Conflict management & resolution, psychological assistance

Doing a PhD is not always easy, and interpersonal problems and conflicts can arise for a variety of reasons whenever humans work together. Conflict is virtually impossible to avoid, it is human nature to disagree, and disagreements are healthy when approached correctly.  Eliminating conflict entirely would cause its own problems: there would be no diversity of opinion, and no way for us to catch and correct flawed plans and policies. Further, if you feel affected by the stress, seek help. Talking to other people can give you a feeling of relief and help cope with anxieties. 

We take the issue of conflict management seriously and offer our support to all students who need it. If conflicts arise during your PhD studies that require external support, please do not hesitate to contact the doctoral school’s coordinator Katharina Klaushofer (☎ +43 1 4277 91109, ✉ katharina.klaushofer@univie.ac.at), a student representative (or all by email stureps.vdsee@univie.ac.at) or any other member of the team directly.

For conflict resolution, depending on the conflict specification, we will do our best to analyse contributing factors (causes), generate interventions (e.g. brainstorming possible solutions, creative thinking), evaluate solutions (e.g. discussion, mediation, prioritisation, including identifying possible obstacles to successful solution implementation), implement a plan and evaluate its effectiveness.

All information will be treated confidentially and will only be communicated to other (involved) parties with your consent.

Below a list of further units at Univ. Vienna, free public assistance & emergency counceling services and NGOs (topics such as psychological/psychiatric services, anti-racism work, free legal advice on residencial permits, among others):

Please note that many of the websites listed below are unfortunately not or only partially available in English. Nevertheless, many offers are available in English, they just have the website in German. If you need help translating the websites or contacting a support service, please do not hesitate to contact us (katharina.klaushofer@univie.ac.at  or vds-mes.cmess@univie.ac.at)!