bridges vol. 11, September 2006 / Feature Articles
by Wolfgang Eppenschwandtner & Stephan Kurz

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Being at the interface between research and higher education, doctoral programs play a key role in the elaboration of a knowledge society in Austria. Awareness of and attention towards them are currently increasing. Also, and importantly, young researchers follow current developments in research policy that are crucial to doctoral candidates and seek to play an active part in the debate.

Giving a voice to doctoral candidates in Austria is the mission of the initiative "doktorat.at - ÖH Doktorat". Despite being researchers as well, Austrian doctoral candidates are registered as students during their doctoral training. Thus, by this legal definition, around 16,000 doctoral candidates are represented by the Austrian National Students' Union (Österreichische HochschülerInnenschaft, ÖH) which responded to this mandate in 2004 by establishing doktorat.at - ÖH Doktorat as a platform by doctoral candidates for doctoral candidates, but also for young researchers in general, including post-docs.

Doktorat.at - ÖH Doktorat pursues three lines of activity: providing information on issues relevant to young researchers, fostering networking among young researchers, and representing the interests of young researchers. These three major aims respond to the problems, needs, and requests of young researchers in Austria. Naturally, there is no homogeneous target group of doctoral candidates: Different disciplines, different scientific cultures, different funding opportunities, and different realities call for a multidimensional approach. Bearing this diversity in mind, this target group still has many issues in common.

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