Post Graduate Diploma in Behavioural Neuroscience for Business
MQF-EQF Level 7
Post Graduate Diploma in Behavioural Neuroscience
for Business

Higher Education Programme
Qualification Level MQF-EQF: 7
ECTS: 60
Provision: Blended Full Time
Total Hours : 1500
Duration: one year
Language: English
Subject Areas: Business, administration and law
Accreditation Date: 01/06/2023
See the qualification on the official EU website:
Programme
Learning Outcome
Knowledge, skills and competence
STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAMME
2
9
COURSE/MODULE 2025-2026 | Intake/Calendar | Hours/ECTS | Exams |
---|---|---|---|
PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR | June - September 2025 | 225/9 | Oct/Nov |
MARKETING AND DIGITAL MARKETING | June - September 2025 | 150/6 | Oct/Nov |
NEUROSCIENCE OF COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION | September -December 2025 | 125/5 | Jan/Feb |
METHODS AND TOOLS OF NEUROSCIENCE FOR BUSINESS | September - December 2025 | 250/10 | Jan/Feb |
BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND NEUROECONOMICS | January/March 2026 | 150/6 | Apr/May |
NEUROMARKETING | January/March 2026 | 200/8 | Apr/May |
APPLICATIONS OF MACHINE LEARNING AND A.I. | April/May 2026 | 150/6 | June |
NEUROETHICS | April/May 2026 | 100/4 | June |
FINAL WORK | ==== | 150/6 | June - Sept - Dec / Session |
TOTAL | ====== | 1500/60 |
BNB01 - PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE OF BEHAVIOR
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
PSYCHOLOGY
AND NEUROSCIENCE
OF BEHAVIOR
This Module will provide students with an overview on core topics in psychology and neuroscience, with a focus on those playing a leading role in our everyday behaviour.
This Module is primarily aimed at those who do not have a psychology or neuroscience background. The module is also useful for those who, despite having had learning experiences in the field of marketing and consumer psychology, wish to align their knowledge with the discoveries of neuroscience on the functioning of the brain and the mechanisms underlying behavior.
This module is related to "Methods and tools of neuroscience for business". Attending both modules allows students to acquire ability to apply neuroscience to business.
Professor
Andrea Zangrossi. PhD.
Researcher in cognitive neuroscience at the Neuroscience Centre of University of Padova.
His research area and teaching experience is mainly focused on the link between brain activity, cognition and behaviour, with applications in several fields including neuroscience and neuromarketing.
Assessment
Online multiple-choice test Assignment: Case study
ECTS CREDITS: 9 (225 Hours)
Total Contact Hours: 96
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 54
Self-Study Hours: 70
Assessment Hours: 3
Provision: Blended
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB02 - MARKETING AND DIGITAL MARKETING
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
MARKETING AND DIGITAL MARKETING
The module introduces students to traditional marketing concepts that are still present in the context of the current evolution of digital marketing. However, the latter has innovated the ways of thinking about the market and customers in every respect. Just think of the myriad of platforms that offer digital services to connect the business world with customers. This module is essential to better understand how neuroscience can intervene in all stages of marketing (it is therefore connected to the neuromarketing module) to offer advanced measurement services that integrate traditional marketing research methodologies.
Ø This module is also connected to the Machine Learning module for analysing behavioral data.
Professor:
Davide Rigoni Ph.D.
Professor in Neuromarketing and Market Research at the Hult International Business School London (UK). Lecturer at the Vrij University Brussels (B). He was a researcher in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Ghent University (B) and at the University of Marseille (F).
Assistant lecturer: Lorenzo Zorzi
Graduated from Bocconi in Economic and Social Sciences, he is Senior Communication & Digital Expert. He began his career at Arthur Andersen & Co and worked as a Management Consultant at Value Partners, Monster Media, Accenture Technology, Mandora.
Assessment:
Online multiple-choice test Assignment: Case study
ECTS CREDITS: 6 (150 Hours)
Total Contact Hours: 56
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 40
Self-Study Hours: 50
Assessment Hours: 4
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB03 - NEUROSCIENCE OF COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
NEUROSCIENCE OF COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION
This module aims to;
a) illustrate the main communication theories and methods traditionally used by marketing experts to convey persuasive messages capable of leading to changes, for example, in consumers' purchasing intentions, voting intentions, health programs, etc.
b) examine how neurosciences have come to identify the neural mechanisms that form the basis of persuasion of our species.
c) applying the rules of persuasion, adapted with the most recent discoveries in the neuroscientific field.
This module is connected to the module on "neuroscience tools and methods" that study the physiological activation determined by persuasive messages through neurotechnologies.
Professor:
Demetrio Macheda.
Academic Fellow of the International University Center and director of the Master of Neuromarketing and Behavioural Design. He is an expert in the analysis of consumer behavior through sentiment analysis systems. He is co-founder of the Skill View evaluation model (translated in 10 languages), present on the market for over twenty years: www.originalskills.com. He has published several books on the subject of evaluation and HR processes.
Assessment:
Online multiple-choice test. Individual exam
ECTS CREDITS: 5 (125 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 32
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 32
Self-Study Hours: 56
Assessment Hours: 5
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB04 - METHODS AND TOOLS OF NEUROSCIENCE FOR BUSINESS
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
METHODS AND TOOLS
OF NEUROSCIENCE FOR BUSINESS
This module will provide an overview of research methods used in the practice of neuroscience that are applicable in the business world (from neuromarketing and to citizen services in various sectors such as transportation, healthcare, and public green spaces). Using a practical theoretical approach, we will introduce the methods employed by neuroscience (mainly eye-tracking, GSR, and lately online webcam-based methods) to study and analyse how the human mind functions in the context of business. Teaching laboratories and workshops will obviously only use portable and online technology (such as eye tracking, physiological sensors, online platforms). This module is linked, in terms of analysis of quantitative data, with the specific "Machine Learning module.". It is also connected with the first module which introduced students to neuroscience topics.
Professor:
Francesca Perna.Ph.D.
PhD in Cognitive and Brain Science at the CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain Sciences) of the University of Trento. She works as a researcher on the project “Interactive Brain, Social Minds' followed by prof. Ulman Lindenberger, director of the “Max Planck Institute for Human Development” in Berlin. She presented the results of her research at numerous international and national scientific conferences.
Giulia Songa, Ph.D.
She obtained her PhD in Communication and Markets: Marketing, Economics, and Creativity from the Behavior and Brain Lab at IULM.
She was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University (Belgium) Giulia has been the CEO and Founder of SenseCatch, a company specializing in neuromarketing, strategic consulting, training, and research applied to business. Giulia's scientific research has focused on the use of neuromarketing techniques to understand consumer behavior and emotional reactions towards food products, especially wine.
Assessment:
Evaluation ability to analyze data and interpretation
ECTS CREDITS: 10 (250 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 72
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 72
Self-Study Hours: 90
Assessment Hours: 16
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB05 - BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND NEUROECONOMICS
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS
AND NEUROECONOMICS
One of the main successes of behavioural sciences has been the widespread recognition that individuals’ preferences are not exogenous (as generally assumed), but strikingly dependent on the choice environment. This is a fact with which public policies, company strategies, organizations whose goal is to collect survey data have to confront with.
The main objective of this course is to illustrate what behavioural economics has to say with regard to decision-making. The approach will be an interdisciplinary one, typical of the behavioural sciences. This approach uses tools and techniques from economics, neuroscience and psychology to better understand the cognitive processes underlying economic decision making.
The course will illustrate how behavioural economics predictions systematically deviate from those put forward by mainstream economics; explore heuristics and biases that affect decisions; discuss the role of social norms and emotions as well as the emergence of cooperation and altruistic behaviour.
A particular attention will be devoted to the design of public policies. In this respect, the course will cover two topics: the efficacy of material incentives to modify behaviour; the legitimacy of exploiting flaws in human decision-making to nudge people towards better choices.
Professor Behavioural Economics:
Claudia Civai., Ph.D.
PhD in Neuroscience (SISSA, Trieste). After International research experience in the United States and the Netherlands, she became Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience at London South Bank University. She uses behavioral techniques from experimental psychology and behavioral economics, combined with eye-tracking, neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques from neuroscience research to investigate the cognitive processes underlying decision making at different levels.
Professor Neuroeconomics/Neurofinance:
Duccio Martelli, Ph.D..
He is associate professor of finance at the University of Perugia (Italy) and visiting professor at Harvard University. He was also visiting professor of finance at the University of Applied Sciences of Augsburg in Germany. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in behavioral and neurofinance, corporate and personal finance, private banking and financial markets, and his main research interests include behavioral and neurofinance, financial education, real estate finance and asset management.
Professor Behavioural Economics:
Sergio Beraldo, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics at the University of Napoli Federico II. He got an Msc in Public Economics at the University of York (UK). He is research fellow at the Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (University of Napoli, Bocconi University, University of Salerno) and at the Institute for Research in Economics and Fiscal Issues (IREF, Paris). He was visiting professor at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK), the University of Prague (Laboratory for Experimental Economics), and LMU in Munich.
Assessment:
Multiple choice test
Assignment of a real-life task
ECTS CREDITS: 6 (150 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 60
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 30
Self-Study Hours: 34
Assessment Hours: 6
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB06 - NEUROMARKETING
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
NEUROMARKETING
This module is an introduction to the field of consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing and is intended for students who already have a basic understanding of the concepts of marketing, digital marketing and decision making in the economic field
(see module: D_05. Behavioral economics and Neuroeconomics). The module, starting from the foundations provided by module D_01 (Psychology and neuroscience of behavior) will explore how these principles can be applied to the study of consumer behaviour. Students will learn about the elements of the consumer mind in a real context through neuroscientific methods. The module then enters the world of business to comprehensively understand how marketing strategies can be applied in commercial and social contexts. Not only that, the module presents cases of nudge that can be applied in many sectors of human coexistence. The ultimate goal is to get students used to thinking about business with a new lens and combined methodologies.
Professor: Davide Rigoni Ph.D.
Professor in Neuromarketing and Market Research at the Hult International Business School London (UK). Lecturer at the Vrij University Brussels (B). He was a researcher in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Ghent University (B) and at the University of Marseille (F).
Assessment:
Individual written assignment
Case studies
Multiple Choice Questionnaire
ECTS CREDITS: 8 (200 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 72
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 40
Self-Study Hours: 80
Assessment Hours: 8
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB07 - APPLICATIONS OF MACHINE LEARNING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
APPLICATIONS OF MACHINE LEARNING AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
This module will introduce basic concepts of machine learning (e.g., general types of problems, such as categorization, regression, cluster, anomaly detection, and NLP), and will provide indications for the use of open source and low code software. Students will be presented with the analysis of data related to brain functioning and human behaviour in a marketing and organizational key (e.g., machine learning for intelligent customer profiling, recommender systems, machine learning for job candidates’ screening, help companies to make the most of their data to "owners" to improve the working conditions of their staff). The current GDPR legislation and the one soon to be introduced at the European level will also be studied. This last part is connected to the neuroethics section.
Professor: Merilyn Monaro Ph.D
She is assistant professor at the department of General Psychology, University of Padova.. She received her Ph.D. in Brain, Mind a Computer Science from the same university. Thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of the Ph.D. program and the established collaborations, she developed several research lines concerning topics between social and behavioral psychology and computer science technologies, especially artificial intelligence. Most of her works are related to the application of machine learning to understand human behavior. She published more than 40 papers in international peer review journals and conferences. Her works have about 1000 citations in Scholar.
Assessment:
Assignments (practical task) and group presentations
ECTS CREDITS: 6 (150 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 40
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 45
Self-Study Hours: 60
Assessment Hours: 5
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB08 - NEUROETHICS
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE _ MQF LEVEL 7
NEUROETHICS
Neuroethics is a recent discipline that focuses on the ethical, legal, and social implications of neuroscientific research. The latter has developed very rapidly in the last few decades. The new knowledge about the brain and the possibilities of intervening in it require specific skills and rules so that scientific progress is always at the service of the human being. This module aims to introduce the field of neuroethics; to provide the tools to be able to assess the ethical implications of neurotechnologies and their use; and to know how to deal with possible conflicts and dilemmas related to the application of neuroscience in business and society.
Professor: Giuseppe Sartori.
Full professor in Cognitive Neuroscience, Forensic Neuropsychology, Data Science at University of Padova. He is Director of PhD Program in Brain, Mind & Computer Science at the same university. He published more than 200 papers and book chapters in peer-reviewed national/international journals including Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Brain and Cognition, Brain and Language, Journal of Memory and Language, Neuropsychology, Neuroimage. His works have more than 6000 citations
Assistant Professor: Andrea Lavazza.
He is adjunct professor of Neuroethics at the University of Milan and the University of Pavia and senior research fellow in Neuroethics at Centro Universitario Internationale, Italy. His research interests focus on the intersection of moral philosophy, cognitive neuroscience, and new technologies including AI. He has published or edited 12 books (both in Italian and English) and over 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journals.
Assessment:
Assignments (practical task) and group presentations
ECTS CREDITS: 4 (100 hours)
Total Contact Hours: 22
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 26
Self-Study Hours: 44
Assessment Hours: 6
Single Course Scholarship Tuition Fee
1500 EUR

Course Learning Outcomes
BNB09 - FINAL WORK
Post Graduate Diploma in Behavioral Neuroscience for Business
FINAL WORK - CASE STUDY
For the final work, each student will have to present a Case Study. The Case Study allows to analyze a particular phenomenon or problem without dealing, as happens in academic research, with the generalization of the results to an entire population. A case or an essay on a topic of interest to the student can therefore be interesting and acquire value in itself.
In the case study, students will be able to combine both the knowledge and skills acquired also in terms of the use of neurotechnologies and quantitative methods to demonstrate the goodness of learning.
The development of a case then allows you to plan your own working future and already provides the student with initial feedback on the level of knowledge acquired and the effective ability to be able to complete projects to resolve practical issues at a business level.
For the preparation of the case, the student will employ logics, strategies, approaches and tools that will be informative in terms of skills that can be used at a professional level.
Professors:
For the preparation of the case study, a professor and tutor will be available to facilitate the work of the students. The tutor will be available throughout the project. The preparation of the case study can be started from the second semester, after the completion of the modules of the first semester. In this way, the 150 hours provided for the preparation of the final case study can be supported by the teaching staff and appointed tutors.
Assessment:
The case study should demonstrate the student's mastery of the concepts covered in the course.
Objective of the case study: to show the student's ability to apply the concepts and what has been learned, in terms of methodology explicated in many cases, in a real scenario.
The case study is presented by the student in written form (text) or as a presentation (power point) and should include a detailed analysis of the context, the problem, the solution and the results achieved.
The ad hoc-appointed Examination Board (final examiners) may evaluate the case study based on the student's understanding of the course material, critical thinking skills, and ability to communicate ideas effectively and answer any questions from examiners.
ECTS CREDITS: 6 (150 hours)
Total Contact Hours: =
Supervised Placement/Practice Hours: 25
Self-Study Hours: 120
Assessment Hours: 5
Accessible only to students enrolled in the full programme

Course Learning Outcomes
