ViDSS Brownbag Sessions

The ViDSS Brownbag Sessions provide possibilities for meeting and learning from experienced colleagues, graduates and guests. Most sessions take place online in order to allow as many early career researchers as possible to participate.

Defending your thesis and handling transitions: learn from your peers

Wednesday, 13 May 2026 | 12:00–13:30

Join our ViDSS Brownbag Session to meet recent graduates of the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences. What was the end of this long ‘journey’ like for them? What are the best practices for the final stages of the writing process? How did they prepare for the public defence? How did they stay motivated, and how did they navigate the transition (and where to)?

With:

  • Hannah Quinz, graduate in sociology
  • Andrea Wiesner, graduate in communication
  • Paul Dunshirn, graduate in political science

Moderation: Roman Pfefferle

Target group: Doctoral candidates in the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences

Venue: Meeting Room of the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences (Seminar Room 11), 1st floor, Kolingasse 14–16, 1090 Vienna

Registration: via u:rise until 11 May 2026

The session is part of the Completion Course offered in the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences in the summer semester of 2026 but is open also to doctoral candidates (SPL 40) who are not registered for the course.

Previous ViDSS Brownbag Sessions

  • International careers in and beyond academina (2025)
  • Researcher – student – lecturer? How to handle and benefit from teaching duties during the PhD (2025)
  • Defending your thesis and handling transitions: Learn from your peers (2025)
  • Getting ready for submission: Formal requirements, review, defence (2025, 2026)
  • From PhD research to (non-profit) project idea with impact (2024)
  • Interdisciplinary research in social sciences (2022)
  • International mobility during the doctoral studies (2022, 2023, 2025, 2026)
  • Career paths beyond academia (2022)
  • Getting through the final phase of your doctoral studies (2021)
  • Doctoral research in the social sciences in times of COVID-19 (2021)