Your PhD in Detail

Welcome to UniVie!

Welcome to the University of Vienna, short UniVie, providing humankind with education and research since primordial times (1365). If you cannot wait to learn more about your new favourite university, take a look at this start up brochure. General information can be found on the university’s homepage.

The three web portals you will use most often at UniVie are u:space, u:find, and moodle. You will use u:space for things like registering to courses or paying the student fee. On u:find you can search staff members and course directories to find the courses you want to attend. When looking at a specific course, there will be a direct link for registering that will take you to u:space. The web portal moodle is where current information like exercise sheets (courses, scripts) for individual courses will be uploaded. Another useful web portal is u:search, where you can search for textbooks and articles and see whether they are available in one of the university's libraries or online. This, however, will only work if you are in the Uni network or connected to it through the university VPN. A list with all libraries can be found here.

At one of the Welcome Days for PhDs you can receive important information concerning the doctorate as well as make first contacts with established researchers and peers. For making new contacts outside your specific research area, a University sports course or a language course might be an option.

If you are an employee at the university you will need to use HR4U. Here it is important to specify your working times ("Lage Arbeitszeit") after starting the job in order to enter sick leaves and leave requests. More information on services for employees at the University of Vienna can be found here and in the u:wiki.

Welcome to VISESS!

Welcome to the Vienna International School of Earth and Space Sciences! The characteristic feature of our doctoral school is its interdisciplinarity: the focus is on interlinking its three branches – Cosmos, Earth, and Anthroposphere. Bringing together natural with social sciences is indispensable in todays and the future world. This is reflected in the VISESS structure and activities. PhD students are encouraged to strengthen their interdisciplinary thinking and look at the Big Picture through the following opportunities:

VISESS Seminar series: aims to provide students and supervisors with an open forum to explore the scientific work beyond their specific research, to further enhance transferable skills and career perspectives of VISESS students and to foster intra- and interdisciplinary networking.
Big Picture Talks: students from all three branches discuss, plan, and host talks of international experts on an interdisciplinary theme
Workshops/ Seminars: help students get insight into funding application processes, peer-review training, or soft skills courses about time management, mental health etc.
Summer Schools: offer versatile platforms for scientific exchange and networking – check out the website for updates

Meet your peers for scientific exchange and networking at the PhD seminars within each branch and the VISESS-wide Seminar series. Register for the seminars via u:find. You might also want to join the courses if you are not yet officially enrolled to the PhD programme. In this case please contact the lecturer(s) and ask them to add you to the course.

The VISESS PhD representatives and VISESS branch coordinators are your contacts in each branch. For questions about school activities and programs, contact the VISESS admin coordinator. The SSC serves as a point of contact for doctoral students on organizational issues relating to the curriculum. We are always open for any ideas and suggestions from your side. Feel free to share them with us! For more information about the doctoral school, visit the school’s website.

The Structure of your PhD

Your PhD consists of three main phases: the entry phase, the research phase, and the final phase:

The Entry Phase (1^st year) can be split up into the following key points:

Research Proposal: a thematically and methodologically concise description of your doctoral thesis project, visit the link for the content-related requirements.
Public presentation-FöP: your presentation based on the content of the research proposal, you will get feedback whether your research project meets the scientific standards, keep apprised of the deadlines and necessary documents for the registration of the public presentation. The FÖP has to take place within the first year after PhD registration. There are two FÖP dates per year, usually in January and in June. In case earlier courses are to be recognised (Anerkennung) this must be done within 2 semesters after PhD registration and can only be done after passing the FÖP, so that the FÖP must happen well within the first year and advisably within the first 10 months given the expected admin overhead.
Doctoral thesis agreement: concluded after positive presentation to the faculty, agreement signed by you, your supervisor/s and the university.

In the Research Phase (~2^nd and 3^rd year), you continue working on your research project, as described in your research proposal. According to your Doctoral thesis agreement, you will need to complete courses worth a certain amount of ECTS during your PhD. In addition to courses from specific study programmes, you can gain ECTS for external scientific activities like conference presentations. For more information, see this overview. You will be encouraged to attend transferable skills workshops. For an overview of the offered workshops, have a look at this page. Doctoral candidates have to submit an annual progress report, serving two main purposes: firstly, for both the student and their supervisor to get an overview of the progress made, and secondly to document changes that became necessary or desirable for the remaining doctoral studies. The annual progress report has to be sent to the respective Studies Service Center (SSC). Please check the website of your SSC for submission deadlines and for documents that might have to be submitted in addition to the annual progress report. For your time of being a doctoral student, please also be aware of the Code of Good Practice for Doctoral Schools of the University of Vienna.

The Final Phase (~3^rd year) is all about the central element of your PhD, your dissertation. The dissertation is supposed to prove your ability to conduct independent research on a high academic level. The final phase comprises the following key points:

Writing your dissertation: how the thesis should look like (language, form, etc.) should be discussed with the supervisor. It is important to comply with the international standards of the respective scientific discipline.
Submission and review: the thesis has to be handed in at the respective SSC both in paper and electronically. For detailed information about the formal requirements, templates, and forms, have a look at this page. The thesis is then presented to two reviewers that then write a report and give a positive/feedback. If both reviewers submit a positive report on your thesis, you can register for the public defense.
Defense: consists of a presentation of the central findings followed by a general discussion about the research subject with the examination commission. At the end you are awarded a numeric grade on your defense.

More detailed information about the content and requirements regarding your PhD’s structure can be found here. The curriculum for the Doctoral Programme in Natural Sciences can be found here. The curriculum for the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences is available here. General information for Doctoral students at the University of Vienna can be found here.

Note that PhD students with teaching responsibilites should attend the teaching course in their first year.
In order to plan holidays or leaves, it will be helpful to know the dates for the semesters and public holidays.

Services and Support

The ÖH provides several counseling opportunities as well as free legal support to students. The university's Equal Opportunities Working Party is responsible for ensuring that none of the university bodies discriminates against anyone. The office for conflict counseling offers confidential advice in case of a conflict. For questions related to the curriculum (FÖPs, thesis agreement, annual progress reports, ECTS), contact the Studies Service Center. For teaching related questions, you can get help from the CTL. For general information on services for university staff, take a look at this brochure. An overview of the service and support units of the university is given here.

Checklist

You have taken the time to get an overview of the university, the institute, the doctoral school, and what they have to offer
You have made yourself familiar with the structure and the requirements for the different phases of your PhD
You have looked at the services and support units from the university and looked at who to contact in case you have certain problems