BIGSSS-departs PhD Program

Doctoral Education in Partnerships

BIGSSS offers an innovative PhD program in the Social Sciences which is part of the EU COFUND scheme. The project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under grant agreement N° 713639.

BIGSSS-departs is a 42-month structured PhD program which provides close supervision of dissertation work accompanied by a demand-tailored doctoral curriculum. BIGSSS-departs is one of our full-time PhD programs in which fellows commit themselves to their own dissertation projects and the full academic program of the BIGSSS curriculum. It supports doctoral fellows in achieving early scientific independence, and provides funds for conducting, presenting, and publishing their research.

BIGSSS-departs Fellows pursue a freely chosen dissertation project in one of BIGSSS’ three thematic fields:

1. Global Governance and Regional Integration
2. Welfare State, Inequality, and Quality of Life
3. Changing Lives in Changing Socio-Cultural Contexts

BIGSSS-departs Fellows benefit from their inclusion in BIGSSS' vibrant research networks, simultaneously assisting them in identifying promising career prospects inside and outside academia, and in strengthening their skills and capabilities.

The BIGSSS-departs PhD program is composed of the following key components:

• close supervision and demand-tailored education,
• the doctoral curriculum of the BIGSSS' PhD Program,
• a mandatory stay abroad for up to six months at one of our BIGSSS-departs partner institutions. Fellows may chose between eight high profile academic partners and two non-academic institutions.

Admitted Fellows of the BIGSSS-departs PhD Program receive employment contracts with a gross salary of €2250 per month. Costs for social insurance and health insurance are deduced from this salary. The BIGSSS-departs program includes several defined PhD Milestones for each academic year. The continuation of the work contract is bound to the successful completion of these milestones. Financing of additional research costs such as travel cost, conference participation, in‐house and outreach events are provided.