Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences

Career development and internationalisation

ViDSS organises training sessions and experience talks to support doctoral candidates in conducting their research and developing the skills they need for their future careers, both within and beyond academia. Seminars, lectures and workshops with international scholars from outside the University of Vienna strengthen the education and international networking of doctoral candidates. ViDSS also supports candidates in travelling abroad for research visits, fieldwork and conferences. Writing schools and coaching sessions add to our networking opportunities and enable ViDSS students to write in a collaborative environment and provide them with the support they need to successfully complete their doctoral theses.

Transferable skills and academic writing

All workshops and training sessions offered to doctoral candidates by central university units, such as Personnel Development, Research Services and Career Development, the University Library and the Centre for Teaching and Learning, are open to doctoral candidates in our programme. Additionally, ViDSS provides coaching sessions, writing schools and transferable skills workshops designed to meet the needs of doctoral candidates in the social sciences and organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and other doctoral schools. All offers are announced and can be booked via the university’s training platform u:rise. 

Brownbag sessions

The ViDSS Brownbag Sessions provide possibilities for meeting and learning from experienced colleagues, graduates and guests. Most sessions take place online in order to allow as many early career researchers as possible to participate. Regularly dicsussed topics include international mobility and careers, career paths in and beyond academia, and getting ready for submission and the public defence.

International mobility during the doctoral studies

9 November 2026 | 13:00–14:30 | online

Collecting data or discussing research findings abroad and building up international networks are integral parts of doctoral studies. Hear from doctoral candidates who have experience of conducting research abroad, as well as experts on internationalisation, about mobility opportunities and how to identify and approach a suitable host institution. Find out what to consider when applying for funding and preparing for a research stay abroad, whether it’s a short visit to a research institution or an extended period of fieldwork.

Featuring:

  • Barbara Good, Head of the International Office
  • David Buchwinkler, ViDSS student member in development studies
  • Nora Hansl, ViDSS student member in political science

Moderation: Roman Pfefferle

Target group: Candidates in the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences
 

Register for the brownbag session

Click on the poster to open an accessible PDF version.

Barbara Mair

Career days

Every two years, ViDSS organises career days together with the Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies. The event features various sessions on career planning in and beyond academia for doctoral candidates and early-career postdoctoral researchers. Topics covered include navigating academic career paths, transferring skills beyond academia, grants for early-career postdoctoral researchers, and job application seminars.
 

Check out the programme of the Career Days 2026
 

Eva Kössner

Seminars by guest professors

ViDSS strengthens the education and international networking opportunities of doctoral candidates by organising seminars, lectures and workshops with international scholars from outside the University of Vienna. The seminars are part of the regular course programme offered in the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences.

The next seminars by Paul Lazarsfeld Professors and Fulbright – University of Vienna Visiting Professors of Social Sciences will take place in the summer semester of 2027. More information will be published in January 2027.

The Paul Lazarsfeld Professorship was created by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna and is awarded to outstanding scholars with an innovative profile in the areas of theory and methodology in the empirical social sciences. The guest professorship includes a course in the doctoral programme in Social Sciences with a particular focus on advanced methods training and a public lecture at the inviting department.

Former Paul Lazarsfeld Professors include:

Rachel Bernhard
University of Oxford
Course: New methods to study discrimination: From LLMs to experiments (2026)

Babette Kirchner
University of Bremen
Course: From structures to stories: Discourse ethnography and the study of intersectionality (2026)

Cecilia Rikap
Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, University College London
Course: Power, dependencies and spheres of control in the AI age (2026)

Emily St.Denny 
Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen
Course: Time and temporality in social science (2026)

Daniel Auer
Collegio Carlo Alberto, Torino
Course: Causal inference (2025)

Vincent Dubois
Institute for Political Studies, University of Strasbourg
Course: An introduction to critical policy sociology for social scientists (2025)

Anna Harris
Maastricht University
Course: Sensory methods (2025)

Grettel Navas Obando
School of Government, University of Chile
Course: Qualitative and quantitative methodologies in political ecology: A multiscalar approach to the analysis of environmental conflicts (2025)

Magdalena Saldaña
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Course: Traditional and automated content analysis: A theoretically-driven integration (2025)

Thea Riofrancos
Providence College
Course: Multi-sited fieldwork and planetary processes in an era of geoeconomics (2024)

Christian Baden
Department of Communication and Journalism, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Course: Integrating qualitative and quantitative textual analysis (2024)

Don Kalb
Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen
Course: Value: A radical approach (2024)

Paul Kellstedt
Texas A&M University
Course: Advanced topics in time series analysis (2024)

Michael Orsini
School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Course: Feeling feminist methodologies: Affect, emotions and cultivating ways of knowing (2024)

Elisabeth Becker-Topkara
Max-Weber-Institute of Sociology, Heidelberg University
Course: From theory to methods: Interpretative approaches to cultural sociology (2023)

Daniela Dimitrova
Greenlee School of Journalism & Communication, Iowa State University
Course: Visual framing analysis (2023)

Frauke Kreuter
LMU Munich and University of Maryland
Course: Marienthal 2.0 – Design and methods to scale observational studies (2023)

Aditya Bharadwaj
Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
Course: Anatomy of Life: Towards methodological innovation in health research (2022)

Fabrizio Gilardi
Department of Political Science, University of Zurich
Course: Digital technology and politics: Computational social science approaches (2022)

Ching Kwan Lee
University of California, Los Angeles
Course: Comparative ethnography in development studies (2022)

Sven-Oliver Proksch
University of Cologne
Course: Quantitative text analysis of political speech (2022)

Ye Sun
Department of Media and Communication, City University of Hong Kong
Course: Foundational conceptual and methodological knowledge for conducting a meta-analysis (2022)

Sofia Zaragocin Carvajal
Department of International Relations, Universidad San Francisco de Quito
Course: Contemporary decolonial methodologies and methods (2022)

Florian Foos
Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science
Course: Field experiments (2021)

Juan Grigera
King’s College London
Course: A critical appropriation of big data: Political economy at the crossroads of new methods (2021)

Michael R. Müller
Institute of Media Research, Chemnitz University of Technology
Course: Analyse visueller Sozialkommunikation am Beispiel von Robotik und KI-Design (2021)

Stefani Scherer
Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento
Course: Social inequality dynamics and life-course research. Substantive questions and methodological solutions (2021)

Bert N. Bakker
Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam
Course: Transparent and reproducible social science research (2020)

Carrie Friese
Department of Sociology, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Course: Grounded theory and situational analysis (2020)

Hanna Kienzler
Department of Global Health & Social Medicine, King's College London
Course: Researching vulnerable populations: Methodological, ethical and legal concerns (2019)

Wouter van Atteveldt
Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Course: Text analysis in R (2019)

Pablo Barberá
Department of Methodology, London School of Economics
Course: Social media data: Quantitative text analysis of big data (2018)

Cora Bender
Medienwissenschaftliches Seminar, Universität Siegen
Course: Medienethnographie: eine Methodenwerkstatt (2018)

Hendrik Wagenaar
Department of UrbanStudies and Planning, University of Sheffield
Course: Design and methods of interpretive social research (2018)

Cindy D. Clark
Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology & Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Camden
Course: Child-centered qualitative research in sociocultural research (2017)

Jennifer Jerit
Department of Political Science, Stony Brook University, New York
Course: Experimental methods (2017)

Stefan Hirschauer
Institut für Soziologie, Universität Mainz
Course: Ethnografisch forschen: Designs, Fragen, Methoden (2016)

Stuart Soroka
Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
Course: Content analysis in the social sciences: Human and automated approaches (2016)

Michaela Schäuble
Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Universität Bern
Course: Audio-visuelle Forschungsmethoden (2015)

Michael Schnegg
Institut für Ethnologie, Universität Hamburg
Courses: Einführung in die Netzwerkanalyse, Chancen und Grenzen des Vergleichs (2015)

Susumu Shikano
Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz
Courses: Applied Bayesian statistics for social scientists, New developments in modelling party competition (2015)

George E. Marcus
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine
Courses: The ethnography as text, The viability and changing conditions of fieldwork (2014)

Judith Okely
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford
Course: Ethnographic practice (2013)

Gerd Spittler
Facheinheit Ethnologie, Universität Bayreuth
Course: Feldforschung als Balance zwischen wissenschaftlicher Distanz und dichter Teilnahme (2013)

The Fulbright – University of Vienna Visiting Professorship of Social Sciences is a flexible combination of teaching and research activities. The professorship entails teaching two courses for four months (classes meet once a week for 90 minutes) and may include advising or supervising advanced students. The award is open to faculty of all academic ranks with a PhD, appropriate teaching experience, and relevant expertise. Applicants must hold US citizenship.

Former University of Vienna Visiting Professors of Social Sciences:

Besnik Pula
Virginia Tech
Course: Theories and methods of political economy (2026)

Chien-Juh Gu
Western Michigan University
Course: Immigration and social inequality (2025)
Workshops: Navigating academia as a gender and racial minority; Evaluating scholarly work

Robert Rohrschneider
University of Kansas
Course: Illiberalism and Party System Changes in Europe (2024)
Workshop: Publication Strategies in the Social Sciences

Edward Hackett
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Courses: Scholarship as a Vocation: STS Perspectives, Inequality and Sustainability (2022)
Workshop: Grant Proposal Writing for Late PhDs and Early Postdocs in the Social Sciences

Daniela Dimitrova
Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University
Courses: From Research Idea to Published Paper in the Social Sciences, Research Seminar A (2022)
Workshop: Journal Publishing and Peer Review in the Social Sciences

Margarethe Kusenbach
Department of Sociology, University of South Florida
Courses: Space and Place, Interpretive Methods of Social Research (2021)
Workshop: Career and CV Building through Research, Teaching and Service

Diana O’Brien
Rice University, Houston
Courses: State Activity, Policy and Governance Analyses: Does It matter if women are in government?, State Activity, Policy and Governance Analyses: Women in politics in comparative perspective (2020)
Workshop: Navigating Academia (as a Woman)

Barbara Mair

International workshops

ViDSS supports doctoral candidates in organising one- or two-day workshops with international lecturers. These workshops 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. ViDSS International Workshops complement the course programme and may focus on presenting new methodological approaches, providing hands-on training, or discussing doctoral candidates’ research projects.

We provide financial support to invite lecturers, help find suitable seminar rooms at the University of Vienna and offer advice throughout the organisation process. Organisation of and participation in ViDSS International Workshops can be recognised as achievements relevant to the curriculum (participation: 2 ECTS credits, organisation: 3 ECTS credits). ViDSS International Workshops are 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 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 ViDSS members. They can apply for a maximum amount of € 2,000 per workshop to cover travel expensesn, accommodation costs and fees for lecturers, as well as food and drinks during the workshop. The maximum funding available for lecturer fees is € 800 per day. Grant allocation is based on the available budget. The ViDSS Steering Committee discusses applications at regular meetings and decides on funding. 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. If you require additional support in organising ViDSS International Workshops, you can also contact the PhD student representatives Social Sciences.

Suggest a ViDSS International Workshop

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:

  • 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 ViDSS students.
  • Names of at least five ViDSS students 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

Applications have to be submitted in English.
 

Submit an application for a ViDSS International Workshop

Capitalism – democracy – emancipation: Encounters between Critical Theory and Radical Democratic Theory (2026)
Visiting scholar: Lea Prix (TU Dortmund University)
Organisers: Valerie Scheibenpflug, Julia Werthmann

Urban space in tension between financialisation and the right to the city (2025)
Visiting scholar: Gabu Heindl (University of Kassel)
Organisers: Petra Kolb, Catherine Polishchuk, Nana Iashvili

Feminist research practices and theories in critical social sciences: Perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean (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 (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 (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 (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. (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 (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

The applications of power analysis in the social sciences (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

Mobile experience sampling (2021) 
Visiting Scholar: Lukas P. Otto (Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam)
Organiser: Manina Mestas

What can ethnography really do? (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​

Barbara Mair

Travel and research abroad

ViDSS supports doctoral candidates who wish to travel abroad for research visits, fieldwork, conferences or summer/winter schools. Find out about the required procedures and funding options, and learn from your peers.

  • Procedure

    • Doctoral candidates need to discuss the possibility and the necessity of a research stay or fieldwork abroad as well as the participation in conferences or summer/winter schools with their supervisor/s. Plans for travel and research abroad during the doctoral studies should be mentioned in the doctoral thesis agreement or, if the agreement has already been concluded, the next annual process report. We recommend that doctoral candidates start to plan travel well ahead of time.
    • It is not necessary (and not possible) to apply for a leave of absence from the doctoral programme for the purpose of a research stay elsewhere.
    • Doctoral candidates who are employed with the University of Vienna have to apply for a leave of absence from work. For information on the application of a leave of absence please get in touch with the administration team of your department and visit the intranet for employees. ViDSS supports doctoral candidates who are employed with the University of Vienna and plan to apply for a paid leave of absence for research visits or field work for more than one month through providing letters of support. The Doctoral School issues letters of support after consultation with the doctoral candidates’ supervisors at the ViDSS. The candidates submit the letters to the rectorate via their departments together with the application documents. Please for further information.

  • Funding

    • ViDSS students can apply for ViDSS Research Funds, a non-competitive needs-based grant that can be used for research-related costs such as expenses related to field work, travel expenses or fees for summer or winter schools. Doctoral candidates can apply for a maximum amount of € 750 per year for three years as of the semester in which the public presentation at the Faculty (FÖP) has been passed successfully.
    • ViDSS students who are not eligible for the ViDSS Research Funds anymore and plan to submit their thesis soon can apply once for the ViDSS Final Year Fund.
    • Female academic staff can apply for the University’s Mobility & Care Fund to cover additional childcare costs incurred as a result of a mobility stay.
    • For information on further grants for travel and research abroad please visit our overview of external funding programmes. The ViDSS Newsletter provides information on current deadlines.

  • Best practice and advice

    • ViDSS regularily holds brownbag sessions on international mobility during the doctoral studies. We invite doctoral candidates who have already conducted research stays abroad to provide insights into their experiences and we introduce different funding opportunities for doctoral candidates.
    • Podcast recommendation: Listen to Doctor it! Episode 5 and Episode 19 and find out how doctoral candidates can organise, realise and make the most of a research stay abroad.
    • If you have questions about travel and research abroad, please feel free to contact us.

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