The Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences promotes innovative, excellent, problem-oriented research that aspires to contribute to societal debates and address key global challenges.

The cohorts trained and supported by the ViDSS are part of a vibrant research environment and international networks. The ViDSS encompasses and fosters connections between a broad range of disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. The ViDSS embraces the entire range of epistemological, methodological and theoretical approaches that are employed at the Faculty of Social Sciences. Doctoral candidates receive research training and write a doctoral thesis in the fields of communication, demography, development studies, nursing science, political science, science and technology studies, social and cultural anthropology, and sociology. The ViDSS aims for the highest standards in doctoral training and close supervision to ensure a mastery of social scientific debates and relevant theories and methods. As a result, ViDSS graduates are highly employable both within and outside academia.

Media articles and press releases
 

In their latest research overview, #UseTheNews presents the paper “Unpacking news consumption and trust decisions” by communication scientist Diego Garusi (co-authored with Clara Juarez Miro). The study shows the ongoing importance of traditional journalistic values for audiences’ news use and trust decisions despite the emergence of new forms of journalistic actors. (In German)
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Communication scientist Melanie Haberl was awarded the Förderpreis Journalismus 2024 of the German Communication Association for her ongoing doctoral thesis project about the balance between proximity and distance in journalists’ professional relationships with politicians. Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Social and cultural anthropologist and ViDSS Alumna Ilona Grabmaier was awarded the GAIN Gender & Agency Prize and the Förderpreis of the Dr. Maria Schaumayer Stiftung for her doctoral thesis entitled “Stayed at home. (Re)Configurations of care in rural Ukraine”. Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Sociologist and ViDSS Alumna Clara Holzinger won the Danubius Young Scientist Award 2024. The Award aims at honouring the scientific contribution to addressing challenges of the region and at strengthening the networking between the talents in the region. 14 young scientists were granted this award, one for each country that is part of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region. Congratulations!
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Video
 

Childbirth is often associated with joy, family, and new beginnings, but what happens when it becomes a source of harm? Elif Gül, ViDSS student in science and technology studies, delves into obstetric violence and reproductive justice, specifically birth justice, a concept introduced by Black feminist activists in the 1990s.

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Video
 

Political scientist Jule Kegel explains in a short video class for children what participation means and why it is important for democracy. The initiative is part of the project “Nachgefragt” organised by the Kinderbüro of the University of Vienna. (In German)
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Political scientists Carolin Brodtmann and Tobias Doppelbauer were awarded a DOC-team Fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for their doctoral thesis projects on transformative political education in civil society engagement against far-right ideologies (Brodtmann) and in self-organised learning communities in alternative agri-food systems (Doppelbauer). Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Communication scientist Sophie Mayen was awarded the Best Paper Award of the Fachgruppe Gesundheitskommunikation during the DGPuK Health Communication Conference 2024 in Lucerne (2nd place) for her paper “Parental mediation trajectories and their associations with adolescents’ mental health” (co-authored with Anne-Linda Camerini). Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

The sowi:doc Awards for the academic year 2023/2024 are awarded to Hannah Greber (“Immersive journalism – The future of the news?”), Ina Tessnow-von Wysocki (“Science-policy interfaces for ocean protection”) and Teresa Weikmann (“Getting real with fakes: Characteristics and consequences of ‘deepfakes’ in democracies”). Congratulations!
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New publications by ViDSS students

Showing entries 1 - 20 out of 89
Multilingual Challenges: Empirical Social Research in Migration Societies, Transnational Spaces, and International Contexts. / Holzinger, Clara; Draxl, Anna-Katharina.
Social Inclusion, 2026.

Publications: Book › Special Issue › Peer Reviewed

“I don't attribute that to the fact that I'm a foreigner”: Female CEE migrants in Austria and their perspectives on deskilling experiences. / Holzinger, Clara; Draxl, Anna-Katharina.
In: Zeitschrift für Politik (ZfP), 2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Specification Overfitting in Artificial Intelligence. / Roth, Benjamin; Araujo, Pedro Henrique Luz de; Xia, Yuxi et al.
In: Artificial Intelligence Review, 2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Austria. / Bauer, Dominique; Mattes-Zippenfenig, Astrid.
Yearbook of Muslims in Europe. ed. / Ahmet Alibašić; Dominique Bauer; Stephanie Müssig; Egdūnas Račius. Leiden: Brill, 2024. p. 54-72 (Yearbook of Muslims in Europe, Vol. 16).

Publications: Contribution to book › Chapter › Peer Reviewed

Helpful or harmful? Navigating the impact of social media influencers’ health advice: Insights from health expert content creators. / Kanková, Jaroslava; Binder, Alice; Matthes, Jörg.
In: BMC Public Health, Vol. 24, 3511, 18.12.2024.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Angry tweets: How uncivil and intolerant elite communication affects political distrust and political participation intentions. / Saumer, Melanie (Corresponding author); Maikovska, Kateryna; Neureiter, Ariadne et al.
In: Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 06.12.2024, p. 1-17.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Forschen mit Ablaufdatum: Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler im Kampf gegen befristete Job-Chancen. Holzinger, Clara (Interviewee). 2024.

Publications: Electronic/multimedia output › Radio show

Unpacking news consumption and trust decisions through a folk theory approach: A study of Austrian young adults. / Garusi, Diego (Corresponding author); Juarez Miro, Clara.
In: Media, Culture & Society , 07.11.2024.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Towards a typology of negotiating care in families: a qualitative multiple perspectives study in Austria. / Nagl-Cupal, Martin; Parisot, Viktoria; Stöhr, Doreen et al.
In: International Journal of Care and Caring, Vol. 8, No. 4, 01.11.2024, p. 579-599.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Language on the move: Linguistic diversity as a bureaucratic challenge. Holzinger, Clara (Interviewee). 2024.

Publications: Electronic/multimedia output › Radio show

Methodenkoffer: Mehrsprachigkeit in der Sozialforschung - sprecht darüber! Interview mit Cinzia Hirschvogl und Clara Holzinger. Hirschvogl, Cinzia (Interviewee); Holzinger, Clara (Interviewee). 2024.

Publications: Electronic/multimedia output › Radio show

Datenschutz-Folgenabschätzung und Grundrechte-Folgenabschätzung in der KI-Forschung. / Schmidbauer, Michael; Kaltenbrunner, Saskia.
In: JusIT, 29.10.2024.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

When good intentions aren’t enough: Intersectional invisibilities in academia and the decolonial turn. / Bauer, Dominique; Paredes Grijalva, Daniela.
In: Gender - Zeitschrift für Geschlecht, Kultur und Gesellschaft, Vol. 16, No. 3, 22.10.2024, p. 217-230.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Conducting marine genetic research for whom? Mapping knowledge flows from science to patents. / Dunshirn, Paul (Corresponding author); Zhivkoplias, Erik.
In: npj Ocean Sustainability, Vol. 3, No. 1, 50, 08.10.2024.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Tactics and affordances in the mediatization of war: pro-Ukrainian cyber resistance on Telegram. / Canevez, Richard; Maikovska, Kateryna; Zwarun, Lara.
In: Digital War, 07.10.2024.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

„Die Würde des Spargels ist unantastbar“ – Antiosteuropäischer Rassismus, Ausbeutung und Widerstand. Panagiotidis, Jannis (Contributor); Ďurišová , Simona (Contributor); Melo, Sónia (Contributor) et al.. 2024. Event: null, Brunnenpassage/Yppenplatz, Wien, Austria.

Publications: Electronic/multimedia output › Radio show

Knecht, Alban (2024). Mit Sozialpolitik regieren. Eine ressourcentheoretische Policy-Analyse der Beschäftigungsförderung benachteiligter Jugendlicher in Österreich. Opladen, Berlin und Toronto: Verlag Barbara Budrich. / Malschinger, Paul.
In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie (ÖZS), 10.2024.

Publications: Other contribution to periodical › Book/Film/Event review

Sustainable flying? The effects of greenwashed claims in airline advertising on perceived greenwashing, brand outcomes, and attitudes toward flying. / Neureiter, Ariadne (Corresponding author); Hirsch, Melanie; Matthes, Jörg et al.
In: Environmental Communication, Vol. 18, No. 7, 10.2024, p. 873 – 890 .

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Revisiting Reflexivity: Liveable Worlds in Research and Beyond. / Davies, Sarah (Editor); Schikowitz, Andrea (Editor); Mora-Gámez, Fredy (Editor) et al.
Bristol University Press, 2025. 272 p. (Dis-positions: Troubling Methods and Theory in STS).

Publications: Book › Collection › Peer Reviewed

Von Erreichtbarkeit und dem Erreichtwerden: Älter werdende Eltern mit Pflegeverantwortung im Forschungskontext. / Falkenstein, Thomas; Werner, Marlene; Nagl-Cupal, Martin.
Schwer erreichbar?: Soziale Teilhabe für besonders verletzliche Menschen. ed. / Elisabeth Reitinger; Heimerl Katharina; Gert Dressel; Ilona Wenger. Esslingen: der hospiz verlag, 2024. p. 377 - 390.

Publications: Contribution to book › Chapter

Showing entries 1 - 20 out of 89