Italy Trieste

International School for Advanced Studies

The International School for Advanced Studies (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, SISSA) is a public graduate school in Trieste, founded in 1978 by Paolo Budinich as the first Italian institution to award a research doctorate. It admits students internationally by competition,… The International School for Advanced Studies (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, SISSA) is a public graduate school in Trieste, founded in 1978 by Paolo Budinich as the first Italian institution to award a research doctorate. It admits students internationally by competition, teaches entirely in English, and awards only postgraduate degrees. SISSA has around 300 doctoral students and 100 faculty in three areas: physics, mathematics and neuroscience. Its physics groups work on astroparticle physics, astrophysics and cosmology, condensed matter and statistical physics and theoretical particle physics; its mathematicians on geometry, mathematical analysis and mathematical modelling; and its neuroscientists on cognitive, molecular and computational neuroscience. It shares the Trieste research environment with ICTP — with which it has a long-standing association — Elettra Sincrotrone, OGS and the University of Trieste, and also runs a master's programme in science communication.