PhD Programme Psychology Vienna

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Head of programme:
Ass. Prof. Nora Ruck
Contact:
doktorat.psychologie@sfu.ac.at

Together with Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Gerhard Benetka, I am head of the PhD program in psychology at Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna.

The PhD program in Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology of the Sigmund Freud Private University of Vienna offers scientific training in psychology at an international level and prepares graduates for an academic career within their subject area as well as for the representation of their research field in teaching and research at universities. As the only program of its kind, the PhD in Psychology at the SFU not only provides top-level knowledge in the research fields covered by the individual PhD projects, but also organizational and legal knowledge of the structure and function of the European higher education system as well as national and international systems and programs of public research funding. Special attention is paid to those soft skills as well as to implicit norms and requirements that are essential for an academic career in the university and non-university sectors, but which are all too often left to young researchers to acquire on their own. Students are supervised in finding their way in the academic field, moving confidently within it, while also exploring degrees of freedom for the realization of their own ideas and visions.

The PhD program in Psychology is divided into two study phases: In the first phase, which is ideally completed in the first year of study, the focus is on the acquisition of key competencies for the organization and independent implementation of scientific research and the conception of research-based teaching. This initial phase also qualifies graduates for future professional activity in the context of the management of scientific education and research processes. The transition to the second study phase depends primarily on the approval of a project proposal that is in line with international research funding practices. The second study phase (minimum duration of two years) is reserved for the preparation of this individual research project approved by a jury consisting that consists of the program director and of a collegiate of experts.

It is a central challenge and necessary skill for aspiring scientists to be able to independently organize themselves within given institutional conditions. The PhD program meets this prerequisite by relying largely on the independent acquisition of competencies and providing necessary infrastructure and resources for this process. Therefore, the head of the PhD program seeks to limit mandatory attendance times to the bare minimum and to design many courses in flipped classroom mode: Students prepare the course content at home or in exchange with fellow PhD students, in order to discuss it with the lecturers and apply it to their own projects. However, the free space provided for students requires full attendance at all classroom (or virtual) sessions.