that you would benefit from close or frequent guidance, this supervision style is likely not appropriate for you and you should consider alternative supervision arrangements.

bsc students

If you wish to carry out your BSc thesis under my supervision, you must have attended my Relativity BSc course, and performed exceptionally well, with a final grade of at least 29/30. Grades above 28/30 are awarded only to students who demonstrate strong critical thinking and the ability to apply conceptual tools in contexts beyond the material covered in lectures, skills which are essential prerequisites for working with me. If you meet these requirements, please contact me after passing the exam. At UniTN, a theoretical BSc thesis is meant to be a review-based project (no original research) worth 3 credits, so the time investment on both sides is therefore necessarily limited. Supervision will therefore consist of only a few meetings to discuss the reading material and provide feedback on the final thesis. For this reason, students must be highly independent and self-driven to work successfully under my supervision. If you feel that you would benefit from close or frequent guidance, you should consider alternative supervision arrangements. This is not meant to scare you or discourage interest, but to set clear and transparent expectations from the outset.

HOSTING OF INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS

In addition to supervised positions (postdoctoral and student roles), I strongly support applications for European Research Council (ERC) grants, Fondo Italiano per la Scienza (FIS) grants, and Rita Levi Montalcini grants hosted at UniTN. These are PI-level schemes, not positions within my group, and typically lead to tenure-track-level (RTT) appointments. In this context, I would act as an internal supporter, and we would work in close connection within the Theoretical Gravitation and Cosmology group. Internal support at the application stage is essential: securing one of these grants and subsequently requesting hosting without prior agreement and departmental support is generally unlikely to work. For this reason, and because I only support proposals closely aligned with my research interests, candidates considering bringing one of these grants to UniTN should contact me as early as possible.

By contrast, for the reasons explained in the “General important information” section above, I do not encourage unsolicited visits or generic enquiries aimed at exploring vague ideas, informal brainstorming, or short-term exploratory visits. Because of the way I function, unstructured visits, frequent interruptions, or loosely defined interactions are extremely disruptive and carry a disproportionately high cognitive cost for my brain. Unless we are already collaborators, or there is a clear, concrete, and well-defined project or funding opportunity (of at least 2 years duration, as outlined in the “Postdocs” section above), I cannot generically support such requests. This applies in particular to students. I frequently receive enquiries about internships, short-term research projects, visiting positions, and similar arrangements. With very rare exceptions, and unless there is a pre-existing research relationship (in any case with no more than a degree of academic separation, i.e. your supervisor and I are close collaborators), the answer is invariably no. My priority as a UniTN faculty member is to supervise UniTN students, and I do not have the capacity to support short-term, unstructured, or exploratory visits.