Onboarding Seminars

Onboarding seminars are a great way to begin your doctoral studies. Not only do they provide professional advice and tips on making the transition to becoming a successful researcher, but they also introduce you socially to other doctoral students. Although the onboarding seminars are designed primarily for new doctoral students, they are open to everyone. They are free of charge and are part of the mission of the DocSchool PhilKult to give doctoral students the best possible start to their studies.

Onbording seminars take place in the Winter Semester 2024 on 7, 14 and 21 November 2024. Further details can be found in the side menu.

Data Management Courses

As a doctoral student in PhilKult, you will use many different types of data in the course of your projects: primary sources, secondary literature, images, sound recordings, interviews, quantitative data and, of course, the texts that you yourself will write for your thesis, conference presentation and the wider public.

We are fortunate that the PhilKult Faculty has a specialist, Monika Bargmann, who provides courses and advice to doctoral students to master their use of data.

Courses in the Winter Semester 2024 will take place on the 15 November 2024 (English, online), 10 December 2024 (German, in person), and on the 25 and 27 February 2025 (German, online).

Further details can be found in the side menu.

FöP Preparation

The ‘public faculty presentation’ (or FöP, for short) is an important staging-post towards the successful completion of your doctoral studies. In essence, it allows you to present the concept of your dissertation project in front of your peers, your supervisor(s) and other academics and receive feedback on all aspects e.g. methodology, materials, bibliography etc. It is the basis for receiving the official permission to proceed in your doctoral studies. According to university guidelines, your FöP should take place within one year of your admission as a doctoral student at the University of Vienna.

Your FöP is not organised by the DocSchool PhilKult but by our colleagues in the SSC (StudiesServiceCenter). We do, however, provide free seminars given by professional trainers to help your preparations. Current opportunities are listed on the right in the side menu.

defensiones

After all the reading, research, discussions, writing and editing, the final public performance in your doctoral studies comprises the 'defensio' or defence of your thesis. In this event, which takes about an hour in total, you have the chance to present the main findings of your dissertation to your examiners, peers, family and friends. The examiners and other members of the audience are then able to pose questions and a discussion can ensue. After this, the committee retires and, following its deliberations, the candidate is informed of the result.

Defensiones are rightly celebratory affairs, acknowledging the considerable work involved in successfully completing a doctoral thesis and also marking a rite of passage beyond the third and final cycle of higher education.

Since the PhilKult Faculty has the largest number of doctoral students at the University of Vienna, defensiones occur on a regular basis. A list of the upcoming dates and topics can be found here:

https://ssc-philkultur.univie.ac.at/studium/doktorat/defensiones/