31 PhD Degree Programs in Austria

The Ph.D. in Business and Socioeconomic Sciences curriculum prepares qualified candidates with state-of-the-art approaches to conducting scholarly and applied research. The program emphasizes a multidisciplinary approach to finding solutions to research problems, drawing upon advanced concepts and methods from business management, economics, policy studies, sociology, and philosophy of science. Required foundation courses are taught in theory, methods, and research design.

Doctor of Philosophy in Cognitive Science The Department of Cognitive Science offers a PhD program in Cognitive Science. This research-based, interdisciplinary program offers specialization in the fields of social cognition, cognitive development, and formal and biological models of perception and learning. Students may take courses in cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, cognitive anthropology, visual perception and computational modelling.

Our PhD program for "Digital Transformation in Learning" invites you to investigate how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing when, what and how we learn. This program enables students to delve into the use of intelligent learning technologies to enhance and scale active learning approaches in higher education.

The Doctoral Program in International Business Taxa­tion (DIBT) offers an excellent doctoral education to outstanding students from all over the world, fully preparing them to conduct research on international business taxation.

ISTA is a cross-disciplinary research institution that combines basic science research with graduate education. Our scientists perform theoretical and experimental research in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Information and System Sciences. ISTA is located on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria.

The PhD in Comparative History offers doctoral education matching the highest international standards for prospective scholars and teachers. A particular - indeed unique - feature of the program is that it focuses on the comparison, interconnectedness, and entanglements of distinct geo-cultural regions: Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean, in close relation to the history of other historical regions, most notably with Western Europe and the Middle East. 

The purpose of the program is to offer doctoral-level education matching the highest international standards in the fields of Sociology and Social Anthropology for prospective scholars and teachers. The Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology offers a doctoral program accredited by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York (US) for and on behalf of the New York State Education Department and on behalf of the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ Austria).

The PhD in Comparative Gender Studies is a 4-6 year program for students with substantial MA-level background in gender studies theory and methodologies who wish to specialize in interdisciplinary research and teaching in an academic setting. Accredited in both the US and Austria, the program combines elements of North American and European style degrees with coursework, research proposal development, and a Comprehensive Exam in the first year, followed by research and dissertation writing alongside professional development in subsequent years.

The IAI is an international PhD and MD/PhD programme of the Medical University of Vienna that focuses on the field of "Inflammation and Immunity" and integrates basic, applied and clinical sciences to provide comprehensive and cutting-edge research training. It is supported as a PhD excellence programme "Securing Host Immunity: Elimination versus Destruction (SHIELD)" by the doc. Funds initiative of the FWF.

Modern neuroscience is a multi-disciplinary field that includes biochemistry, molecular neurobiology, cellular neurobiology, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, neuroanatomy, neuropathology, neuroimmunology, clinical neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry and neurology. The aim of the neuroscience program is to educate students to PhD level using a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary approach preparing them for an enspiring scientific career within the field of neuroscience in academia and/or industry.

The objective of the PhD Program Medical Physics is to provide excellent training opportunities in the various fields of Medical Physics. This will be achieved by offering students the opportunity to work on cutting-edge research projects in research teams that are among the international leaders in their fields.

The Vascular biology PhD program provides training in the basic mechanism of vascular function and coagulation, as well as the physiological and pathological aspects associated with it. Topics include endothelial cell, smooth muscle cell, and platelet biology, angiogenesis, vascular pathologies (incl. atherosclerosis, aneurysms), as well as arterial and venous thrombosis.

In the RNA Biology PhD track, RNA-based regulatory circuits are explored in silico, in vitro and in vivo with technologies ranging from bioinformatics to biochemistry to imaging. RNAS mediate gene expression but have also regulatory, structural and signaling functions. Consequently, aberrant RNA processing, structure or function affects organismal development and health.

The PhD program Computational X promotes interdisciplinary research facilitating the convergence of natural sciences like biology, social sciences and humanities with computational sciences. The program supports junior researchers in developing their abilities to perform independent scientific research.

The DK-MCCA is dedicated to the fields of molecular, cellular and clinical allergology. MCCA provides PhD-fellowship support for highly qualified students who have elected to pursue their PhD degree in allergology. The program is composed of three tracks dedicated to molecular allergology, cellular allergology and clinical allergology.

The aim of the PhD Program “Molecular Signal Transduction” is to provide outstanding training opportunities for the understanding of the molecular physiology of cellular signal transduction and pathological alterations therein for the students. The program, which in particular covers the fields of physiology and pharmacology, will offer students the opportunity to work with approved scientists on cutting-edge research projects.

The PhD program in Network Science is a research-oriented program that provides the only PhD degree in this field in Europe. Network science provides essential tools to study complex systems including society online and offline, the economy or urban traffic. Accordingly, the program provides hands-on experience with large datasets characterizing those systems and the skills needed to analyze them.