The Structured Doctoral Programme“Music Matters” Amidst Global Cultures of Sound

From October 2020 to September 2024, six doctoral candidates had a first-ever opportunity to earn their doctorates together at the mdw as part of the structured doctoral programme (sdp) “Music Matters. Materiality, Knowings and Practices in Performing Arts”. This programme stood out for its interdisciplinary orientation and participants’ work in an international team alongside a four-year term of employment at the mdw, offering a unique context for the involved research projects. Juan Escobar Campos, Isabel Frey, Tianyu Jiang, Peter Lell, Angelica Pinna, and Sophie Zehetmayer were able to situate their research within a broader context, gather new perspectives, place collaborative approaches front and centre, and benefit from an environment that encouraged exchange between multiple different academic disciplines. The themes of their individual dissertation projects ranged from Yiddish folk songs to the Afghan rubab and on to DJ sets in Shanghai, and they were advised by an eight-person team of mdw professors.

Alongside interdisciplinarity, this sdp aimed for internationalisation: the programme was run entirely in English, and the participating doctoral candidates had opportunities to build international networks, conduct field research abroad, spend time in the United States and elsewhere, and present their research findings worldwide. Global exchange of this sort not only benefits professional development but also enhances the mdw’s international visibility.

This programme represented a fundamental contribution by the mdw to the advancement of early-stage researchers. A recent study showed that structured programmes such as the sdp represent a crucial building block in efforts to support budding academic careers.³ They offer optimal advising and guidance, preparing doctoral candidates for the challenges of the global research environment—a clear competitive advantage on the national and international levels.

A further central aspect of any sdp is peer support, with such programmes offering the best possible opportunities to work as part of a supportive and collaborative community. Regular workshops, colloquia, and peer review meetings enable critical reflection and improvement upon research findings based on feedback from colleagues. This culture of mutual exchange makes a decisive contribution to the enhancement of research quality and creates a strong network that opens up professional and academic opportunities for doctoral candidates over the long term.

The COVID lockdowns in October 2020 made launching this sdp quite a challenge, with the first few months characterised more by solitude than by team support. However, the doctoral candidates put this experience to productive use through their organisation of the public lecture series “Together Alone. Musical Practices between Collectivity and Individuation”. The absence of the initial team-building process was then made up for in an “autumn school” event. At the Office of the Dean of Research Programmes, this experience led to intensive work on the onboarding process that all mdw doctoral candidates go through. Onboarding is conceived of as a central measure to facilitate more friction-free entry into a doctoral programme. It helps support a feeling of cohesion as well as social integration, contributing to doctoral studies’ ultimate success.⁴ Since 2022, the learnings from this sdp have also been flowing back into the general doctoral programme by way of efforts including the establishment of the mdw’s Graduate Center and events for new doctoral students such as the Welcome Event.

Altogether, the past four years have seen the mdw’s structured doctoral programme succeed in establishing itself as a pivotal measure to strengthen the University’s overall academic doctoral offerings. With its focus on interdisciplinarity, internationalisation, and peer support plus full-time employment relationships, it parallels current international developments where doctoral studies are concerned, offers outstanding conditions for doctoral candidates, adds focus to the mdw’s research profile as an institution, and contributes to making research activities at the mdw more visible internationally.

1. Geppert et al. 2024: door.donau-uni.ac.at/o:4704
2. See Handbook. Onboarding Doctoral Candidates: A Practical Guide: pride-network.eu/onboarding