The University of Vienna (20 faculties and centres, 178 fields of study, approx. 9.800 members of staff, about 90.000 students) seeks to fill the position of 2 PhD Candidates (m/f/d) in Art History or Cognitive Science.

The Research Group of Prof. Raphael Rosenberg and Dr. Luise Reitstätter (CReA, Lab for Cognitive Research in Art History, https://crea.univie.ac.at/) has funding available for 2 three-year PhD positions within the FWF/DFG-project ‘The Museum Gaze. Empowering Mobile Eye Tracking to Investigate Viewing Behaviour in Relation to Painting and Sculpture in Different Exhibition Displays’ (https://crea.univie.ac.at/projects/the-museum-gaze/). The PhD candidates will join an interdisciplinary team of researchers bridging disciplines and institutions: art history and museology (University of Vienna), computer science (Prof. Enkelejda Kasneci, University of Tübingen), and several departments of the Belvedere Museum (Vienna), ranging from Middle Ages to Contemporary Art. The PhD projects will employ quantitative and qualitative methods to study the behavior of museum visitors, their reactions to different artworks and various exhibition displays.

The three-year PhD positions are fully funded (standard PhD student salary at the University of Vienna, B1, 75%, https://personalwesen.univie.ac.at/en/jobs-recruiting/job-center/salary-scheme/). The successful candidates will become part of the thriving scientific environment at the highly innovative CReA lab, within the Department of Art History, one of the oldest and biggest centers for research and education in its field. They will have access to state-of-the-art facilities, combine academic studies with field research in one of the leading museums worldwide. The working language of our group is English, and we welcome students from all over the world.

The PhD candidates will also join the Vienna Doctoral School for Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience (VDS CoBeNe) at the University of Vienna (https://vds-cobene.univie.ac.at). The main goal of VDS CoBeNe is quality assurance in PhD training and education. Together with the Cognitive Science Hub (https://cognitivescience.univie.ac.at/) it promotes an inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge exchange from the humanities to science.

Profile:
— Above average master’s degree in art history, museology, psychology, cognitive science, or related disciplines;
— Dedication to interdisciplinary scientific research, independence, good cooperation skills and team spirit;
— Proficient knowledge of English and at least basic command of German/willingness to learn German;
— Academic command of the language, both in written and oral form.

Further desirable qualifications:
— Good computing skills;
— Experience in empirical research;
— Knowledge of statistical data evaluation methods.

Applications (in German or English) as one PDF (max. 10 MB) including an academic CV, a 1-page statement of research interests, copies of diploma, transcript of records, copies of MA-thesis-report(s) (if available), the name and contact info for two references, and a sample of academic writing that you are proud of (typically pdf of MA-thesis) should be submitted via the recruiting tool ApplyVDSCoBeNe until March 15th, 2022. Therefore, you have to first register yourself at the University of Vienna. Planned starting date is June 1st 2022, but can be discussed, if required.

Questions can be directed to luise.reitstaetterunivie.ac.at (content-related) and katja.hellekesunivie.ac.at (regarding the application procedure).

The University of Vienna promotes the employment of woman in fields of work in which they are underrepresented and therefore encourages qualified women to apply to this opening. Disabled people will be preferentially treated if qualified.