The two Research Seminars in your dissertation subject are the backbone of the doctoral program; they are an opportunity to be part of the scientific community. 

The dissertation subject depends on your chosen topic and the habilitation/venia of your main supervisor and is one of the following:

• Civil Law incl. Civil Procedure

• Austrian and European Public Law

• Tax Law

• Labour and Social Security Law

• Criminal Law

• European and International Law

1 course in Legal Methods/Methodology. You attend one course of your choice, no matter what your dissertation subject is. 

The Research Proposal is a written summary of your research project. It is published on WU Intranet for one month and graded by a supervision team consisting of at least 3 professors (with the grade "participated successfully/unsucessfully"). The supervision team also gives comments, which are meant to be helpful for your dissertation project.

Please submit your Research Proposal within the first year of studies.

Like the dissertation, the Research Proposal has no ECTS allocation (as a preliminary stage of your academic work).

Information sheet Research Proposal

A Research Seminar in a legal subject that is not your dissertation subject. You can select the subject in LPIS:

• Civil Law incl. Civil Procedure

• Austrian and European Public Law

• Tax Law

• Labour and Social Security Law

• Criminal Law

• European and International Law

A Research Seminar in a subject offered at WU that you did not choose as subject of the dissertation or further legal subject. This need not be a legal subject: You can also select a subject from Business Administration, Economics or a further subject from the list of § 8 in the curriculum of the Doctoral Program in Social and Economic Sciences. You can select this subject in LPIS.

The Defensio dissertationis is an oral exam in which you present the results of your dissertation to a Doctoral Committee of 3 professors, defend them against the background of current theories and methods and outline your contribution to science.

You need to have completed all courses and the Research Proposal before you register for the defense. The date is arranged with the members of your Doctoral Committee. When you found a date, please register for the defense by sending the registration form to the Doctoral Office.

The proceedings at the defense itself are usually quite informal. The doctoral student as well as the 3 members of the doctoral committee are present (either in person or online); as the defense is a public examination, it is possible that there is a small audience, as anybody interested in attending can do so. The date is published on the Homepage.

Usually the main supervisor guides through the proceedings, i.e. they ask you to begin your presentation and afterwards get the discussion on the way, in the course of which the results of the dissertation should be defended against the theoretical, methodical and scientific background. Each member of the doctoral committee grades the defense with a grade from 1 to 5 by filling in and signing a grading protocol. The grade is given for the presentation and discussion; the dissertation itself is graded separately. The members of the committee do not necessarily have to agree on one grade.

please see Doctoral/PhD guide: Dissertation