1. After finishing the second year of the program the Ph.D.-student has to submit a first draft of his/her Ph.D.-dissertation to the IEL-Doctoral Board. The draft must show that the student is making sufficient progress toward the completion of the final Ph.D.-dissertation.
2. The draft dissertation should include the thesis, the methodological tools and/or intellectual-scientific traditions on which the student will rely, a provisional bibliography, an overview of the advance of the research already made, the subjects which have to be researched still, and provisional conclusions. The project should represent an original and substantial contribution to the literature in the relevant field.
3. In the draft dissertation the student should state clearly his/her thesis (or set of sub theses) he/she is intending to research, prove and/or falsify. The thesis must be an original hypothesis or position and not merely a summary of the existing literature.
4. The thesis must be original and interdisciplinary within the disciplines of law, institutions and economics. The requirement of interdisciplinarity does not entail that the legal and economic approaches should be equally prominent within the thesis (or set of sub-theses). The student is allowed to put emphasis on one approach while remaining less extensive and/or less technical on the other approach. Theses, which are exclusively of an analytical-descriptive legal kind, are not allowed. A thesis of an economic kind, the subject of which is not related to legal or institutional matters, is similarly not allowed.
5. The number of pages of the draft dissertation should be at least 30 and should not exceed 80 (between 15.000 and 40 000 words). Relevant materials can be added to in annexes.
6. The student must present the draft dissertation either in the month of July or in the month of October of his/her second year in the programme. The doctoral board decides in its spring meeting (March-April) about the allocation of the presentations across the two sessions.
7. The student has to submit the draft dissertation to the director of the doctoral board at latest one month before the presentation.
8. The doctoral board will assign in its spring meeting (March- April) a member of the board as a commentator of the draft dissertation. On the presentation the commentator will raise questions on the draft dissertation and make suggestions, useful for the further finishing of the Ph.D.-dissertation. The supervisor cannot function as a commentator. Other members of the doctoral board and representatives of IEL-partners may be present at the presentation and make comments on the draft dissertation.
9. The student has at maximum 20 minutes to present a summary of his/her draft dissertation. He/she may present it by making use of an adequate power-point-presentation.
10. The doctoral board deliberates on the draft dissertation after all presentations of the session are made.
11. The doctoral board can approve or disapprove the draft dissertation. In the event of approval the student continues his/her third year within the programme. In the event of disapproval, the student will be required to withdraw from participation in the programme. If the student has received a grant, linked with the programme, the payment of the grant will be terminated from the beginning of the following month.
12. For the approval of the draft dissertation a majority of the members of the doctoral board, present at the meeting, is required. Abstentions are not taken into account. To constitute a quorum, at least half of the members of the doctoral board must be present at the presentation of, and deliberation about the draft dissertation.
13. The doctoral board will communicate its decision to the concerned student within two weeks from the date of the decision.
14. On conclusion of the Ph.D. programme, the candidates to the final exam must submit the thesis to the Doctoral Board.The Doctoral Board by December 31st will evaluate the research progress and deliberate on the admission to the final exam.
15. Each candidate must send to the Committee members a copy of the final thesis through the secretary, Mrs Duggan.
16. The university will deposit the final thesis at the national libraries of the Universities of Roma, Firenze and Torino

SUGGESTED ORGANIZATION OF THE DOCTORAL THESIS

Cover Page: it  must report the CODE OF THE SCIENTIFIC AREA (Codice del Settore Scientifico Disciplinare SSD - please check it at the link (see example)
pp. 1-2 Title Pages
p. 3 Acknowledgment
p. 4 Empty
pp. 5 Table of contents
pp. x-x Introduction
pp. x-x Chapter 1
pp. x-x Chapter 2
pp. x-x Chapter 3
pp. x-x Chapter n…
pp. x-x Bibliography and references (to all chapters)

Note
The introduction is very important. Here the candidate will explain the objectives of the thesis as well as the contribution the thesis makes to the existing literature. A short description of the content of each chapter has also to be included.

The thesis can be a monographic essay, or a set of three different articles. In the latter case, the Coordinator must be informed and the request must be supported by a letter of the supervisor .

Further details available at:

• http://www.unito.it/dottorati_postdottorati.htm (in Italian)
• http://www.unito.it/phd.htm (in English)