Faculty of Humanities, Charles University
PhD in Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication
Prague, Czech Republic
PhD
DURATION
4 years
LANGUAGES
French, English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
30 Apr 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Oct 2026
TUITION FEES
EUR 700 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus, Blended
* applicants from non-EU/EEA countries are advised to apply by April 30th, 2026
** online application fee: 810 CZK
Key Summary
About: The PhD in Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication at Charles University’s Faculty of Humanities offers interdisciplinary training in semiotics, communication theory, philosophy of language, media studies, and cultural analysis. You’ll study communication strategies, social assumptions, and effects, and explore semiosis in mass media. The programme builds on Czech and international traditions while encouraging creative development of theoretical knowledge and research skills.
Career Outcomes: Graduates leave as a qualified specialist with analytical skills for basic and applied research. You’ll be prepared for research and university positions, academic teaching, and roles in mass media such as communications analyst or policy advisor.
The Doctoral programme Semiotics and Communications Philosophy provides the demanding training necessary for qualified philosophical and semiotic research into communication, its evolution, changes and relationships with other social spheres. The field of study is interdisciplinary. The intent is to study communication strategies, their social assumptions, and their effects. The field is conceived theoretically but the graduate may also have access to practical processes because it helps to better understand the role of semiosis in the process of mass media communication. Students are encouraged to build on the traditional lines of exploration of both world and Czech semiotics and communication philosophy to acquire the latest theoretical knowledge and to develop them creatively.
Graduates of the study programme Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication have the ability to conduct independent scientific research and independent creative activity in the field of research or development, based on knowledge of primary and basic secondary texts in the field, they are able to summarize and critically evaluate the current state of research, formulate scientific hypotheses and research questions. The student is able to critically analyze, evaluate and synthesise new and complex ideas. The graduate is able to participate in basic and applied research in academic departments and universities in the field of philosophy, humanities, and social sciences, as well as to engage in work in mass media, cultural and social institutions. On the basis of their knowledge of social sciences and social phenomena, including communication processes, they are able to eruditely interpret and popularise the latest knowledge gained through the study of the programme and to communicate it convincingly to the domestic and international public.
- Students can ask for contributions from the national budget for education, research, innovation, art, and other creative activities, for subsidies from the national budget, from the bursary fund, or from other resources.
- Every full-time student of the doctoral study programme is, in case there are no obstacles, awarded a doctoral scholarship of 10 500 to 25 000 CZK monthly, in accordance with Scholarship and Bursary Rules. For more information, please visit our website.
The graduate of the doctoral study program Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication is a qualified specialist endowed with a deep understanding of theoretical approaches in communicational strategies, relevant analytical skills, and solid knowledge of actual philosophic and semiotic research of the process of communication.
The study program provides necessary qualifications to those willing to work in basic and applied research in institutes and universities of the given thematic orientation. The graduates are also well prepared to occupy critical, conceptional, and creative positions and are qualified to work at such positions in the academic or mass media sphere where familiarity with semiotics and theory of communication is an indispensable asset.