The Doctoral Academy Graz provides an institutional framework for structured doctoral training involving internationally oriented and funded doctoral groups (consortia). Supported by the Doctoral Academy, its member consortia offer doctoral candidates a research-intensive environment with additional training elements that go beyond the standard curriculum. Targeted international recruitment in combination with financial support, high-quality specialist training, mobility support and additional qualification opportunities in specialist and interdisciplinary key qualifications form the cornerstones of the training.

Member consortia of the Doctoral Academy are internationally oriented groups of doctoral candidates and supervisors (faculty) researching an overarching topic. A consortium consists of 10 doctoral candidates (recommended number), at least 50% of whom are financed by third-party funds.

Consortia ensure regular academic exchange between faculty members and doctoral candidates. They promote international contacts of their doctoral researchers as well as their participation in the activities of the scientific community. In addition, doctoral candidates are given opportunities to acquire transferable skills, particularly through the Doctoral Academy.

Climate Change - Uncertainties, Thresholds and Strategies

Anthropogenic climate change has become one of the most important challenges of the 21st century. Strategies for dealing with climate change and its possible consequences are characterized by uncertainties. The DK research program aims to achieve a better understanding of these uncertainties and to develop criteria for threshold values in the sense of critical points at which a small change in the system is sufficient to bring about a qualitative change in the system or other systems.

Theoretical Particle Physics

Hadrons are strongly interacting elementary particles. The theory of quarks and gluons, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), describes hadrons and their properties, at least in principle. However, perturbation theory is not applicable for small momentum transfers. The planned investigations therefore include Monte Carlo simulations in lattice QCD, non-perturbative Green's function methods and effective field theory (chiral perturbation theory). Effective models based on the symmetries and low-energy degrees of freedom of QCD are used to study hadronic interactions. A combination of these methods will be used to develop new theoretical procedures. In collaboration with international partners, possible consequences for nuclear physics and astrophysics will be studied. The implementation of relevant experiments and the analysis of experimental data at the partner universities will be supported.

Resonant World Relations in Socio-religious Practices in Antiquity and Modernity

The International Graduate School compares relationships of the individual to the social, material and transcendent world, which are established and reflected in socio-religious practices. The central question is how such self-world relations are experienced as resonant, i.e. as dialogic-responsive. The projects from ancient studies, biblical studies and sociology combine different methodological approaches and historical periods in order to open up sociologically oriented and historically contextualized perspectives on world relations.

Synergies in Business Law

The research consortium is based on the doctoral group "Synergies in Business Law". Practically relevant synergy topics from the fields of insolvency, corporate and financial law, which have not yet been adequately researched, are dealt with. The interdisciplinarity is also implemented in the supervision.

Sustainable Biocatalysis

PhD students in the Doctoral Academy consortium “Sustainable Biocatalysis” engage in interdisciplinary research to develop innovative biocatalytic methods that utilize enzymes for environmentally friendly chemical transformations. The consortium brings together research groups specializing in biocatalytic synthesis, structural biology, and photobiocatalysis to address the challenges of designing more sustainable processes. We study enzyme structures and mechanisms to enhance the efficiency, stability, and selectivity of biocatalysts. Our work in photobiocatalysis further pushes the boundaries of the field by harnessing light-driven reactions to activate enzymes, creating novel, energy-efficient pathways for sustainable biocatalytic processes.

Complexity of Life

The consortium investigates complex living interaction networks. By understanding the complexity and interactions within and between components of living systems, the consortium is preparing for future changes in the biosphere and sociosphere. The applied methodology includes optimization, decision theory, game theory, network theory, systems analysis, simulation and other computer-aided methods.

HFDT -Human Factor in Digital Transformation

The consortium "Human Factor in Digital Transformation" (HFDT) focuses on two core topics:

• the preservation of humanities principles in an increasingly technologised environment ("SSH-->ICT") and
• the use of IT in the sciences and humanities ("ICT--> SSH").

In order to consolidate the topic in academic and social discourse, an HFDT junior research group at the highest level with interdisciplinary expertise in the international community is to be developed. Great importance is attached to the staffing, which includes scholars from the humanities and human sciences (philosophy, psychology, educational sciences), social and economic sciences (sociology, economics, business administration), data sciences (BANDAS, SIS, ZIM) as well as normative subjects (theology, law, ethics).

The core is the involvement of doctoral candidates in an intensive research-related discussion and collaboration context, e.g. the joint organisation of scientific events and project proposals, joint publications or seasonal schools. Methodology labs are used to experiment with the extent to which discipline-specific methodologies can be usefully applied in other scientific disciplines. The researchers are also encouraged to jointly discuss the major social issues of digital transformation - each from the perspective of their own in-depth specialist expertise - at an international level and to develop proposals for solutions.
The consortium is linked to the interdisciplinary network "Human Factor in Digital Transformation".

Molecular Enzymology

The Molecular Enzymology consortium stands for top-class, competitive and interdisciplinary scientific training of internationally recruited outstanding doctoral researchers in key topics of molecular biosciences at the University of Graz and Graz University of Technology.

Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease (MCD)

The consortium and FWF DK "Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases" (DK-MCD) is a joint training program of the Medical University of Graz and the University of Graz. The DK-MCD offers a multidisciplinary training program and dissertation projects in the fields of "New concepts and technologies for the investigation of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases", "Lipid-associated diseases", "Cancer and lipid metabolism" and "Cardiovascular diseases". The training program ranges from molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology to metabolomics, proteomics, physiology, pharmacology, pathology and clinical medicine.

With their commitment to teaching and a scientific background in basic and clinical research, the consortium of thirteen experienced as well as young, already well-established researchers lays the foundation for the interdisciplinary training of the doctoral researchers, but is also diverse enough to enable them to develop their dissertation projects beyond their own research focus.

The DK-MCD Doctoral College is a challenging doctoral training program in the field of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, ranging from basic to clinical research. The aim is to provide a profound doctoral education in biomedicine that enables graduates to pursue a career as independent researchers in biomedicine and life sciences.