We
live in a world that is characterized by volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity, and an increasingly high degree of complexity.
The multiple, intersecting challenges we are facing — such as global conflicts, pandemics, aging societies, climate crises,
authoritarian backlash, migration, inequality and digitization, — require new ways to identifying, understanding and tackling
problems across disciplines and areas of expertise.
The PhD programme Transformation Studies. Art x Science
("Art cross Science") equips young and upcoming scholars with transdisciplinary knowledge, skills, and competencies
needed to face present and future challenges. Studying transformation and its effect on the political, economic, social, technological,
environmental and legal sphere is thus at the centre of the programme, which builds new bridges between the arts and sciences.
The
Art x Science School for Transformation is an inter-university endeavour intertwining the strengths and expertise
of the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Its goal is to develop, share and teach
cross-disciplinary knowledge at the intersection of the arts, humanities and sciences, yielding new forms of creativity, invention,
innovation, collaboration, and learning. Teaching takes place in Vienna and Linz and benefits from the different learning
spaces and workshops of both universities.
Graduate Activities
The PhD programme in
Transformation
Studies. Art x Science promotes independent, innovative research that furthers international academic discussions
and debates. Graduates will be able to develop transdisciplinary projects in their respective areas of specialisation, builiding
on methos and approaches from humanities, sciences, and the arts. The curriculum emphasises student-led scientific and artistic
research that engages with planetary challenges across their multiple intersecting dimensions. Projects should involve a diverse,
transdisciplinary team of academic and non-academic contributors in collaborative research settings to ensure the dissemination
of outputs beyond academia in support of concerned publics and collectivities.
