European / International Joint Ph.D. in
Social Representation and Communication

The Infrastructure

The coordinating institution, the University of Rome Sapienza, is the home of the state of the art European/International Joint Ph.D in Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab.

The European/International Joint Ph.D headquarters have been recently transferred from its previous historical location opposite Campidoglio (Piazza d'Ara Coeli, 1) to another larger wonderful location in the very heart of Rome at the top of Aventino Hill (Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, 2) overlooking the capital's historical archaeological and artistic-architectonic centre. It is a fully equipped high-tech centre that guarantees flexibility in meeting the training needs of participants in the programme. The web-based system is easily adapted to provide needed additional temporary or more specific training. It is also the site of the Intelligent Virtual Library, a digitalized comprehensive bibliographical inventory and meta-analyzed corpus on Social Representations and Communication. This is an invaluable research tool and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world. The tools available in the Research Centre and Multimedia Lab give the possibility to have real-time interactive exchanges with all participants, academic partner institutions, and experts around the globe

In addition to infrastructure available at the coordinating institution, each partner institution of the network has its own infrastructure that include:

  • library facilities enriched by extensive on-line resources
  • computer science labs fully equipped with all necessary statistical packages for qualitative and quantitative data analysis
  • Internet facilities (including wireless zones)
  • laboratories for experimental studies in the social sciences
  • a group dynamics research laboratory
  • meeting rooms for focus groups and observational techniques
  • laboratory for clinical and projective tests, audio-video interactive connections with technical and administrative support.

Joint scientific activities, like the International Summer Schools or International conferences where a large number of researchers participate, are currently being held in Rome at the European/International Joint Ph.D in Social Representations and Communication Research Centre and Multimedia Lab.

In the past (from 2002 until 2004), such events were held in the magnificent Colonna Castle in Genazzano (45 km from Rome). Equipped for video-conferences and has ideal residential facilities in a peaceful rural setting, a large area of the Castle was dedicated to the European/International Joint Ph.D programme thanks to a special agreement between the Mayor of Genazzano and the Rector of the University of Rome.