The IEEE ITS Italian Chapter has decided to create, starting from 2021, the Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award for the best dissertation in any ITS area that is innovative and relevant to practice. This award is established to encourage doctoral research that combines theory and practice, makes in-depth technical contributions, or is interdisciplinary in nature, having the potential to contribute to the ITS area and broaden the ITS topics from either the methodological or application perspectives.

Eligibility
For the 2022 IEEE ITS Italian Chapter Best Ph.D. Dissertation Award we invite nominations of young researchers whose Ph.D. thesis meets the following requirements:
● Research mainly conducted in Italy or in collaboration with Italian institutes (at least one advisor must be affiliated with an Italian institute);
● Diploma granted between January 1, 2020 and May 30, 2022.

Selection Process
The winner of the award will be determined in two steps. First, a review committee will evaluate the submitted material and identify a shortlist of candidates. Second, these selected candidates will be invited to give a presentation of their work with the review jury. The jury will then select the winner.
The selection process will be based on the following criteria:
● Originality and depth of contribution,
● Methodological soundness,
● Form and quality of presentation, and
● Significance for the research field.

Submission
The candidate is responsible for submitting the nomination material via Easychair by uploading a unique PDF file using the following link:
https://forms.gle/ZfM4JvdewC2a9zjT8
The nomination material, as a unique PDF, must include the following documents:

1. A one-page abstract (as a PDF file) written by the award candidate, highlighting the significance of the problem, the technical approach taken, the application context and potential, and the scope of the dissertation.
2. The full doctoral dissertation (as a PDF file or a link to a repository written in a .txt file).
3. Ph.D. evaluation report including the reviews of the dissertation, if available.

Submission Deadline
The deadline for the 2022 IEEE ITS Italian Chapter Best Ph.D. The Dissertation Award is May 15, 2022 (Strict).

Prize and Presentation
All the selected finalists for the Best Ph.D. Dissertations Award will have the opportunity to present their scientific results in a dedicated session of the special event annually organized by the IEEE ITSS Italian Chapter. In 2022, this event will be held on June 13, in Naples. Information about the event can be found at https://r8.ieee.org/italy-itss/category/events/ .

All the finalists will be acknowledged by the Italian Chapter community (also by means of the ITSS Newsletter, and on the Italian Chapter website and social media) and will receive a certificate for their significant scientific contribution. The winner will be announced during the annual special event of the Italian Chapter and will receive a monetary prize of 500€.

Organizing Committee
Antonio Bucchiarone, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento [bucchiarone@fbk.eu]
Alessandro Colombo, Politecnico di Milano [alessandro.colombo@polimi.it]
Simona Sacone, Università di Genova [simona.sacone@unige.it]
Stefania Santini, University of Napoli Federico II [stefania.santini@unina.it]