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.

Fellowship and award winners
 

Elif Gül, ViDSS student in science and technology studies, was awarded the Johanna-Dohnal-Förderpreis by the Johanna Dohnal Archive for her doctoral thesis project on the material-semiotics of obstetric violence. The award honours authors of outstanding dissertations that promote gender democracy and equality, and serve as role models for women in education. Congratulations!
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Fellowship and award winners
 

Michaela Forrai, Alexandra Wölfle, Thomas Kirchmair and Aleksandra Lazić won the Klaus Schönbach Award 2025 of the Department of Communication. The award aims to support doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers in pursuing, refining and enhancing their own international lines of research.

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Fellowship and award winners
 

We warmly welcome our new sowi:docs Fellows! Léa Dudouet (science and technology studies) will explore the sociotechnical meanings of fertility tracking and reproductive decision-making in Austria. Clara Lerch (communication) will investigate how political and media discourse influences public perception and policymaking in three European Member States.
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Blog
 

(by Alice Vadrot, Emil W. Hildebrand, Carolin Hirt, Wenwen Lyu, Felix Nütz, Hristina Talkova)

Kingston, Jamaica. July 2025. The tickets to Jamaica were already booked, the US transit visa secured, and a field note outline meticulously prepared. Then the news broke: academics and civil society actors would be barred from fully accessing this year’s Council Meeting of the ...
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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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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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New publications by ViDSS students

Showing entries 41 - 60 out of 132
Does social media use make us more environmentally knowledgeable or more eco-anxious? A multi-country investigation. / Matthes, Jörg; Neureiter, Ariadne; Kirchmair, Thomas et al.
In: Online Media and Global Communication, Vol. 4, No. 3, 01.10.2025, p. 387-409.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Discursive consequences of social media hostility: Chilling effects, avoidance, and intervention behaviors of emerging adults in the U.S. and Indonesia. / Matthes, Jörg (Corresponding author); Nguyen, Phung Quynh Giao; Koban, Kevin et al.
In: Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 171, 108704, 10.2025.

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

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

Policy recommendations on legal framework governing the European Film Industry (EFI). Turan, Pelin (Author); Sganga, Caterina (Author); Psychogiopoulou, Evangelia (Corresponding author) et al.. 2025. The REBOOT Project (Reviving, Boosting, Optimising and Transforming European Film Competitiveness – REBOOT), funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101094769.

Publications: Electronic/multimedia output › Web publication

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

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

Showing entries 41 - 60 out of 132