The SFU Doctoral Program
Course Aims
The aim of the Doctoral Program at the Sigmund Freud University Vienna is to provide
students with the experience and resources to pursue individual scientific research in the field of Psychotherapy Science. Graduation is considered proof of ability. The doctoral program aims to support and equip the next generation of scientists in the field of Psychotherapy Science. Completion of the doctoral program does not automatically provide the authorization for practicing as a psychotherapist.
Methodology Profile
(1) As the first university to offer study programs in Psychotherapy Science, the SFU has developed a methodology profile to serve as a basis for course contents and theses. Emphasis will be placed on:
• empirical research using qualitative methods;
• theoretical research aimed at providing answers to questions related to theory formation in Psychotherapy Science;
• historical research examining developments within Psychotherapy Science; • critiquing research in relation to various fields of research, research methods and
schools of psychotherapy
• interdisciplinary research in relation to the humanities, i.e. literary studies, ethnology, sociology, history, philosophy.
(2) Of course this methodological profile does not exclude graduation in the fields of quantitative and experimental research or in the field of epidemiological healthcare research.
This includes:
computer-assisted text analysis
system theoretical and mathematical modeling of the psychotherapeutic process
quantitative analysis of the therapeutic process (understanding, resistance, therapeutic interventions, etc.)
efficacy studies of psychotherapeutic methods
comparative therapy research
examination of factors relevant for the efficacy of psychotherapy methods
relations and interplay of psychopathological phenomena
other quantitative research methods
(3) The above-mentioned methods (especially the qualitative ones) represent the methodological "pillars" of the SFU. However, other qualitative or quantitative methods may be applied, too; the SFU is open to suggestions on principle. As a matter of principle, the applicant may choose their own thesis
topic, though it is also possible to select a topic from existing research projects.
Academic Title
(1) On successful completion of the SFU doctoral program, students will be awarded a doctoral degree in Psychotherapy Science (Dr.sci.pth., Latin: “doctor scientiae psychotherapiae”).
This degree is equivalent to an international Ph.D.
(2) On satisfactory completion of the doctoral thesis, students will be awarded a certificate.
Course Duration and Course Contents
The SFU doctoral program is a six semester course including the time required to write a doctoral thesis. Course duration may, however, be extended in case applicants are unable to complete their thesis within the projected time. This may increase the total of tuition and/or enrolment fees. For course contents, please check the appropriate curriculum.
Courses, Structure, and Scheduling
(1) Doctoral candidates are required to participate in all courses required for the completion of the program.
(2) Scheduling of coursework strives to accommodate both full time and part time students. (3) Students will have the opportunity to participate in lectures that are related to their chosen research topic in terms of content and/or methodology. For successful completion, they will earn credit towards their doctoral certificate.
(4) Teaching staff at the SFU provide assistance for students with individual help and professional advice. This assistance will consist particularly of professional, content-related advisory talks. Students should take as much advantage as possible of the opportunities for discussion in the doctoral seminars. The SFU assists students with selecting relevant literature, provides computer programs and other supportive resources and facilities. Candidates will also have the option of participating in lectures and seminars held at partner organizations of the SFU. In return, candidates should be prepared to actively engage in lectures, seminars and workshops, present their research efforts and experience as well as discuss other students’ research projects within the doctoral seminar.
Entry Qualifications
(1) Prerequisites for admission to the doctoral program are
a relevant diploma (diploma program) or master's degree or
a BA degree with 180 ECTS credits AND an MA degree with 120 ECTS credits or
an equivalent, relevant academic degree from a recognized domestic or foreign
post-secondary educational institution. A master's degree will only be accepted if it was preceded by a corresponding BA program. Master's degrees without a BA degree (with so-called BA equivalents) will not be accepted.
Admission to the doctoral program is thus contingent on previous degrees and the associated accomplishments.
(2) Program participants:
SFU graduates with degrees in Psychotherapy Science and degree holders of related subject areas. Completed psychotherapy training and some professional experience are desirable but no prerequisite. Doctoral students will be encouraged to deepen acquired knowledge and develop their competences by establishing a connection with Psychotherapy Science. This can only be beneficial in terms of mutual intellectual stimulation. Candidates who are not psychotherapists or psychotherapists in training must provide proof of 60 hours of individual psychotherapeutical
self-awareness (self-self-awareness groups will not be accepted) with a registered psychotherapist. This proof may be provided in the course of the studies, at the latest by the submission of the thesis, but most appropriately it should be provided earlier than that.
(3) Doctoral Committee
The head of the PTS doctoral program appoints two more members of the SFU faculty who hold a postdoctoral qualification and another member as a standby. Together with him, they form the doctoral committee. Two members of this committee are required to take charge of the courses for the duration of the six-semester doctoral program. The committee decides all procedural matters of graduation democratically. If agreement cannot be achieved via discussion, the decision is made via majority vote. The committee's Terms and Conditions are attached at the end of this document. (4) Selection process:
Applicants for the PhD program submit their documents (academic degrees, psychotherapy training or psychotherapeutic skills, curriculum vitae, publications if applicable, research proposal/first draft) to the doctoral committee. The committee uses formal and substantive criteria to decide whether to accept a candidate or not. These include a review of the preliminary studies (diploma, Magister, BA plus MA with a total of 300 ECTS credits), any previous scientific publications, psychotherapy training or psychotherapeutic skills, the quality of the research proposal and the draft of the doctoral project as well as how closely the topic corresponds with the research priorities of the PTS departments and/or the potential supervisors. In addition, the doctoral committee will decide on the recognition of qualifications and degrees gained outside of SFU programs.
(5) In their research proposal, candidates should:
• give their full names and choose a working title for their research project;
• formulate a clear and focused research question as to which problem in Psychotherapy Science or practical psychotherapy they will use as a basis for research. Apart from constructing traditional research questions, candidates may also define original questions within the fields of philosophy and literature, linguistics, the social sciences, and neuroscience;
• include a comprehensive review of the literature and, to facilitate the thesis process, state
which literature they are planning to review and in what timeframe they intend to do so; • choose a methodology and strive to give reasons why they regard their method of
choice as the most suitable;
• give details on the data, its collection and extent (random samples, textual material etc.) if they have decided to use empirical research methods;
• give details on the material to be used (literature, sources, documents such as video recordings etc.) if they have decided to pursue theoretical, historical, or critiquing research; • outline expected patterns of scientific results and in what way they will be presented,
i.e. as an extension of theory, as comparative research, in the form of statistics or as improvements in methods applied in psychotherapy;
• identify potential publication opportunities (which part(s) of the thesis and in what scientific
publications may results be published; what significance may research results have for other sciences etc.).
Evaluation of Thesis
(1) Submitted theses will be assessed by two university professors, at least one of them being a member of the SFU’s permanent teaching staff. Both of them will provide separate extensive
assessments of the candidate's research project, the applied methodological approach, and the scientific results achieved. The evaluation will primarily be based on the implications and the significance of the scientific results gained and the evidence of the student's independent research competence.
(2) If students require funds or material resources from the SFU to prepare their thesis, the rector's office has to approve of the research project in advance. The rector's office may pass on the right of approval to the doctoral committee.
(3) The student may choose their own thesis assessor.
(4) Theses may be supervised and assessed by university professors and retired university professors. Candidates are entitled to suggest supervisors who are members of the SFU’s permanent teaching staff or external supervisors.
(5) A change of the assessor is possible after consultation with the head of department.
Assessment Practice and Timeframe
(1) Once the dissertation is finished, it must be evaluated within four months. If possible, the university teachers who supervised the thesis should also assess it.
(2) The evaluation of the thesis is governed by the examination regulations (see info sheet).
(3) Theses and their assessments will be made accessible, physically or virtually, to teaching staff and SFU students within the university for two weeks. Before concluding the assessment process, theses and assessments may also be viewed by the general public on prior application and approval by the head of department.
Doctoral Thesis and Academic Integrity
(1) The doctoral program requires students to write and present a thesis that demonstrates their competence in conducting research and contains innovative research results.
(2) Candidates are encouraged to submit a research topic of their own choosing. This is expressly encouraged, because students should have a personal interest in their chosen topic. However, the topic of a research proposal may also be chosen from suggestions made by supervisor(s).
(3) A cumulative thesis comprising several papers on related research areas and/or methodology may be approved by the head of department after consulting the thesis supervisor(s).
(4) Doctoral theses should be of publishable quality. The SFU will provide support in finding suitable scientific journals and media for publication.
(5) Candidates are required to submit abstracts in German and English with their thesis and to pledge that they have used no other resources for writing their thesis than listed in the bibliography. Quotations must be clearly marked, and relevant oral suggestions or any other assistance by third parties expressly stated.
Doctoral Examination
the coursework as mentioned under Course Duration and Course Contents as well as the release of the accounting.
(2) Satisfactory completion of the first part of the doctoral examination and positive evaluation of the thesis by the assessors as well as the submission of the evaluation before the agreed examination date are the prerequisites for entry to the second part of the doctoral examination. The doctoral committee will conduct a public oral examination, which is to be held no later than six months after submission of the thesis. The second part of the doctoral examination includes 1) a conversation with the candidate discussing the research approach and the main results of the thesis. This conversation must factor in the evaluation. 2) a topic from the field of Psychotherapy Science that must not have any overlap with the thesis topic. This topic is agreed on with the second examiner, who will conduct the examination focusing on key aspects, while the first examiner will perform the first part of the examination, which is to say, the thesis defense. The chairperson of the examination committee is entitled to ask questions. Permission to undertake the examination in English depends on the approval of the examination committee. Candidates wishing to undertake the examination in any other language than German or English are required to file a request with the doctoral committee.
(3) The examination committee consists of three members. The SFU appoints two examiners on the basis of their special areas of expertise in relation to the research topic of the thesis and proposes the thesis supervisor as the third member of the committee, provided they hold a postdoctoral qualification. Candidates’ wishes concerning the composition of the examination board and the examination date will be taken into consideration and have to be cleared with the personnel in question.
(4) After a private consultation, the performance evaluation is determined by the members of the examination committee.
a) The assessment of the thesis results from the sum of the initial assessment and the second opinion. If the sum is a grade with the decimal number 0.5, the initial assessment has priority over the second opinion.
(Examples: 1) The primary assessor grades the thesis "good", the second assessor "satisfactory". The grade point average is 2.5, which is rounded up to "good".
(Example 2) The primary assessor grades the thesis "satisfactory", the second assessor "good". The grade point average is 2.5, which is rounded down to "satisfactory".
(Example: 3) The primary assessor grades the thesis "good", the second assessor "sufficient" - or vice versa. The final score is in both cases "satisfactory".
b) Since the oral examination consists of two parts, the candidate will receive two grades and will be awarded the grade resulting from the sum as explained in point a).
c) The final score of the written and oral examination performance results from the sum of the individual sub-scores for the doctoral thesis and the oral examination. Doctoral thesis and oral examination are weighed in a ratio of two-thirds to one-third.
Grades are awarded in accordance with the Austrian grading system (1 - sehr gut / excellent, 2 - gut / good, 3 - befriedigend / satisfactory, 4 - genügend / sufficient; 5 - nicht genügend / insufficient).
(5) Candidates will be informed of their grades immediately upon the decision of the committee. If the committee grades a candidate’s work "insufficient", members are required to give reasons for their decision and list the title and details of the thesis evaluation in the doctoral certificate. With the agreement of the committee, candidates may be permitted to retake the doctoral examination. In case the committee finds any academic misconduct, the doctoral examination will automatically be graded "insufficient" and graduation is denied.
Doctoral Program Director
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Alfred Pritz ([email protected])
Doctoral Program Staff
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl Garnitschnig ([email protected]) Univ.-Ass. Dipl.-Psych. Dr. Omar Gelo ([email protected])
PD Dr. med., Dr. phil., DDr. h.c. Alfried Längle ([email protected]) Univ-Prof Dipl.-Math. Dr. Hervé Raynaud ([email protected])
Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Josef Zeitlhofer ([email protected])
Doctoral Program Coordinator
Dr. Erzsébet Fanni Tóth ([email protected])
Doctoral Program Secretariat
Bettina Pfitzner ([email protected])
Doctoral Committee Terms and Conditions
The doctoral committee is responsible for the proper execution of the doctoral program based on the current doctoral degree regulations. The chairperson conducts the business of the doctoral committee and prepares the meetings. They make the decisions in routine cases and give regular reports to the doctoral committee. Disputes about and objections to the doctoral degree regulations as well as cases of doubt must be decided by the doctoral committee via majority vote and before that must be discussed during the team meetings of the doctoral program staff.
The doctoral committee decides on the selection of doctoral candidates using formal and
substantive criteria. This includes the review of preliminary studies (diploma, Magister, BA plus MA with a total of 300 ECTS credits), any previous scientific publications, psychotherapy training or psychotherapeutic skills, the quality of the research proposal and the draft of the doctoral project as well as how closely the topic corresponds with the research priorities of the department and/or the potential supervisors.
The doctoral committee determines the number of students per cohort in accordance with the recommendations of the Accreditation Council and taking into account economic considerations. The doctoral committee is responsible for allocating the students a supervisor with suitable professional expertise with regard to their thesis topic.
The doctoral committee decides on the procedure when the proposed study period of six semesters plus the generally granted tolerance of another two semesters is exceeded. In addition to the
possibility of a leave of absence for clearly defined reasons, this includes the levying of additional tuition fees, the amount of which is to be determined by the committee and the Chancellor of the University.
The doctoral committee may relieve the supervisors of their duty when their allotted doctoral students did not contact them for more than six months and did not provide any written notice concerning the status or progress of their thesis after a one-time request. The doctoral committee may then put the students on suspension by decree. The duration of the suspension is to be determined by the committee, the supervisor, and the student.
If the student does not reply despite a request message, the doctoral committee may put them on suspension without the student's consent. At the student's request, the committee may lift the suspension by decree after consultation with the supervisor by the start of the semester following the petition or the suspension.
The doctoral committee also acts as a complaints committee for doctoral students of the PTS studies program. If the complaint concerns a member of the doctoral committee, the member in question is to be replaced at the request of the student by another member of the study program staff who holds a postdoctoral qualification - in exceptional cases by another member of the PTS department who holds a postdoctoral qualification - and whom the student may choose freely. The meetings of the doctoral committee are not public. Its members are subject to a non-disclosure agreement that applies beyond the end of the term of office.
If a member resigns, the head of department as the chairperson of the doctoral committee appoints another member who holds a postdoctoral qualification. If the head of department retires, their deputy takes over their function until the appointment of a new head.
