To complete the PhD curriculum at the Medical University of Vienna, the following mandatory courses need to be attended: 90 hours scientific-medical propedeutics, 45 hours basic seminar, 180 hours journal club, and 180 hours doctoral seminars. At the MUW, more than 20 different courses are offered for PhD students to gather these 495 hours. Of course, all these courses are also open for CCHD students, but the set of courses described below will be organized exclusively for CCHD students. This means, that (i) these courses are only open for CCHD students (i.e. the number of participants cannot exceed the number of CCHD students), (ii) the contents are specifically adjusted to the requirements of the CCHD students, and (iii) the dates of the courses are optimized for the schedules of CCHD students.
The official CCHD curriculum starts with 135 hours of lab rotation during an 8 week period (this equals 75% of the hours of the doctoral seminar). During this time, all newly recruited CCHD students spend several days in each of the participating laboratories.
The entire basic seminar (45 hours) also takes place during this period of time. 11.25 hours are allocated to each thematic field (neuro- and vascular biology, immunology and inflammation), and the courses are organized and held by the supervisors who work in that field. In contrast to the technical focus of the lab rotation, the basic seminars will rather concentrate on clinical/therapeutic issues within the four main research areas. In these seminars, all newly recruited CCHD students participate.
For the scientific-medical propedeutics, the following courses will be available specifically for CCHD students. Each of these courses is equivalent to 11.25 hours.
In addition to these mandatory 67.5 hours of scientific-medical propedeutics, the CCHD students have to choose 22.5 hours from the repertoire of the propedeutic seminars for PhD students offered by the MUW.
The 180 hours journal club ("critical paper review") are split up in two parts: 67.5 hours are held by the supervisors during the period of lab rotation and in parallel to the topics of the basic seminar. The remaining 112.5 hours are offered on a regular basis, i.e. 1.5 hours per week every Monday. The location of the journal club rotates weekly from one laboratory to the next (organising laboratory). The papers are to be discussed by the students and will be chosen by the supervisors of the laboratory where the journal club takes place. The journal clubs take place in the early evening and are followed by social get-togethers organized by the students of the organising laboratory.
The 180 hours doctoral seminars are organized in two parts. The first part is the lab rotation (see above). The second part is provided by the participation in CCHD workshops, thesis symposia. and thesis conversations.
Thesis symposia will be organized on an annual basis during the summer time as four day meetings. The major points of focus of the thesis symposia are (i) the regular annual meetings of all thesis committees, (ii) the awarding of the annual CCHD award, (iii) the self-portrayals of new student applicants, (iv) the scientific contributions of the foreign thesis committee members, (v) contributions of CCHD alumni. Considering that up to 24 actual CCHD students, 24 student applicants, and 8 foreign thesis committee members participate, the thesis symposia will harbour up to 56 presentations. The thesis symposium is concluded by the annual CCHD reception. On this occasion, the CCHD award ceremony will take place.
In addition to the above symposia, the CCHD students themselves organize international CCHD workshops once per year. The students may invite two speakers per CCHD research field from abroad. In addition, they may ask each of the supervisors to give a presentation with respect to one of her/his research interests. Moreover, all CCHD students being in the last year of their doctoral studies present their entire thesis work in a short lecture. Together, this may result in a total of up to 32 presentations, and the workshop will thus last for at least two days.
