sowi:doc Awards 2023

Each year, the Faculty of Social Sciences awards the sowi:doc Awards to three doctoral graduates. The Award winners receive EUR 1,500 each for their outstanding research contributions in the framework of their doctoral thesis. The Award aims at motivating doctoral graduates to pursue a career in academia.

With the announcement of the sowi:doc Awards 2023, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences ask supervisors to nominate excellent doctoral theses that fulfil the criteria mentioned below by 17 September 2023. Each supervisor may nominate one doctoral thesis. Graduates of the doctoral programme are not allowed to nominate themselves.

An interdisciplinary expert committee, appointed by the head of the Faculty, is responsible for making the final award decision.

Submission requirements

  • Successful completion of the doctoral programme at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Vienna between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023
  • Doctoral thesis with an excellent assessment (at least one examiner report attaining an “excellent” grade, the second examiner report attaining at least a “good” grade and the public defence receiving an “excellent” grade)
  • Completion of the doctoral programme within twelve semesters. (The maximum permitted duration can be exceeded by up to two semesters upon provision of a legitimate and justifiable reason.)


Required documents

  • On one page: Title of the doctoral thesis, name of the supervisor, brief description of the topic of the doctoral thesis (abstract)
  • Nomination letter from the supervisor (no more than one page)
  • Full text of the doctoral thesis
  • Curriculum vitae of the candidate (including date of birth and contact details (mail and e-mail)), as well as a list of publications
  • Both examiner reports on the doctoral thesis
  • Confirmation of study periods
  • Doctoral degree certificate

Documents have to be submitted in electronic form, in either English or German.

Supervisors can nominate doctoral theses that fulfil the criteria mentioned above. Please send your proposals via e-mail (including all required documents, subject line “sowi:doc Awards 2023”) to vds-sosci@univie.ac.at by Sunday, 17 September 2023. Please contact Roman Pfefferle (+43-1-4277-49081) or Eva Kössner (+43-1-4277-49082) if you have any questions.