Admission process

The doctoral program „Interdisciplinary Gender Studies” is open to students of all faculties. If admission to the program is successful, doctoral students can utilize it and its resources for as long as their entire doctoral education or as shortly as a single semester. 

One of the requirements for admission to the doctoral program “Interdisciplinary Gender Studies” is confirmation of admission to doctoral study at one of the university’s faculties or in the context of the interdisciplinary doctoral school “Antiquity and Modernity in a European Context” at the Faculty of Humanities (GEWI-Fakultät) (this primarily addresses doctoral candidates who have completed an interdisciplinary study program, for example the master’s programs “Interdisciplinary Gender Studies” or “Global Studies”). 

If admission to doctoral study at a faculty or an interdisciplinary doctoral school is demonstrated, a request for admission to the doctoral program “Interdisciplinary Gender Studies” can be submitted by sending an informal request per E-mail to the spokesperson or team of spokespeople (E-Mail: dpgeschlechterstudien(at)uni-graz.at). 

The documents to be submitted here also include an exposé of the ongoing dissertation proposal, a resumé and a letter of motivation. 

After the submission of an application, the members of the doctoral program collectively discuss the admission request and decide in a circular resolution with a simple majority on admission/rejection. The quality of the exposé, the theoretical-methodological foundation of the dissertation proposals in the field of interdisciplinary gender studies as well as the excellent positioning of the projects in relevant international fields of research are evaluated in the course of admission decisions.

Mandatory doctoral colloquium

Since the doctoral program “Interdisciplinary Gender Studies” is consecutively structured and opens up for doctoral candidates the opportunity not only of further developing their individual dissertation topic but also of gaining experience in academic fields of activity, it is expected that applicants participate in the doctoral colloquium (DQ), a course which is offered each semester, over the course of ideally four semesters. If gender aspects are relevant to merely a specific component of a dissertation proposal, then participation over the course of fewer semesters or a single semester is also possible. 

Priorities of the DQ are:

• In-depth development of research questions and initial hypotheses of the individual dissertation proposals
• Theoretical and methodological approaches of the individual dissertation projects
• Initial available results of individual topics of the individual dissertation projects
• Presentation and discussion of the dissertation proposals with a public audience (optional)
• Preparation of an academic publication