Cover letter phd

Dear all,
First of all, thank you for helping us with our english problems!
I would like to apply to a phd program for which i need to send a cover letter.
Could you pleas help me in improving it?
Thanks in advice
Francesco

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Dear Dr. ****,

I’m writing to apply for the Phd position on “Economic agent-based modeling for a low carbon economy”.

I got the Master degree in Finance in March 2012 from Turin University, Italy. Within the Master career I’ve been attending a “Simulation model for the economy” class in which Professor **** taught us the the use of programming languages such as Python and NetLogo in the field of simulation models. In this occasion I developed my first agent based simulation model in NetLogo which aimed to analyse the introduction of a microcredit institution within an industrialized district and I passed the exam at the top of my class.

Due to my interest in the impact of human behaviour on climate change and the believe that the energy market is the one on which the most could be done in order to mitigate the future emissions of pollutant by human activities, I decided to write my master thesis on the relationship between the emission trading systems and the energy markets. Starting from the idea that an energy market could be thought of as a Complex Adaptive System, I investigated its trends by modelling it in NetLogo.
While I was writing the master thesis I also started a four months internship at the GhSolutions Srl, an energy service company which operates in the energy trading and monitoring. The main purpose of the internship was to earn a deeper knowledge of the trading energy platforms in order to model them in my thesis.

After one year working as an audit staff assistant at Ernst&Young, I won a research fellowship at the Turin University within the project: “Drapò: fully integrated green auxiliaries systems” in coordination with Fiat S.p.a.. My duty within the team is to develop a system dynamics model (by using STELLA) in order to analyse the future trend of the mini and small cars demand and how the introduction of a new European Union directive on average carbon dioxide fleet emissions would affect the household behaviour.
This research is revealing itself very interesting for me. Modelling the car market is a duty that I have to establish on my own. Therefore I’ve developed an excellent independence attitude on my work.

In June I also started an online course on the use of R and I’m looking forward to improve my knowledge of this software which has become very useful in the data analyse for my actual work.

During the Master years I earned the opportunity of living in Lisbon for 6 months thanks to the Erasmus program. While I was living there I attended three courses at the ISCTE University. The main language used within classes and in the everyday life was English. Hence the experience in Lisbon has been really important in giving me a main fluency in this language.

As the Centre for Studies in Technology and Sustainable Development department at the *** Universitiy has important research activities in the agent-based modelling on sustainable development, I would be excited to be part of it through its Phd Program in agent-based simulation for a low carbon economy.
My experience in the use of agent based simulation tools and my interest in giving my contribute in developing a low carbon economy make me confident that I have the skills, knowledge and good attitudes for the position you are offering.

Thank you for considering my application.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely.

***