Seminars by guest professors
The ViDSS strengthens education and international networking 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.
Summer semester of 2025
“Immigration and Social Inequality”
Theory seminar in the doctoral programme in Social Sciences
4 March–24 June 2025
This doctoral seminar offers an overview of sociological studies of international migration, with a particular focus on social inequality. Students will explore various theoretical perspectives and empirical studies that examine how immigration intersects with social class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and legality to shape social inequalities in the United States. Additionally, we will discuss how these inequalities affect individuals’ lived experiences, social relations, and well-being. While the readings primarily draw from American literature, students are encouraged to develop research projects with any geographic region.
For more information please visit the course directory.
“Navigating Academia as a Gender and Racial Minority”
Workshop for early career researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences
03 April 2025, 10:00–12:00
Meeting Room of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences (Seminar Room 11), 1st Floor, Kolingasse 14–16, 1090 Vienna
“Evaluating Scholarly Work”
Workshop for early career researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences
12 June 2025, 10:00–12:00
Meeting Room of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences (Seminar Room 11), 1st Floor, Kolingasse 14–16, 1090 Vienna
Chien-Ju Gu
Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University
Fulbright – University of Vienna Visiting Professor of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology
“An introduction to critical policy sociology for social scientists”
Methods seminar in the doctoral programme in Social Sciences
17–26 March 2025
All aspects of social life can be impacted by public policy, and therefore every social scientist, whatever the field, may at some point encounter policy-related issues in his or her research. This course is therefore aimed not only at complementing the knowledge of those who directly study public policy, but, more generally, at providing those working on other subjects with analytical tools helping them to grasp policy aspects of their objects of study. In these series of classes, I will introduce the students to the methods of a critical sociology approach to public policy. The main methodological objective of this course is to drive them to consider public policy neither as a topic reserved to practice-driven research, nor as a specific academic domain outside from other sub-disciplines and socio-political questions, but as a topic located at the core of a series of issues addressed by social science research, such as inequalities, modes of domination, social and symbolic hierarchies, regulation of conflicts, institutions, citizenship, etc.
For more information and registration please visit the course directory.
Vincent Dubois
Professor at the Institute for Political Studies, University of Strasbourg
Paul Lazarsfeld Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna, Department of Sociology
Contact
vincent.dubois@misha.fr
vincentdubois-socialscience.eu
“Causal inference”
Methods seminar in the doctoral programme in Social Sciences
12–28 May 2025
This course introduces PhD students of different disciplines within the social sciences to advanced questions of causality. We will critically(!) discuss seminal, provocative, and original empirical studies on key societal questions, such as the causes and consequences of social and political behavior, immigration attitudes, and the (unintended) consequences of public policies. The goal of this course is to provide participants with the methodological knowledge and the practical skills to conduct quantitative research and derive causal statements on their own. Participants should have prior knowledge of linear regressions.
More information will be published soon.
Daniel Auer
Assistant Professor at the Collegio Carlo Alberto, Torino
Paul Lazarsfeld Professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Vienna, Department of Demography