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
 

A recent publication by ViDSS Student Carolin Hirt (co-authored with Alina Brad, Etienne Schneider, Christian Dorninger, Willi Haas, Dominik Wiedenhofer and Simone Gingrich) reveals that climate policy in Austria focus on efficiency improvements and technological alternatives. Measures aimed at directly reducing emissions-intensive demand remain largely untapped. (In German)
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Communication scientist, ViDSS Alumna and former sowi:doc Fellow Selina Noetzel received one of the 40 Awards of Excellence (Staatspreise für die besten Dissertationen) for her doctoral thesis “Why am I seeing this? Cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of online political microtargeting”. Congratulations!
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Blog
 

(by Jule Kegel)

When asked about their views on politicians, the British public does not hold back. Eight in ten Britons agree that the gap between ordinary people and politicians is wider than the differences among ordinary people. The same proportion say that MPs in Parliament ...
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Media articles and press releases
 

Together with Ulrike Zartler and Lena Grabner, sociologist Vera Dafert presents the project “How 2 Survive A Pandemic” which investigates how the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns changed the daily lives of youth and the competencies they developed to overcome this crisis. (In German)
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Video
 

Political scientist Adham Hamed was interviewed by the TV channel Puls 24 about the implications of the 20-point Gaza Peace Plan initiated by US President Donald Trump and the risks related to its implementation. (In German)
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Media articles and press releases
 

Together with Katharina T. Paul, political scientist Nora Hansl explains that while klindergartens could serve as an important opportunity for distributing information about vaccinations among parents, they are not yet included in official vaccination education strategies. (In German)
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Fellowship and award winners
 

The sowi:doc Awards for the academic year 2024/2025 are awarded to Ivan Josipovic (“The politics and legitimacy of digital evidence in asylum governance”), Selina Noetzel (“Why am I seeing this? Cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral effects of online political microtargeting”) and Christina Siegert (“Poverty risk within couples across the family life course”). Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Social and cultural anthropologist and ViDSS Student Alberto Enrique Buela Acevedo was awarded a DOC Fellowship by the Austrian Academy of Sciences for his doctoral thesis project on social networks and resilience among indigenous rural communities in the Arctic. Congratulations!
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Radio and podcast
 

Felix Maile and Dorota Vargová provide insights into their experiences with archives and data bases. Learn about the extraordinary lengths they had to go to chase primary sources, which ethical questions they have to deal with and why they are not using any AI tools for their analyses.
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New publications by ViDSS students

Showing entries 21 - 40 out of 107
Mütter und nicht-residenzielle Väter: Ausgestaltung der Kontakte während der COVID-19-Pandemie. / Dafert, Vera; Erben-Harter, Sabine; Sirka, Sarah et al.
In: Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Familienrecht - iFamZ, Vol. 2025, No. 5, 10.2025, p. 304-306.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Qualitative Interview Research in Multilingual Contexts: A Comparative Discussion of Language-Related Decisions in Two Empirical Studies . / Berg, Jana; Holzinger, Clara; Grüttner, Michael et al.
In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, Vol. 26, No. 3, 28.09.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Tackling (misleading) incivility online: A user-centric evaluation of different comment moderation strategies. / Wiesner, Andrea.
In: Information, Communication and Society, 26.09.2025, p. 1-19.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Between principle and practice: Value patterns and negotiation strategies among journalists. / Leonhardt, Birte Marina.
In: Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 25.09.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Artificial influencers, artificial designs? A systematic review of experimental research on virtual influencers. / Vranken, Sofie; Kanková, Jaroslava; Matthes, Jörg.
In: Telematics and Informatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal on the Social Impacts of New Technologies, Vol. 102, 102327, 24.09.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

"Flipped Examination Room": Ascriptions of Vulnerability Between Trans Patients and Their Healthcare Providers . / Ihrig, Felix Lene; Löffelmann, Flora; Steininger, Jo.
In: European Journal of Health Communication, Vol. 6, No. 3, 22.09.2025, p. 63-85.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Transparente KI – Herausforderungen am Beispiel klinischer Entscheidungsunterstützungssysteme. / Schmidbauer, Michael; Kaltenbrunner, Saskia.
In: Zeitschrift für Informationsrecht, Vol. 13, No. 3, 08.09.2025, p. 276 - 281.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

A double-edged sword: Exploring associations between engagement with mental health content by social media influencers and psychological well-being. / Kanková, Jaroslava; Vranken, Sofie; Matthes, Jörg.
In: Cyberpsychology : Journal of Psychological Research in Cyberspace, 03.09.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Existing multi-level demand-side climate change mitigation policies neglect avoid options. / Schneider, Etienne (Corresponding author); Brad, Alina (Corresponding author); Hirt, Carolin et al.
In: Communications Earth & Environment, 09.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Protest and repression on social media: Pro-Navalny and pro-government mobilization dynamics and coordination patterns on Russian Twitter. / Kulichkina, Aytalina (Corresponding author); Righetti, Nicola; Waldherr, Annie.
In: New Media & Society, Vol. 27, No. 9, 09.2025, p. 5433-5454.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

The state of evidence in digital hate research: An umbrella review. / Matthes, Jörg; Koban, Kevin; Bührer, Stephanie et al.
In: Communication Research, 28.08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Parasitical Solidarity: A Conceptual Framework for Analysing the Misappropriation of Solidarity. / Weiss, Elias.
In: The Annual Review for the Sciences of the Democracies, 20.08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Structural limitations of the decarbonization state. / Brand, Ulrich; Hausknost, Daniel; Brad, Alina et al.
In: Nature Climate Change, 07.08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Media, modality, and motivation in literary-aesthetic experience: exploring auditory and visual reception of literature. / Kosch, Lukas; Stocker, Günther; Ahrens-Schwabe, Annika et al.
In: Poetics. Journal of Empirical Research on Culture, the Media and the Arts, Vol. 111, 102021, 08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

On the backs of others: Negotiations of trans solidarity in sociology and activism. / Ihrig, Felix Lene; En, Boka; Löffelmann, Flora et al.
In: European Sociologist, No. 52, 08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Question Form Matters: Examining Trust in Government through Open and Closed Survey Items. / Bernhard-Harrer, Jana (Corresponding author); Pfaff, Katharina.
In: Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, 08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Should they really see this? The depiction of alcohol in movies and series targeted at children. / Matthes, Jörg; Binder, Alice; Vranken, Sofie et al.
In: Mass Communication and Society , 08.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Coping with greenwashed ads. Greenwashing perceptions, eco-label confusion, and the willingness to pay more. / Matthes, Jörg; Neureiter, Ariadne; Seiffert-Brockmann, Jens.
In: Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 26.07.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Children’s legal consciousness: the thorny right to privacy in social media. / Sarikakis, Katharine; Moser, Lisa; Chatziefraimidou, Angeliki.
In: Information, Communication & Society, 23.07.2025, p. 1-16.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Conceptions of education and ethics of AI in higher education: An exploratory qualitative study. / Filipovic, Alexander; Beck, Celina; Van Elk, Noreen et al.
In: Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, 21.07.2025, p. 1-24.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Showing entries 21 - 40 out of 107