IST Scholar – New cohort of IST Austria PhD students

Every year in September the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) welcomes a new group of outstanding post-graduate students as part of its PhD program. This year, a total of 62 PhD students from all over the world (Europe, America, Asia, Australia and Africa) will come to IST Austria to fulfil their dream of conducting research at an institute for excellence.

PhD students at IST Austria benefit from a fully-funded PhD program and get the chance to broaden their scientific experience in the basic research fields of biology, computer science, data science, physics, mathematics and neuroscience.

As part of the 2-week welcome program, new students get to enjoy settling in on-campus, in Klosterneuburg and Austria. They are introduced to the institute, meet the research groups and can choose from a wide range of introductory activities.

Studying at IST Austria

The PhD program consists of two major phases that are separated by a qualification exam. In the first phase, the students rotate through three different research groups whilst completing coursework. In this phase, they also get to know potential PhD supervisors. In the second phase, the focus is on their thesis as well as working as a teaching assistant. As a final task, the soon-to-be PhDs are required to participate in a thesis defense.

The success of the IST Austria PhD program is demonstrated by the careers of the IST Austria alumni, who continue their careers at renowned universities and leading organizations all over the world. One example is Johannes Reiter, who completed his PhD at IST Austria in 2015 and has now established his own research group at Stanford in July 2019.

Interested students can come and visit the IST Austria on the annual Student Open Day, where they have the chance to meet with professors and various research groups on-campus.

The next open call deadline for the PhD program will be January 8^th, 2020. Further information can be found on our PhD website.