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Doctoral School of Geosciences

At the Doctoral School of Geosciences at TU Graz, you as a young scientist will be undertaking research on a high international level. You will work on solutions for current problems in geoscience. Depending on the subject of your dissertation, you will complete either a doctoral programme in engineering sciences or a doctoral programme in natural sciences.

As you are part of the scientific community at the doctoral school, you have the opportunity to talk to teachers, researchers and other students about your progress and results at interdisciplinary seminars and workshops. In addition, your supervisor will support you in writing your dissertation by providing both their expertise and contacts in the focus area.

Content

Dissertation

  • You undertake independent research in a specific application area of geoscience.
  • You look for solutions to natural science related problems and technical problems in geoscience.
  • You publish, present and defend your research results.

Courses (curricular workload)

  • You gain fundamental knowledge and specialise in the subject of your dissertation.
  • You gain experience of geoscientific methods.
  • You regularly talk to teachers and other students about your progress and the results of your dissertation.

      Focus Areas

      Depending on the subject of your dissertation, you are assigned to either the Class of Earth Sciences or the Class of Geodesy.

      Admission Deadlines

      Admissions to doctoral studies are possible in the current semester at any time up to a maximum of ten days before the start of the general admission period of the following semester. Admission deadlines


      Further informationen on registration and admission

      International degree programme applicants: admission and application deadlines

      Information and Advice

      Class of Earth Sciences

      Class of Geodesy

      Student representatives: PhD Union

      The following could also be of interest

      Class of Earth Sciences

      Research core areas

      • Tectonics and structural geology
      • Geodynamics and geochemistry
      • Mineralogy and petrology
      • Geobiology and palaeoecology
      • Actuopalaeoecology, palaeobiogeography and stratigraphy
      • Groundwater reservoirs and fault zones as drinking water supplies
      • Experiments to verify mechanisms of the formation of carbonate minerals
      • Carbonate formation in natural and industrial environments
      • Silicate, phosphate and oxide mineral formation and weathering
      • Environmental and applied mineralogy
      • Mass movement and avoidance strategies
      • Quantification of scouring processes in tectonically damaged rock masses
      • Statistic methods for documenting and predicting mountain behaviour during tunnel construction

      Research activities

      As an inter-faculty and inter-university platform, the Class of Earth Sciences offers an excellent environment for doing research in the fields of
      • natural processes of movement in the interior and on the surface of the earth,
      • the material and chemical structure and the distribution and cycling of chemical elements and their isotopes in minerals, rocks, soils, water, the atmosphere and the biosphere,
      • the properties of natural minerals and rocks and their interactions with aqueous solutions, their conditions of formation and reaction mechanisms,
      • the applicability of multi-proxy approaches to (palaeo-) environmental research,
      • biological evolution of changing biodiversity patterns and interactions between organisms and their environment over the course of earth history,
      • physical, chemical and microbiological processes in soils and groundwater, and their movements, and
      • geological hazards such as landslides, mass movements, earthquakes and parameters used in geotechnical analyses, models and designs.
      Research collaborations of the Class of Earth Sciences

      The Doctoral School of Geosciences aims to connect problem-focussed, practical research and basic research on the highest international level. It provides a platform where geoscientists from all over the world can make new contacts, initiate national and international cooperations and profit from the considerable experience of the staff. After successfully graduating from the Class of Earth Sciences you can apply your comprehensive practical and theoretical knowledge of areas such as (isotope) hydrogeochemistry, mineralogy, environmental monitoring and instrumental analytics environmental monitoring and instrumental analytics in many different applied and/or basic research subject areas.

      Selection of current research projects

      • Base-Line Earth; Innovative Training Network (ITN) Call: H2020-MSCA-ITN-2014, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions.
      • Marine Carbonate Archives: Controls on Carbonate Precipitation and Pathways of Diagenetic Alteration (CHARON-DFG Forschergruppe 1644) – Project TP1 Experimental diagenesis- understanding processes during calcium carbonate precipitation and diagenesis – an experimental approach.
      • Mediterranean Oligo-Miocene stratigraphy and palaeoecology (FWF-Project P23492).
      • Role of magma and fluid flow processes in distribution of C-Ni and Platinum –Group Elements (Duluth Complex, Minnesota, USA) (FWF-Project P 23157-N21).
      • Fault- and fluid-systems subsequent to subduction initiation in the outer Izu-Bonin-Mariana fore arc and within supra subduction zone ophiolites (FWF Project P 27982-N29).
      • Doctoral Programme Climate Change – Uncertainties, Thresholds and coping Strategies (FWF Project W 1256-G15), Project Impact of climate change on groundwater resources: Feedback mechanisms and thresholds under drought conditions.

      Class of Geodesy

      Research core areas

      • Geospatial technologies (remote sensoring, geoinformation, photogrammetry)
      • Sensor integration
      • Monitoring systems
      • Navigation
      • Satellite geodesy
      • Engineering geodesy
      • Space sciences
      • Physical geodesy and geophysics
      • Mathematical and numerical geodesy
      The Doctoral School of Geosciences is very international. All courses can be held in English if needed. The doctoral school provides an effective communication platform for scientific exchange between students and professors. After completing their doctoral degree, students can apply their comprehensive knowledge of geoscience and their academic skills in many different interdisciplinary areas.

      Teaching staff and Institutes

      Teaching staff

      People with license to teach (venia docendi) at the doctoral school can supervise your dissertation. Information about the areas of expertise and publications of the teaching staff can be found on their respective business cards. Teaching staff

      Institutes

      The following institutes are associated with the Doctoral School of Geosciences.
      Information about the publications and projects from each institute can be obtained by viewing their respective business cards.

      Class of Earth Sciences

      Class of Geodesy