Doctor it!

What motivates PhD students who juggle jobs and family commitments to continue working on their dissertations? In Episode 20 of Doctor It!, we shine the spotlight on self-funded PhD candidates who are in full-time employment – a topic that is still rarely discussed in academia. Join our co-hosts Olga Malashkina and Beate Krapfenbauer as they speak to Ricarda Götz-Preisner, doctoral candidate in  c...

Are you curious about how PhD students find and use their research sources? You’re in the right place! In Episode 19 of Doctor it! PhD candidates tell us how they track down their sources in all their varied formats and how sources influence their research methodology and questions. Join our host Emily Genatowski as she speaks with Dorota Vargová, doctoral candidate in  History , and Felix Maile f...

How do you best reach out to potential co-authors? How and when do co-authors agree on the order of authors when writing a paper? In Episode 18 of Doctor it! you will find answers to these questions. Our hosts Giorgia Zogu and Ying Liang Zhang talk to Jana Bernhard-Harrer from the Department of Communication and Nisa Iduna Kirchengast from the Department of Classical Archaeology . Jana and Nisa pr...

What did you expect from your PhD journey when you started? Were these expectations met so far? In Episode 17 of Doctor it!, our hosts Adityo Darmawan Sudagung and Emily Genatowski talk with Aleksandar Anđelović from the Department of History and Ying Liang Zhang, doctoral candidate in African Studies , about initial expectations, unexpected challenges and transformative moments. Listen in when th...

While most PhD students have accepted that their research probably won’t change the world, they at least want to make some impact on society. But how? In Episode 16 of Doctor it! we discuss strategies of making our research more impactful, and we share experiences of being personally impacted by our research fields. Emily Genatowski and Martin Pokorny talk with Nora Hansl from the Department of Po...

Are you wondering whether your next conference presentation will be a career booster or just a waste of the time that you need for writing your dissertation? Do you want to know how other PhDs have navigated their first-ever conference? Then this is the right episode for you! In Episode 15 of Doctor it! our hosts Adityo Darmawan Sudagung and Martin Pokorny talk to Birte Leonhardt from the Departme...

In Episode 14 of Doctor it! Adityo Darmawan Sudagung and Penelope Faithfull talk to Nyamadzawo Sibanda (also known as Max) from the Department of Development Studies and Emily Genatowski, doctoral candidate in History , about the support systems PhD students may rely on during their studies. Our guests share personal experiences of arriving in Vienna, finding housing and navigating the language ba...

In this semester’s first episode of Doctor it! we have invited Michela Vignoli from the Austrian Institute of Technology and Marvin Stecker from the Department of Communication to talk about the use of AI in the humanities and the social sciences. Together with our host Emily Genatowski they discuss why Michela trains AI models to analyse images and texts from the 16th century and how Marvin appli...

“Don’t forget to write your thesis!” – In this episode of “Doctor it!”, our guests Timo Aava, doctoral candidate in East European History , and Sophie Minihold from the Department of Communication share their experiences with the ultimate boss of any PhD-journey: the thesis. The thrills and troubles of academic writing, the benefits of peer exchange and support during this – supposedly – lonely ta...

What happens when you graduate from a doctoral programme? Tune in to episode 11 of “Doctor it!” and find out about career opportunities after completing a PhD in the social sciences or the humanities. Our host Aayu KC talks to Faime Alpagu from the Department of Communication and Dominik Hagmann from the Department of Classical Archaeology about their experiences of starting a new chapter in life....

Surging energy prices, high inflation, war in Europe – the European Union is confronted with new challenges since Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In this episode, our host Bernd Christoph Ströhm from the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies and Thomas Kögler from the Austrian National Bank explore the role of Germany as the EU’s economic powerhouse in addressing these...

Do you often wonder where your time is going? Tune in to episode 9 of “Doctor it!” where we explore how we, as PhD students and as human beings, can better manage our time. Our host Rasmus Wardemann talks to Bao-Chau Pham from the Department of Science and Technology Studies and Christoph Beitl from the Department of Contemporary History about the challenges they face in using their time efficient...

To what extent does the legacy of colonialism influence academia and how are researchers at the Vienna Doctoral Schools aiming to overcome inequalities of power? In the semester’s final episode, our host Angelina Illes talks with Daniela Paredes Grijalva from the Institute for Social Anthropology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Marcela Torres Heredia from the University’s Department of Soc...

For most PhD students, their dissertation is their only “baby”. However, how is it to have an actual child while being a PhD student? In episode 7 of “Doctor it!” our hosts Rasmus Wardemann and Ninja Bumann talk with Kata Tóth from the Department of East European History about how she fulfils care obligations while pursuing a career in academia. Together, they explore the many challenges Kata is f...

COVID-19 led to frustration among many PhDs. Archives were closed, summer schools got postponed and small talk at online conferences turned out to be a truly difficult task. In episode 6 of “Doctor it!”, our host Aayu KC is asking whether and how setbacks can nevertheless be seen as an opportunity to grow. She talks to Angelina Illes from the Department of Art History and Martin Pokorny, doctoral...

In this episode, “Doctor it!” explores how to organise, realise and make the most of a research stay abroad. Joining us this time are Eline Castelijns from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Aleksandar Ranković from the Department of Contemporary History . With our host, Rasmus Wardemann, they talk about how they ended up in Slovenia and Zambia respectively and delve into their...

For the semester’s final episode of “Doctor it!”, we have done a showcase of what researchers at the Vienna Doctoral Schools are interested in. In this episode, Bernd Christoph Ströhm hosts an expert interview about the Western Balkans with his research colleague Mario Holzner, Executive Director of the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies . Listen in when they dive into the region’...

In the third episode of “Doctor It!”, our host, Rasmus Wardemann, talks to Lonneke Delpeut from the Department of Egyptology and Byeongsun Ahn, doctoral candidate in Sociology , about science communication as an important part of our PhD-journey. Listen in when they discuss their changing expectations and practices of disseminating research within and outside of academia, the skills they have deve...

In a seminar room, whether physical or digital, PhD candidates navigate between student, researcher, and teacher. As first-time course instructors, they encounter two big questions in particular: How do you teach what you do? And what are your resources and tools to master this task? In episode 2 of “Doctor it!”, we hear insights into this from PhD candidates Azade Kakavand from the Department of...

In the first episode of “Doctor it!”, our host, Rasmus Wardemann, talks to the first-year doctoral candidates Julia Schulte-Werning from the Department of History and Quirin Rieder from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology about their experiences of getting into a PhD programme. From trying to meet expectations to managing their research time, our guests give us first-hand insights i...

Welcome to “Doctor it!”, the podcast of PhD candidates in the humanities and the social sciences at the University of Vienna. This is the place for communication and discussion about issues surrounding us in the world of science. We address the Whats, Whys and Hows of our work and invite researchers from different disciplines to explore topics and ideas they and we deeply care about. This? Well, t...