The University of Vienna is one of the oldest and largest Universities in Europe, founded in 1365 and grown to a size of about 10,000 staff and 95,000 students today.     
The first institute of physics here was headed by Christian Doppler and many famous research personalities studied, worked and taught here: Erwin Schrödinger, Ludwig Boltzmann, Josef Loschmidt, Ernst Mach, Lise Meitner, Josef Stefan and Franz Hess, Hans and Walther Thirring are just a few of the many famous alumni that shaped physics in Vienna in its early days. We are situated in a beautiful historic building, and the infrastructure is permanently upgraded.
If you love a place vibrant with history, this is your place.

Today, our research is focused on

• Computational physics on the atomic, molecular and soft matter scale, as well as computational materials science.

• Physics of complex nanoscale matter, such as graphene, carbon nanotubes or superconductors

• Physics and the environment comprises experimental research in aerosol science as well as isotope research with applications in environmental dating and astronomy.

• Quantum Optics, Quantum Nanophysics and Quantum Information with experimental and theoretical research on the foundations of quantum physics as well as advanced quantum technologies.

• Mathematical, Particle and Gravitational Physics are spearheads of the theoretical physics in our faculty.

Many prestigious excellence grants have been awarded to our faculty members. This indicates the high international esteem as well as the source of funding that will benefit your research.
If you want to join world-leading research, this is your place.

The VDS-P is a program to attract, support and mentor motivated students from the start of their doctoral studies to their next step after graduation.

The VDS-Physics fellows benefit from

• travel grants
• support of scientific team building through retreats, scientific excursions, journal clubs
• promotion of teaching qualifications in students through limited teaching contracts
• transferrable skill training: from rhetoric over language skills to specialized technical classes
• summer schools and symposia

You can find more informations about the Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) in our "Why join VDS-P?" section.

All groups have some funds allocated for travel expenses. The VDS-P additionally provides its students with the opportunity to apply for travel grants. We prefer students who were able to win invited talks and posters.

As a VDS-P fellow you can once per year apply for a grant of the initiative "Research in teams" and are therefore welcome to invite guest researchers to Vienna.

The VDS-P regularly offers common activities for fellows, such as excursions, retreats or discussions. You can learn more about our activities here.

You can apply for the VDS-P as either an external/internal Master student (who is about to finish his/her Master traject) or as an internal PhD student.The VDS-P is a program to attract, support and mentor motivated students from the start of their doctoral studies to their next step after graduation. Students can also complete their doctoral study without being part of a doctoral school.

Note that if you apply as an internal student, we can only accept applications from students who have not yet presented the doctoral thesis project at the faculty OR who are within the first one year after the presentation at the faculty. The cut-off date is the application deadline.

VDSP is a program to attract, support and mentor highly gifted and motivated students to their next scientific and professional career step.
Even though being a member of VDSP is not a formal prerequisite you can only start a PhD at the University of Vienna if you fulfill several requirements. Finding a matching PhD supervisor is one of them and VDSP can help you with that.

You can apply to the VDS-P program as soon as you have completed a Bachelor with Honors, or are close to (beyond the) end of your Master’s degree. You should present a credible case that by the time of the envisioned employment you will have the required scientific maturity and that you will fulfill the formal prerequisites to enroll for a doctoral program. In its current form, VDS-P is a selective program. We take only about 20% of those students that are accepted for a PhD at our faculty into the VDS-P program.

Although the VDS-P has an open call throughout the year, there are application deadlines in March, June, September and December. These determine the assignment of applications to hearing dates.

When you already are a PhD student at the Faculty of Physics, we accept only applications if you have not yet presented the doctoral thesis project at the faculty OR are within the first one year after the presentation at the faculty.

Students do not need language proficiency scorecards for applying to the VDS-P programme. However, your proficiency will be checked during the interview process and you are expected to be fluent as English is the working language within VDS-P.

Please note that for general admission to the doctoral studies, other conditions may apply.

The PhD is in English and so all nationalities are welcome to apply when fluent in English. We do believe that learning the German language will help international students to get immersed in the rich local culture of Vienna.
Therefore, the University offers doctoral students two free beginner level courses. Additionally, we support our VDS-P fellows financially if they want to join higher level courses.

If you are invited for the VDS-P hearings your travel (economy flight), accommodation (organized by us) and visa (organized by you with supporting letters from us) costs are covered. Once you are accepted to the program by one of the research groups, the VDS-P reimburses further required fees related to you residence permit.

A doctoral study is set to take three years. The students are required to plan accordingly and present their plan within the first year in a faculty open presentation. In practice, due to the nature of some projects, extensions are possible and a doctoral study can take up to four years, or longer. Faculty positions are generally set for four years, due to teaching, but the study can also be concluded within a shorter timeframe.

Schrödinger, Boltzmann, Meitner, Doppler, Stefan and Hess are only a few of the alumni and lecturers that shaped the University of Vienna. Today the University of Vienna is still a heavily research focused University with emphasis on five core topics in physics, hosting some of the most influential scientists todate (Source).

Grades in Austria are ranked from 1 (very good) to 5 (fail).
Doctoral degrees are ranked on three scales:  

• passed with distinction (“Mit Auszeichnung bestanden”)
  For that one you will need an average better than 1.5 on the courses and get the best possible average grade (1) from the referees for both the thesis and the defense (see satzung.univie.ac.at/studienrecht/ §18 Abs 3, German only).
• passed
• not passed

Additionally, one can graduate sub auspiciis praesidentis, which also factors in other academic achievements from both secondary and tertiary educational institutions (see https://senat.univie.ac.at/promotion-sub-auspiciis-praesidentis/, German only), but might be restricted to students from certain countries.

• Within the first year of their doctoral studies, students have to present a detailed plan with a comprehensive timetable at the faculty open presentations.
• Throughout your studies you need to acquire 24 ECTS points which you can obtain through successful examinations in lectures, exercises and seminars dedicated to PhD and Master students. Also summer schools and complementary skills can be partially accounted for but at least 50% of the credits must come from advanced physics lectures and seminars at our faculty. The courses and lectures you will visit have to be determined in your doctoral thesis agreement.
• The thesis must be completed in English, checked for plagiarism and submitted online as well as in at least three hardcover copies. The thesis will be evaluated by external referees, excluding your supervisor and close collaborators.
• You will need to defend your work in front of a committee, consisting of your supervisor, the director of studies as well as two external referees.

For a more comprehensive description, have a look at this link (curriculum, §5, only in German) or this one.

At least 24 ECTS credit points during the complete doctoral studies (have a look at the curriculum requirements here). Generally speaking, courses play an almost negligible role in the doctoral studies. 30 ECTS is the equivalent of one semester full-time study, but most professors prefer their students doing lab-work or going to conferences, and a majority of the course-load can also be obtained from seminars or summer schools.

Generally speaking, FWF-Project holders (most positions) do not have to teach while University employees have teaching obligations. The workload can vary and is between two week-long praktika in a semester to one day per week for a semester.
Most VDSP students do not teach or not more than 2 hours per week, as tutors in basic physics courses or lab courses.

Like in many other Universities, this will mostly depend on your Professor and your group. Most groups are small enough that students can be mentored closely throughout their doctoral studies. Nevertheless we expect you to develop scientific vision and maturity, such that you can propose and implement new ideas. The VDS-P encourages you to choose a second thesis advisor (so called TAC mentor), who can give you an outside perspective on your progress during your studies.

PhD-positions are funded and include social benefits. Most positions are funded by the FWF public science funding agency. Their salary can be found online and amount to a net sum of 21.000€ per year after social security contribution and taxes. The University pays your social and medical insurances as well as your pension provision plan and unemployment insurance directly as a part of your gross salary. Independent of which project or agency is funding your project, you will be employed and payed by the University of Vienna and insured with BVA.
Important to note is that the salary is paid 14 times per year and therefore it is necessary to compare the net, or gross annual salary when comparing to other countries. PhD-Positions that are funded by the University are generally compensated the same as FWF project positions. More information on this website (group B1).

Generally speaking, 25 days per year. Additionally, Austria has an astoundingly large number of 13 public holidays.

You are responsible for working towards the completion of your project in time. However, if funding allows, advisors may extend the contracts. Your membership in VDSP, however, will be ended after a maximum period of 4 years in the program.

You will no longer be part of the VDS-Physics. When you want to leave the VDS, but still want to continue your PhD, please write us a short email. For quitting your PhD, please contact the Center for Doctoral Studies.

As one of the largest employers in Austria, the University of Vienna strives to support its staff in reconciling job and family duties. This website provides information about the University of Vienna's offers and services related to the reconciliation of work and family life.