The training provided to PhDs in Chemical Sciences will allow them to achieve high scientific and professional objectives. The acquired versatility, also thanks to the international projection and the possibility of carrying out part of their research activity in collaboration with industrial realities and with spin-offs incubated within the Department, allows achieving a plethora of employment opportunities, at national and international level, in all those sectors where chemical skills are required, ranging from research to control and monitoring of industrial production and environmental risk.

The main professional opportunities are offered by public research laboratories (universities, research institutes, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Zooprophylaxis Institutes) or private (industries, spin-offs). A survey based on the effective entry of PhDs into the workplace has led at the identification of the following sectors, in addition to the world of research: productive industrial activities (small and medium-sized enterprises, multinationals); quality control (customs, ministries, industry, local health companies, hygiene and prophylaxis laboratories, sports medicine); worker protection (INAIL); chemical and chemical-clinical analyses (public and private laboratories, army and public security); teaching; Risk Management expert.

The attendance to the Doctorate course also provides managerial and economic transversal skills, which can be spent in various employment situations.

It is important to highlight that many members of the Academic Board and tutors involved in the PhD Educational course collaborate with national and international companies, and with companies present in the area, on research topics of common interest. This aspect reinforces the development of the course and produces a double positive effect:

• sometimes, it induces companies to finance doctoral scholarships (as has been happening for some cycles);
• brings doctoral students closer to industrial realities, promoting their employment and professional opportunities.

Placement of PhD students of cycles XXIX-XXXI

In July 2019 a survey was conducted on the professional placement of all PhDs in Chemical Sciences, who acquired the title at the end of XXIX, XXX and XXXI cycles, at the Federico II University, highlighting what is reported in the following.

• 93% of the PhDs in the examined cycles have at least a temporary job. The figure relative to the PhDs of the XXXI cycle appears interesting: at 6 months from the achievement of the qualification 89% have a job.
• About 73% of the employed work in Italy, in universities and national or multinational companies. 27% of PhDs have moved to European countries, the USA and Canada.
• For the three examined cycles, approximately 77% of PhDs occupy post-doc positions and 23% have found positions within a company.

The above shown employment percentages are in line if not above the national average reported by ISTAT. In this respect, it must be considered that the interviewed cohorts are different, as the survey we conducted, differently from ISTAT, assessed the employment results of the PhD students from six months to three years from the achievement of the title.

These data indicate that the Doctorate in Chemical Sciences of the Federico II University favors the formation of highly qualified experts, able to enter the job market in various sectors. This result places the PhD in Chemical Science among the most successful ones in terms of employment perspectives after obtaining the qualification.

Starting from XXXII Cycle the PhD in Chemical Sciences has benefited from the funding of grants from the PON RI 2014-2020, Action I.1 - "Innovative Doctorates with Industrial characterization". The training includes periods of study and research in a company and abroad, thus bringing doctoral students closer to different realities and allowing them to acquire additional skills for a faster employment outlet.