FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Admission to the doctoral programme is possible in the following subject areas/research fields: contemporary theatre, interpretation research, composition/music theory, art and cultural education, performance art, and contemporary dance.

The curriculum of the doctoral programme does not include instruction on a central artistic subject.

The applicant must submit the following application documents in German or English:

a) Comprehensive and convincing concept for the intended research project (topic, research questions, methods, literature) with a maximum of 10 pages
b) Letter of motivation
c) CV
d) Artistic portfolio of work to date
e) Description of previous activities/experience in the field of Artistic Research (one A4 page)
f) Written confirmation of supervision (supervision agreement) by the academic supervisor and the artistic supervisor (at least one of the two supervisors must be from
the MUK pool of supervisors; external supervisors must have a post-doctoral qualification or post-doctorate equivalent qualification)
g) Copy of Master’s thesis or relevant recent publication (List of Publications)
h) Degree certificates (Master's degree or equivalent)

For your application, you will need written confirmation of supervision (Supervision Agreement) from two supervisors: from one academic supervisor and from one artistic supervisor. At least one of the two supervisors must be from the MUK pool of supervisors; external supervisors must have a post-doctorate qualification or post-doctorate equivalent qualification, i.e. a professorship at a university.

For PhD projects that require or substantially benefit from interdisciplinary supervision, it is possible to engage supervisors from different research areas (e.g. Artistic supervisor: Composition/Music Theory, Scientific supervisor: Performance Art).

You are expected to send your elaborated concept, as well as references to your relevant (previous) artistic work, to your preferred supervisors. Please note that the potential supervisors have no obligation to give feedback and that they are not expected to coach you; any feedback should be considered an act of generosity.

Supervision agreement

Until the completed research project is submitted, it is possible to change supervisors following approval by the doctoral committee.

It is recommended, yet not indispensable, to move to Vienna. Overall, you must schedule sufficient periods of presence in Vienna in order to attend PhD courses and engage in a productive dialogue with your supervisors and peers onsite at the MUK.

You can find the current deadlines here.

Admission to the programme is based on a qualitative selection procedure, which is carried out with the applicant in the form of an admission examination by the relevant doctoral committee. This selection procedure is used to assess the candidate’s suitability for the specific requirements of the doctoral programme. The applicant’s prior knowledge and artistic-scholarly potential will be taken into account along with the quality of the planned research project according to the following criteria: innovation of the research question, clarity of the chosen methodology, feasibility and the positioning of the project within the relevant research discourse.

Based on the submitted documents, the doctoral committee will decide whether to invite the applicant to a commission-led admission examination. During the admission examination, the applicant must present the concept of their planned research project (maximum 20 minutes). This is followed by a discussion between the doctoral committee and the applicant (maximum 40 minutes).

The doctoral committee will decide whether the applicant fulfils the admission requirements by means of a simple majority, based on the submitted documents, the obtained statements of the supervisors and the commission-led admission examination.

The doctoral committee may conditionally admit a student to the programme with the requirement to complete additional tasks beyond the study plan (e. g. examinations, courses) related to the research project.

Admission to the programme is followed by the appointment of the academic supervisor and of the artistic supervisor by the Vice Rector for Research.

The Rector is to admit the persons proposed by the doctoral committee to the programme, based on the number of available study places.

The MUK does not offer assistance regarding the preparation of the application documents. Doctoral students who have already been admitted to the programme receive assistance from the Research Service of the MUK regarding their third-party funding applications.

All PhD students are expected to be proficient in German or English in accordance with Level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Written evidence (exam results, etc.) need not be submitted at the time of application.
However, the doctoral committee may request written evidence following their review of the application documents or after the commission-led admission examination.

An overview of the fees can be found here.

A budget of EUR 3,000 is made available to each doctoral student for travel expenses, conference fees and the research project.

You can find information on grants and research funding in Austria at this link: grants.at.

Two doctoral positions (50%) are allocated to the doctoral programme. These are re-advertised every three years.

As most of the ECTS credits are obtained in and through the self-organised research process (laboratory), the programme can be completed while you are working.

There is no age limit.

A maximum of 5 doctoral students are admitted each year.

The premises for the doctoral programme are located at Bräunerstraße, in the 1st district of Vienna. Doctoral students have access to two laboratories (89 m² in total) as well as a work zone with 2 mobile and 2 fixed workstations.

All current research projects at the MUK can be viewed on the website of the ZWF – Centre for Science and Research).