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• PhD Application

Application to the PhD Program

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ADMISSION HIGHLIGHTS

• Start your application for the 2024/25 AY
• Application Deadlines
• Visit the Prospective Student Page

For Program Structure, please visit the PhD Program page.

Entry Requirements

• Candidates must have a Master's degree or equivalent in philosophy or a related field, and a background in the history of philosophy and in logic. Applicants who haven't earned an MA degree yet should submit documentation indicating that they will earn their degree by the time of enrolling in the program
• Proficiency in English. Applicants whose first language is not English normally submit standardized English language test scores, e.g., the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), but applicants with a degree from a program taught in English may request exemption.
• Submission of the general CEU application form with its appendices, including the specific departmental requirements

Documents to be submitted with the application

General CEU requirements:

• Completed online CEU Application Form
• Two letters of recommendation
• Academic records
• A curriculum vitae or resume
• Proof of English proficiency

Department-specific requirements:

• A statement of purpose (2-4 pages single spaced) which describes the applicant's interest in CEU and their proposed topic for a thesis. We are not asking for a detailed research plan, but the admission committee should be able to form an idea of the compatibility between the applicant's interests and the supervisory capacity of the department.
• An essay of 2000–4000 words on an appropriate philosophical topic. The admission committee does not normally have time to read longer essays. Applicants who wish to submit a longer piece are asked to mark the sections they would not wish the committee to skip. The essay should demonstrate the applicant’s ability to think and write clearly and philosophically, for example by giving an original argument or evaluation of an argument about a philosophical problem, or an interpretation of a difficult philosophical text. It can, but need not, be related to the applicant’s past studies or proposed research topic.

Admission process and evaluation of applications

• After the admission deadline (1 February 2024), the departmental PhD admission committee evaluates all applications
• The committee establishes a merit list, based on the
• evaluation of previous academic record
• evaluation of the writing sample
• match between the applicant's interests (as explained in the statement of purpose) and CEU's supervision capacity
• performance at the interview (if applicable; we do not interview every applicant)
• any other relevant info contained in the application
• Offers are normally sent out from 3 April onwards. All offers for the PhD program include the CEU Doctoral Scholarship (full tuition waiver and a monthly stipend of 1680 eur/month, for 48 months total).

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• PhD in Political Science, Public Policy Track

• MA in Public Policy
• Erasmus Mundus Masters Program in Public Policy
• Master of Arts in International Public Affairs
• Master of Public Administration
• Specializations
• Non-Degree/Exchange Programs

The Doctoral Program in Public Policy is a specialized track in the Political Science PhD Program run by the CEU Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations .  CEU is an English-language undergraduate and graduate University in Vienna and in Budapest that is accredited in the United States, Austria and Hungary.

Modern policy making, devoted to the principles of good governance, transparency, accountability, and effectiveness, needs to be based on sound academic analysis. The Doctoral Program in Public Policy is designed for scholars interested in conducting research on the cause, function, nature, and outcome of public policy. 

The program prepares graduate students for careers in both academic and applied research institutions. Core courses focus on the development of professional level research and analytical skills in the fields of European and international public policy, comparative policy analysis, and political economy.

The faculty involved in the PhD program come from a range of public-policy related disciplinary backgrounds, including international relations, politics, law, and economics. In addition to being authoritative voices in their respective fields of research, they also have first-hand policy experience, working for think-tanks (e.g. the RAND Corporation) or businesses (e.g. Vodafone), consulting with NGOs (e.g. Open Society Institute, Transparency International) or advising national or local governments, as well as international organizations (e.g. World Bank Institute).

For more information about the program and admissions , please visit the CEU Doctoral School website .

Find out more about our current PhD students here .

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The Doctoral School

• Faculty members
• PhD Students
• Alumni stories
• Alumni news
• Alumni quotes

The Doctoral School is an academic community home to more than 50 permanent faculty members and over 90 doctoral students.

The Doctoral Program in Political Science was established by the Departments of Political Science, International Relations and Public Policy with the aim of contributing to a spirit of cooperation between faculty and students and foster the consolidation of a common academic community across the three departments. The constituting units of the Doctoral School are the departments of Political Science, International Relations, and Public Policy.

The Doctoral School offers and administers the Doctoral (PhD) Program in Political Science from the CEU campus in Vienna. The PhD program aims to provide the theoretical and methodological skills necessary to facilitate a broader comparative perspective which will mediate and engage scholarship and practices from both European and non-European contexts. We expect applicants who are ready to meet the challenges of critical thinking, academic excellence, social responsibility and inter-contextual perspective.

You can browse the  personal profiles of the faculty members  affiliated with the School by using the left hand menu.In the same menu you can find more information about the School's  staff members  and  PhD students  as well.

The Doctoral School is governed by the Doctoral Committee (DC), which comprises the School Director, the five track representatives and a student representative. The School Director is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the program, both academic and administrative. The track representatives are responsible for the coherence of each track within the School.

In the 2023-2024 Academic Year the Doctoral Committee comprises the following members:

School Director : Michael Merlingen  (IR) 

Comparative and International Political Economy   track representative: Dora Piroska (IR) Comparative Politics track representative:  Daniel Bochsler  (POLS) International Relations track representative:  Christopher LaRoche  (IR) Political Theory track representative: Zoltan Miklosi (POLS) Public Policy track representative:  Cristina Corduneanu-Huci  (DPP)

Student representative: will be elected in September 2023

To learn more about the PhD program offered by the Doctoral School, please click on the "Program" menu item in the top horizontal menu, or follow this link .

Note: In 2022 the Political Economy track has been reformed into the Comparative and International Political Economy track.

Get to know the School 

A webinar for prospective PhD students:

Get to know the Doctoral School of Political Science, Public Policy and International Relations, and will hear about a new publication co-written by one of our PhD candidates,  Péter Visnovitz ,  and faculty from both IR and Political Science Departments,  Erin K. Jenne  and  András Bozóki:  the chapter " Antisemitic Tropes, Fifth-Columnism, and 'Soros-Bashing': The Curious Case of Central European University ".

To close the webinar, attendees will hear from PhD candidate  Hong Do  about the research group in  Political, Legal and Moral Theory (POLEMO) , one of several  research groups  at CEU where PhD candidates and faculty meet to share their research.

GO TO WEBINAR