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 Nadja Holzleitner (☎ +43 1 4277 91109, ✉ nadja.holzleitner@univie.ac.at), a student representative, 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 (nadja.holzleitner@univie.ac.at  or vds-mes.cemess@univie.ac.at)!

Assisting units at the University of Vienna

Emergency counseling services or crisis hotlines of the City of Vienna and Austria

  • Psychological Counselling Services for students:
  • Crisis Intervention Center Vienna
    Providing support and counselling for people in acute crises, Vienna. Counselling in person, via telephone or via e-mail.
  • Social psychiatric emergency services (PDS) in Vienna
    • phone: +1-31330 every day from 00:00 to 24:00
    • Immediate psychiatric assistance for people in acute crises: By calling this number, you will receive qualified and immediate assistance around the clock.
    • Online: www.psd-wien.at
  • Ö3 Kummernummer careline
    • phone: 116 123, every day from 16:00 to 24:00
  • Telefonseelsorge crisis hotline
    • phone: 142, every day from 0:00 to 24:00

Lists for queer, feminist & anti-racist therapy

  • Sigmund Freud Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Clinic (Sigmund Freud psychotherapeutische Universitätsambulanz): offers support services in many languages (Persian/Farsi/Dari, German, English, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Polish, French, Romanian, Mandarin); more information here: https://ambulanz.sfu.ac.at/en/offers/psychotherapy/

Emergency services in German

Organisations/NGOs assisting on topics such as racism, online hate, legal advice

  • helping hands
    • a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that helps immigrants/newcomers, and organises and runs various projects that offer help where it is most needed:  focus is on legal advice on aliens’ law.
    • phone: +43-1-310 88 80 10 (Mo 9.30 - 17.30, Tu 9.30 - 13.30, We & Th 9.30 - 14.30 )
    • e-mail: info@helpinghands.at
    • online: http://helpinghands.at/
  • ZARA – Civil Courage & Anti-Racism-Work: https://zara.or.at/en
  • HEMAYAT – Betreuungszentrum für Folter- und Kriegsüberlebende, Vienna