The Doctoral Programme in Mathematics

There is a joint doctoral school of the University of Vienna and the TU Wien, called the Vienna School of Mathematics (VSM). Membership in this school is automatic for students that are hired on a pre-doc position announced via the VSM, for other doctoral students in mathematics, membership is possible upon recommendation of their advisor.

The current relevant curriculum for a doctoral studies in mathematics is the "Doktoratsstudium der Naturwissenschaften und der technischen Wissenschaften".

The regular duration of the doctoral studies according to the curriculum is 3 years, but this is to be viewed as a guideline. The main formal prerequisite for the doctoral program is a completed master program in mathematics or equivalent background. The prerequisites for the doctoral program will be checked during the admission process, both from a formal and from a scientific point of view. The admission to all programs at the University of Vienna is handled by the central administration of the University and in our case the rules of the curriculum are uniform for all natural sciences. More information on the admission to doctoral programs can be found on the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies., which is the main point of contact concerning admission. In particular, for the admission process, you will need a confirmation of supervision from a faculty member who is entitled to supervise PhD theses at out University — so you will have to find an advisor before you can apply for admission. You will also have to provide a description of a PhD project. In our area, a rough description of the direction to be pursued during the doctoral studies usually is sufficient — please check with your (intended) advisor on this.

Phases of the Doctoral Programme

The doctoral program is structured in three phases, the entry phase, the research phase and the final phase.

1.) Entry phase

The purpose of the entry phase is to formulate (jointly with your advisor) a concrete topic or project for your PhD studies. This phase should be completed within a year.

Topic / project of your PhD studies / Research Proposal

For more information please go to the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.

Public Presentation

Note: You have to pass the public presentation of your dissertation project within the first year.

The public presentation of the thesis project takes place in front of the Doctoral Advisory Board of the Faculty of Mathematics.

Currently, the talks in the presentation are scheduled for 20 minutes with a subsequent discussion of up to 10 minutes. They should be accessible for a broader (mathematical) audience.

In preparation, the candidate has to formulate, usually jointly with the supervisor, a research proposal that outlines the project.

The aim of this presentation is to show that there is a plan for the project and how this fits into the scientific landscape rather than to provide scientific details.

The public presentations take place several times per semester and are widely announced. If you and your supervisor agree that you are getting close to the presentation, please send a mail to ssc.mathematik@univie.ac.at containing the names of the student and supervisor(s) as well as a working title for the thesis project, stating that you will be interested in presenting in the near future. This helps us in planning presentations and makes sure that you and your advisor will be involved in finding dates, etc. Via the SSC, you will also be informed about the forms needed to register for the presentation.

Doctoral thesis agreement

After a successful presentation, the thesis project is formally approved by the DSPL ("Doktoratsstudienprogrammleiter" = Director of the Doctoral Study Programme), who is the main person responsible for the Doctoral Programme. Based on their approval and support of the DSPL, the student and the supervisor(s) formulate and sign a doctoral thesis agreement ("Dissertationsvereinbarung") that contains the main information about the thesis project. You will be provided with the necessary forms after your successful presentation. The doctoral thesis agreement also contains information about the coursework that has to be completed during the Doctoral Program. Before that agreement is signed, no decision can be made about the acknowledgement of courses. Please consult your supervisor when choosing courses during the entry phase of your studies.

For more information please go to the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.

2.) Research phase

During the research phase of studies the main academic activities are carried out. Apart from 24 ECTS of course work (for which specifications may be formulated in the doctoral thesis agreement), the main task is the preparation of a thesis which can be either monographic or cumulative. Most theses that were produced at our faculty during the last years are available online on u:theses.

Dissertation and Coursework

For more information please go to the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.

Annual Progress Reports

During the research phase, yearly progress reports, which form a part of the dissertation agreement, have to be provided. For the form “Annual Progress Report” and further information please go to the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.

3.) Final phase

Completion of the thesis marks the start of the final phase of the doctoral program.

Submission and review of the thesis

If your thesis is getting close to completion, please inform us via mail to ssc.mathematik@univie.ac.at so that things can be well coordinated as soon as possible.

This is also a good time to read the more-detailed information on the final phase.

For selecting the reviewers and the forms you have to send to the SSC, please also read the information on the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.

Defense

You schedule a date with Prof. Cap (usually the Head of the examination committee), your supervisor (first examiner) and your two reviewers (second and third examiners). After having scheduled a date you send the filled out form "Registration for doctoral thesis defense" to the SSC via e-mail (at "Location of examination" please enter either "online" or "on site". You don't have to find a room or create a link. The SSC will organise this for you).

If someone from the proposed examination committee is unable to attend, this must be reported to the DSPL and SSC.

The SSC will send out an invitation to your defense about 10 days prior to the defense date.

Our current standard is to start the defense with a presentation of the candidate of 45 minutes. Then there is the opportunity for the audience to pose questions. The last part of the defense is a (public) examination on the thesis and its scientific surroundings by the examiners. So it may be good to inform referees that they will have to examine as a part of the defense. Apart from the meeting of the committee in which the mark for the defense is agreed on, the whole defense is public. The standard is to reserve a time-slot of two hours for the defense to be on the safe side.

Graduation Documents

Your graduation documents will be sent to you by e-mail within four weeks after the successful defense.

Forms and Information

You can find all forms and more information on the website of the Center for Doctoral Studies.