General.  Capacity for:

• managing, analyzing, and synthesizing data and information
• working in interdisciplinary teams and communicating in English with the international scientific community
• generating new ideas autonomously and paying attention to quality

Specific. Capacity for:

• recognizing the socio-economic structure of modern societies
• understanding the most important demographic dynamics affecting societies along individuals' life cycles: fertility, mortality, family formation, migratory flows, aging, etc.
• identifying the most important social phenomena characterizing modern societies: class and gender stratification, social mobility , economic inequalities, etc.
• analyzing and synthesizing the main issues regarding a research question
• finding bibliographic references and data suited to answering a research question
• choosing appropriate variables and building valid and reliable indicators
• organizing and planning research
• using advanced methods and techniques of analysis
• adapting to new problems and questions
• designing and evaluating policies for solving social problems, identifying their weaknesses and strengths