Most people applying for PhD scholarships in Italy have heard of Bologna, Trento and Pavia. Fewer have heard of Human Technopole.
That is worth changing because what is on offer here is genuinely different from a standard university doctoral program.
Human Technopole is a national research institute built from scratch in Milan. It was established by the Italian government to sit at the frontier of life sciences, data science and biomedical research. It opened its doors only a few years ago. Its PhD program is young, deliberately international and structured around some of the most pressing questions in modern biology and medicine.
Right now 17 fully funded doctoral positions are open across two partner programs. One deadline fell on 7 September 2026. The other falls on 18 September 2026.
Last verified: September 9, 2026. SEMM applications closed on 7 September 2026. DADS applications remain open until 18 September 2026.
At a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Institute | Human Technopole HT Milan Italy |
| Total positions | 17 fully funded PhD places |
| Partner programs | DADS Politecnico di Milano + SEMM |
| Research areas | AI computational biology genomics systems medicine molecular biology |
| Who can apply | International Graduates |
| SEMM deadline | 7 September 2026 |
| DADS deadline | 18 September 2026 |
| Funding | Full scholarship for both programs |
What Human Technopole Actually Is
Understanding why these positions are worth pursuing starts with understanding the institution behind them.
Human Technopole is not a department inside an existing university. It is a purpose built research institute on the former site of Milan’s 2015 World Expo. It was designed specifically to bring together data science, genomics, structural biology, neuroscience and health data research under one roof.
PhD students here do not just access a supervisor and a lab. They work within an international scientific community that spans multiple disciplines with access to advanced infrastructure and technologies that most traditional universities cannot match.
For early career researchers that environment accelerates development in ways a single-department PhD often cannot.
Also See: University of Cagliari PhD Scholarships 2026/2027
The Two Programs and Why the Difference Matters
The 17 positions are split across two partner doctoral programs. They run in parallel at Human Technopole but lead to different degrees and have different application systems. Applying to the wrong one or missing that the deadlines differ is an avoidable mistake.
DADS – 12 Positions in Data Analytics and Decision Sciences
The Data Analytics and Decision Sciences program runs in partnership with Politecnico di Milano, one of Italy’s leading technical universities. All 12 research projects are conducted at Human Technopole.
The work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence, computational biology and medicine. Project titles give a clearer picture than any general description:
- Morphodynamics of Cells with Extreme Shapes
- Biological Function of Cell Shape Noise Across Scales
- Predicting Antibiotic Resistance Evolution
- Active Learning for Cell Tracking
- Interpretable Microscopy Image Decomposition
- AI Foundation Models for Electronic Health Records Data
- Using Large Language Models to Improve Disease Prediction
- Computational Genomics
- Pangenome Aware Single Cell Transcriptomics
- Foundation Models and Transfer Learning for Predicting Cancer Vulnerabilities Across Tumour Cell States
- Mechanistic Discovery from Multimodal Human Cohorts using AI
- AI for Computational Pathology of the Human Pancreas
Application window: 30 July to 18 September 2026.
SEMM – 5 Positions in Systems Medicine
The SEMM PhD Programme in Systems Medicine offers five positions, also research based at Human Technopole. These projects focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms in human disease. This is a different flavour from the DADS program’s computational emphasis.
Available projects:
- Reconstructing the paediatric AML immune ecosystem to develop next-generation cellular immunotherapies
- Molecular mechanism of thyroid hormone regulation
- Primary cilia structure, composition, function in health and ciliopathies
- Advancing molecular and cellular dissection of cardiometabolic diseases
- Genetic and regulatory determinants of altered B cell function in immune diseases
Application window: 28 July to 7 September 2026.
Contacting a Group Leader: Do This First
Human Technopole actively encourages prospective applicants to reach out to the Group Leader responsible for their preferred project before submitting a formal application.
A short email with your CV and a brief cover letter explaining your background and interest in the specific project is all that is needed. This conversation lets you ask questions, clarify what the project involves day-to-day and gauge whether the fit is genuinely strong before investing time in a full application.
One important clarification the institute makes explicit. Contacting a Group Leader does not constitute an application. The formal submission must go through the relevant official platform before the applicable deadline.
Given that SEMM closed on 7 September, anyone still interested in remaining DADS positions should make contact immediately.
Who Should Apply
Both programs are open to graduates from a broad range of disciplines. The key is matching your specific background to the right project not applying broadly and hoping something fits.
DADS positions suit graduates from:
- Computer science
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- Physics
- Engineering
- Computational biology
- Bioinformatics
- Data science
- AI and machine learning
SEMM positions suit graduates from:
- Life sciences
- Medicine
- Biotechnology
- Biomedical engineering
- Molecular biology
- Related biological disciplines
Final year master’s students may be eligible to apply. Check the specific program requirements for conditions around applicants who have not yet graduated.
The Application Process
For DADS positions, apply through the official DADS doctoral program platform at Politecnico di Milano.
For SEMM positions apply through the SEMM PhD Programme application system.
Before starting either application read the individual project description for the position you are targeting. The research topics vary significantly. A generic application that does not engage with the specific project will not be competitive.
Contacting the Group Leader before applying is encouraged and practically useful. Do it now not in the final week before the deadline.