ViDSS Research Funds

Call: winter semester of 2024/2025 (2024W)
Application period: 13 January–23 February 2025
Spending period: 1 October 2024–30 September 2025

With the Research Funds, the Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences (ViDSS) provides financial support to active student members during the research phase of their doctoral thesis projects. The ViDSS Research Funds are a non-competitive needs-based grant that can be used for research-related costs such as expenses related to surveys or experiments, travel expenses, fees for summer or winter schools, self-organised workshops or proofreading. Doctoral candidates can apply for a maximum amount of € 750 per year for three years as of the semester in which the public presentation at the Faculty (FÖP) has been passed successfully.

You can submit your application during the relevant application period. The maximum amount of funding per person may vary based on the number of successful applications and the available budget.

Requirements

Applicants must have successfully passed the FÖP, submitted the doctoral thesis agreement and, since then, submitted progress reports on a regular basis (at least annually). Applicants have to be student members of the ViDSS.

There are two calls for the ViDSS Research Funds per year. Doctoral candidates can apply once or twice a year with a maximum funding amount of € 750 per year.

Doctoral candidates can apply for the ViDSS Research Funds for three years as of the semester in which they have passed the FÖP. This means that the last application can be submitted in the fifth semester after the FÖP.

If doctoral candidates took a leave of absence that has been officially accepted by the University of Vienna, these semesters will not be considered. This means that eligibility is extended for the number of semesters that doctoral candidates were granted a leave of absence. In this case, please submit your student record sheet together with the application documents.

In justified exceptional cases, doctoral candidates who are at the beginning of the research phase may apply for the pooling of the ViDSS Research Funds of two or three years. It is not possible to retrospectively pool the Research Funds or to apply for funds that have not been used in the past. If an application for the pooling of the Research Funds is accepted, the spending period and the deadline to submit the report (see below) can be extended.

Expenses

The expenses that you wish to cover with the ViDSS Research Funds must be spent during the ongoing or the following semester (the winter semester lasts from 1 October to 28/29 February and the summer semester from 1 March to 30 September). Payments already made can be included into an application if the invoice date is within the period of the ongoing semester.

The ViDSS Research Funds may be used for:

• Surveys
• Experiments
• Travel expenses
• Fees for conferences, summer or winter schools
• Self-organised workshops
• Proofreading
• Binding of the thesis
• Software (Please note that software can only be funded via the ViDSS Research Funds if it is not available for free at the Vienna University Computer Center.)
• Equipment (Please note that basic equipment for writing a doctoral thesis, e.g. workplace, computer/laptop/tablet, hard drive, internet connection, cannot be funded via the ViDSS Research Funds. Special equipment that is necessary for data collection can be included in an application if this equipment cannot be borrowed from the University of Vienna.)
• Literature (Please note that literature can only be funded via the ViDSS Research Funds if it is not available at the Vienna University Library. You may consider the submission of an acquisition suggestion to the University Library before purchasing literature for your doctoral thesis project.)
• Other research-related costs

The ViDSS Research Funds are not granted to cover living expenses. However, additional costs arising for doctoral candidates during periods spent away from where they live and study can be reimbursed.

The ViDSS Research Funds may not be used for covering tuition fees or the employment of staff.

Please note that ViDSS students can apply for ViDSS Research Funds to cover costs that have already been paid or to cover planned expenses, which can therefore be specified. For example: If doctoral candidates want to apply for funding to participate in a summer or winter school or a conference, they have to include the name and the date of the event in the application. If they want to use the ViDSS Research Funds to buy software, they need to specify each item that they have bought or that they plan to buy and explain why they need it for their doctoral thesis project. If they want to use the ViDSS Research Funds for literature, they have to list the books in the application, including title, price and the date on which they purchased or intend to acquire them.

Following the University of Vienna’s Sustainability Strategy, we recommend using the train for journeys to destinations that can be reached by train within six hours.

Applicants need to explain why they cannot use other funds for this purpose (such as project funds or departmental travel funds) or declare that other funding schemes do not cover the full amount of expenses. Grant holders have to provide evidence of all expenses by submitting invoices or receipts issued in the applicant’s name (see below).

Application documents

• Completed application form: As part of the application form, applicants have to provide an overview of the costs they wish to cover with the ViDSS Research Funds. In case the money provided through the ViDSS Research Funds covers only a part of the expenses, applications must include a financing plan. As part of the application form, applicants also have to write a short statement why the expenses are necessary for their doctoral thesis project and explain why they cannot use other funds for this purpose (such as project funds or departmental travel funds).

The application has to be written in English. Please note that we do not accept handwritten forms.

Applications have to be submitted via e-mail (in one single PDF file) to vds-sosci@univie.ac.at between 13 January and 23 February 2025. It is not possible to make amendments once an application has been submitted.