ACCESS
Doctorate
International and Intersectorial (industrial) Innovative Doctorate Course
"ADVANCED CATALYTIC PROCESSES FOR USING RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES" (ACCESS)
The Doctorate ACCESS, after the accreditation procedure, started within the XXXVI (Italian) Doctorate cycle (Oct. 2020). The Doctorate is one of the 14 Doctorates of the University of Messina and is accredited by the Italian Ministry of University and Research as an International and Intersectorial (industrial) Innovative Doctorate Course. It is in consortium between the University of Messina (Italy) and the University of Antwerp (Belgium), the Technische Universiteit of Eindhoven (The Netherlands), and the company NEXTCHEM, of the Maire/Technimont group, with a mission on new processes for the circular economy and energy transition. The Universities of Warwick (UK), Adelaide (Australia), and Calabria (Italy) are partners of the Doctorate together with the European Research Institute of Catalysis (Belgium).
The Doctorate stems from the ERC Synergy SCOPE project and aims to foster synergies across the project's educational and research aspects.
ACCESS Doctorate addresses issues that are at the center of the European Green Deal plan and aims to develop a new scientific profile for PhD students to meet the social and industrial needs of using renewable energy sources for chemical energy storage, the missing element in the current energy scenario to increase the share of renewable energy allowing their annual storage and especially transport from remote areas - two crucial elements for a sustainable energy future on a global scale and for developing chemical processes driven by renewable energy, rather than heat (derived from fossil fuels) as at present.
After some changes in the composition and companies involved, from the XVII cycle (2026) the ACCESS Doctorate transformed to a Doctorate on Sustainability Sciences (SUS_SCI), which still includes the core topics of ACCESS, but it is extended to have a broader and interdisciplinary approach.
