ViDSS International Workshops
ViDSS International Workshops are one- or two-day workshops with international lecturers. The workshops take place at the University of Vienna, are initiated and organised by students and provide methodological training and international networking opportunities for doctoral candidates in the social sciences at the University of Vienna. The workshops are a supplement to the course programme and may focus on the presentation of new methodological approaches, hands-on training or the discussion of doctoral candidates’ research projects.
Summer semester of 2025
Urban space in tension between financialisation and the right to the city
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, organised by the PhD Club Critical Approaches to Policy and Governance
26–27 May 2025
In the past decades the politics of urban production has undergone significant changes. A large literature has emerged arguing that urban space, or in fact planetary space more broadly, is best understood as a process of adaptation to financial and capital needs and as such it is a neoliberalised project of economic growth with financialised forms of accumulation. This shift in the policies and political underpinnings of the production of space finds expression in variegated projects depending on their historical and cultural trajectories ranging from gentrification-driving revitalisation (Morell 2015), over “spectacular development” of cities like Dubai or Beijing (Kanna 2011; Ren 2011), to the growth of “mega slums” (Davis 2004) or spatial segregation and growing social inequality (Caldeira 2001). Such projects may come in combination with proclaimed states of exception or other forms of suspension of rights. Consequently, protests emerge as counteract forces challenging processes of neoliberalisation and financialisation. In this workshop, we will explore contemporary tensions between financialisation and the “right to the city” (Lefebvre 1998) as expressed in and emerging from transformations of (urban) space.
For more information about the programme and registration please see the call for applications. Application deadline: 31 March 2025
Organisers: Petra Kolb, Catherine Polishchuk, Nana Iashvili
Are you interested in organising a ViDSS International Workshop?
The ViDSS supports students in organising ViDSS International Workshops by providing financial support to invite lecturers, by offering help in finding suitable seminar rooms at the University of Vienna and by providing advice during the organisation process.
The organisation of and participation in ViDSS International Workshops can be recognised as achievements relevant to the curriculum of the doctoral programme in Social Sciences (participation: 2 ECTS credits, organisation: 3 ECTS credits).
If you want to submit an application for a ViDSS International Workshop, please send the following information in one single PDF file to the ViDSS administration team (email to eva.koessner@univie.ac.at):
- Title of the workshop
- Short abstract
- Preliminary programme
- Suggested date
- Department/s where the workshop will be held
- Names of the doctoral candidates who organise the workshop: ViDSS International Workshops should be jointly organised by two or three doctoral candidates.
- Names of at least five doctoral candidates who would be interested in participating in the workshop
- Budget plan including estimated travel and accommodation expenses and fees for lecturers
- CV of the visiting scholar/s
The ViDSS recommends that doctoral candidates ask their supervisors or another senior Faculty member at the University of Vienna to support the initiative and to offer advice during the organisation process.
The ViDSS steering committee discusses applications during their regular meetings and decides on their funding. Doctoral candidates can apply for a maximum amount of € 2,000 per workshop for travel and accommodation costs, fees for lecturers, and food and drinks during the workshop. The maximum amount of funding for the fee of the lecturer is € 800 per day. Allocation of grants is based on the available budget.
ViDSS International workshops should be open to all ViDSS members. If places are available, doctoral candidates in the social sciences at the University of Vienna who have not (yet) joined the ViDSS or candidates from other doctoral programmes should be able to join. The workshops should be held in English. To apply for funding, doctoral candidates must be members of the ViDSS.
Please note that applications have to be submitted in English.
If you are looking for additional support in organising ViDSS International Workshops, you can also contact the PhD student representatives Social Sciences.
Past ViDSS International Workshops
Feminist research practices and theories in critical social sciences: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, organised in cooperation with the Research Network Latin America
4–6 November 2024
Visiting scholars: Melissa Moreano (Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Quito), Diana Vela Almeida (Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University)
Organisers: Nina Schlosser, Anna Preiser, Valerie Lenikus, Marie Jasser, Marcela Torres, Alina Heuser, Tamara Artacker
Applying sequence analysis in the social sciences
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences
16–17 May 2024
Visiting scholars: Emanuela Struffolino (Department of Social and Political Sciences, University of Milan), Marcel Raab (State Institute for Family Research, University of Bamberg)
Organisers: Christina Siegert and Maria Köpping
Automated image and video analysis for social scientists
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences
29–30 April 2024
Visiting scholar: Felicia Loecherbach (Center of Social Media and Politics, New York University)
Organisers: Hannah Greber and Daniel Wiesner
Supervised and unsupervised methods for automated content analysis
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences
6–7 July 2023
Visiting scholar: Johannes Gruber (Department of Communication Science at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Organisers: Paul Balluff and Marvin Stecker
Unleashing the potential of geography in social sciences: An introduction to GIS with R.
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, organised by the Empirical Political Science PhD Club
12–14 June 2023
Visiting scholar: Fernando de la Cuesta (University Complutense of Madrid)
Organisers: Jeanne Marlier and Beatriz Lasheras Mas
Experimenting with digital methods in qualitative research
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Science and Technology Studies
10–11 November 2022
Visiting scholars: Tommaso Venturini (Medi@lab of the University of Geneva), Kari De Pryck (University of Grenoble Alpes)
Organisers: Pouya Sepehr and Virdzhiniia Vargolskaia
Missed the workshop? Read the blog post Nothing if not critical: Exploring digital methods beyond qualitative and quantitative approaches!
The applications of power analysis in the social sciences
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Communication
4–5 May 2022
Visiting scholar: Niklas Johannes (Adolescent Well-Being in the Digital Age programme at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford)
Organisers: Anna Lia Brunetti, Teresa Weikmann and Selina Noetzel
Missed the workshop? Download the materials (slides and exercises)!
Mobile experience sampling
International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Communication
10–11 June 2021
Visiting Scholar: Lukas P. Otto (Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam)
Organiser: Manina Mestas
What can ethnography really do?
13th ethnodoks* workshop for PhDs & International Workshop of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology
4–6 June 2021
Visiting Scholars: Tanja Ahlin (University of Amsterdam), Isabelle Clair (Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris), Mirco Göpfert (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Kristine Krause (University of Amsterdam)
Organisers: Marlene Persch, Catherine Polishchuk and Milo Strauss