Art. 1
Number of places

The Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa announces a competition based on work to date for 5 one-year post-graduate grants for research during the 2009/2010 academic year in the following subject areas of the Faculty of Arts: Classical Languages, Linguistics and History; Modern Languages and Linguistics; History (from Medieval to Contemporary); Art History; Philosophy.

Art. 2
Admission requirements

Non-Italians who possess the following requisites can compete for positions:

a) completed 2nd- cycle university degree or equivalent by the application deadline,

b) born after 31 December 1977,

c) have not been the object of the disciplinary measure of “expulsion” from the Scuola Normale Superiore provided for by the Internal and Academic Regulations;

Evaluation of the equivalency of the degree mentioned above is entrusted, for the purposes of the competition only, to the Selection Committee as described in art. 4.

Art. 3
Application and deadline

Application for admission to the competition may be made for one subject area only and may be presented twice only.

The application, written out as per the attached facsimile (Attachment A), addressed to the President of the Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri, 7 – 56126 PISA, must arrive no later than Wednesday 30 September 2009.

Late arrival of the application and related materials, no matter what the cause, even if posted by the deadline, will result in non-admission to the competition.

On the application the candidate must declare, under his/her own responsibility:

1. name, surname, place and date of birth;

2. citizenship;

3. to have no prior criminal convictions and no pending criminal proceedings for intentional crimes (or if so, indicate which type of convictions/proceedings);

4. not to have been the object of the disciplinary measure of “expulsion” from the Scuola Normale Superiore;

5. to be immunized against (or immune to) diseases incompatible with community life;

6. place of residence and address (if different), telephone number and email address at which s/he would like to receive all communication related to the competition;

7. subject area in which s/he intends to compete, chosen from among those listed in Art. 1;

8. to have never, or no more than once, applied for a post graduate grant in the Faculty of Arts;     

9. knowledge of Italian and other languages with an indication of the level of knowledge.
   

Candidates must possess all admission prerequisites by the application deadline.

All candidates are admitted conditionally, and may be excluded from the competition for lack of requirements at any moment of the competition procedure.

Exclusion from the competition for failure to fulfill the prescribed requirements will be notified by letter to the address indicated on the application.

The application for participation in the competition must be duly signed by the candidate.

The candidate must attach the following to the application:

1. university statement of academic record (transcript), indicating the mark awarded in each course and the overall degree result (all statements must be translated into Italian with the exception of documents in English, French, German, and Spanish);

2. curriculum vitae et studiorum:

3. any qualifications (publications, etc.) the candidate feels it is opportune to present, including two or more letters from faculty members who have supervised the candidate’s previous work;

4. a program of study and a brief description of the research which the candidate would like to conduct at the Scuola Normale.

5. copy of a legal form of identification.
   

European Union citizen can present, in place of the copy of the statement as requested, a substitutive certificate as per art. 47 of Presidential Decree no. 445, dated 28 December, 2000, in which the university and the date the diploma was attained are listed, as well as the final grade granted. Non-European Union citizens can present such a certificate only in the case of degrees obtained in Italian universities or university institutes.

Art. 4
Competition and announcement of winners

The candidates’ qualifications and research projects will be examined by a Committee appointed by the President of the Scuola Normale. At the conclusion of this review the Committee will compile a ranking of qualified candidates in order of merit on the basis of the norms established by the Statute of the Scuola Normale.

The President approves the final ranking of the competition and name the winners.

The results of the competition will only be communicated to the winners.

Art.5
Documents for admission to the Scuola Normale

The winners of the competition must present the following document by the date which will be communicated to them:

Declaration of acceptance of the rules in the Statute and Regulations and exoneration of the Scuola Normale for consequences deriving from failure to observe said rules.

In accordance with art. 3, comma 1 of law no. 127, dated May 15, 1997, information such as surname, name, place and date of birth, citizenship and residency will be taken from a valid form of identification.

The Scuola Normale reserves the right to verify the validity of information contained on identification documents and to verify the applicant’s immunity to diseases which are incompatible to community life.

In addition, the Scuola Normale reserves the right to request the certificate of the student’s legal record from the competent judicial authority of the student’s home nation, as well as the right to put into place any and all other background checks it considers opportune.

Art. 6
General Rules

The grant is for one year, beginning 1 January 2010.

The grant is not renewable.

Before beginning research activity the grant recipient will sign an agreement with attached the research program to be carried out. Fulfillment of this program will be ascertained via periodic statements by the student’s internal faculty advisor.

The grant may be considered as forfeited by the recipient, should the faculty advisor so suggest, by decree from the President of the Scuola Normale, in the following situations: the recipient does not follow through regularly and uninterruptedly on the research program stipulated, without good reason; the recipient is found responsible for a serious error; the recipient demonstrates insufficient aptitude for research.

At the end of the grant period, the recipient must present a report on the research activity carried out, on the seminars attended and on any other experience during the year pertinent to her/his research.

The final installment of the grant will be paid only upon approval of said report.

For the duration of the grant, the recipient can neither teach nor carry out other professional or paid consulting activities for public or for private organizations, except as authorized by the Scuola Normale.

The grant:

a) cannot be added to nor is it equivalent to a place in the doctoral program at the Scuola Normale, nor to any other grants or monies given by the same or by other universities and public and private institutions;

b) does not give right to any form of insurance or health care, nor to accumulation of legal or economic rights, nor to automatic enrollment in the Italian social security system.

Award of the grant does not imply a work relationship, as it is intended only for the scholarly and professional development of the recipient.

Art. 7
Grant recipients’ rights

The value of the grant is €13,000.00 gross/year. The distribution of the grant, in 12 end-of-month installments, is dependent on the fulfillment of the academic obligations outlined in Article 5 and is subject to Italian tax laws concerning academic grants.

In case of need it is possible to request an advance of the first installment only.

The grant recipient may attend courses as an auditor and may use the library at the Scuola Normale.

The recipient has access to the Scuola Normale cafeteria for the entire duration of the grant, paying as required. If necessary the School will guarantee lodging in its dormitories, depending on availability, for at least one month from the beginning of the scholarship period, if the candidate requests it in the grant application.

Art. 8
Head of competition procedure

In accordance with law 241 of August 7, 1990, and related Scuola Normale Regulation, Presidential decree 331 of 22 July, 2004, modified by Presidential Decrees no. 376 dated 3 September, 2004 and 580 dated 9 November, 2005, the head of the competition procedure described in this announcement is Mario Landucci – Scuola Normale Superiore – Piazza dei Cavalieri 7 – 56126 Pisa – tel. +39 050 509237 – + 39 050 509847 - +39 050 509026 - +39 050 509236 - email: m.landucci@sns.i; s.carrei@sns.it; g.dalterio@sns.it.

Art. 9
Use of personal data

Personal data will be entered into the databases of the Scuola Normale and will be treated in accordance with legislative decree no. 196 of 30 June 2003 “Protection of Personal Data”.

Art. 10
Attachments

Attachment A) constitutes an integral part of the present announcement.

Art. 11
Final rules

The rules in this competition have precedence over Scuola Normale Academic Regulations in case of incompatibility.

Pisa, 27 May 2009
THE PRESIDENT
signed Prof. Salvatore Settis