FAQ

Volunteers work for a time in their own interest for the purpose of training and further education at the ÖAW. There is no employment relationship. The initiative for the collaboration usually comes from the volunteers. You are not entitled to payment, you can organize your working hours freely and refuse to work. Essentially, these must always be activities that serve the training of the person employed.

Internships give volunteers the opportunity to gain practical experience. In addition, they gain insights into the workings of an academic research institute and into the innovative aspects of humanities disciplines.

During an internship, volunteers receive information about open approaches in research and can familiarize themselves with working in collaborative research environments. You will get an insight into the tools, services and data used at the ACDH-CH. The individual support helps the volunteers to build networks and enables them to get in touch with real research.

During the internship, volunteers can start or carry out their own projects under your supervision and with the support of ACDH-CH researchers.

Unless otherwise stated, internships are carried out in physical presence at the ACDH-CH workplace, that is to say you will need to be present in the office during your internship.

Unfortunately, volunteers cannot be financially remunerated for their work. The ACDH-CH only offers volunteer agreements that are not time-bound. We cannot offer financial compensation, but we are happy to award academic credits if an external internship is part of their university curriculum.

The prerequisite for admission is related in the number of available volunteer positions, which, among other things, depends on the availability of internal supervisors who are willing to taking care of individual volunteers.

The ACDH-CH offers a special volunteer programme in February, July and August. The official application window starts four months before the start of the internship (around mid-March and mid-October) and is advertised on our website and on our Twitter channel (@ACDH_OeAW).

Admission to the programme takes place centrally via the ACDH-CH internship coordination office.

Basically, internships are only designed for short periods of time, i.e. usually a maximum of three months.

The ACDH-CH offers a special volunteer programme in February, July and August with capacities of 80 hours (20 hours per week for 4 weeks), 120 hours (30 hours per week for 4 weeks) and 160 hours (20 hours for 8 Weeks, summer months only).

In special exceptions, volunteers are also accepted on other months. Please contact our ACDH-CH-Internship-coordination office (E-Mail: acdh-ch-internships(at)oeaw.ac.at). The prerequisite for admission is related in the number of available volunteer positions, which, among other things, depends on the availability of internal supervisors who are willing to take care of individual volunteers.

The application and the required documents are accepted in German and English.

Our ACDH-CH team is internationally oriented and therefore speaks bilingually, depending on the department and work group, English or German is preferred.

For project-based research in the ACE, Musicology, ÖBL and VAWADIÖ departments, German is required as the working language.

• Copy of passport or ID card

• Confirmation of study visit or collective certificate (it must be clear whether it is a regular or extraordinary degree)

• a signed privacy policy (Datenschutzerklärung)

• a signed Volontariatsvereinbarung (volunteering agreement for full-time students from AUT or EU countries)

Additional documents

• for third country nationals
  Volunteers are subject to statutory accident insurance. In order to guarantee this, the form for registering with the AUVA “Accident Insurance for Volunteering” must be completely filled out. NOT required for a "regular course" or for studying in another EU country, regardless of whether it is a regular or extraordinary course.

• for third country nationals we also need a copy of the visa C / D with the addition “acquisition (Erwerb)” for an internship in person. This can be applied at the Austrian embassy in your home country. NOT required for an online internship.

For organisational and administrative reasons the ACDH-CH cannot support applicants in legal residence matters. For example, we do not apply for an AMS Anzeigebestätigung and we cannot help with any VISA issues. 

The internship coordination office will try to get your electronic access after we have found a support or a suitable position for you and we have received your approval. This will be requested as soon as all required documents have been received.

As soon as you have access to MS Teams, you will find under Teams "ACDH-CH_i_Internships" as a member under "General / Files" installation instructions for e-mail, data network and home office matters.

The Meet-The-Researchers programme (MTR) takes place from the first day of the internship. We usually start with a TEI training, which is then followed by weekly meetings.

The individual sessions enable volunteers to come into direct contact with our experts, exchange ideas with them and gain insights into various projects and activities of the ACDH-CH. The MTR ends with a final presentation by the volunteers as part of a joint ACDH-CH research lunch.

Participation in most of the sessions and the final research lunch is a prerequisite for receiving a volunteer certificate for the internship.

As soon as you have access to MS Teams, you will find the current MTR-programme and all MTR-appointments in your Microsoft Teams calendar under Teams "ACDH-CH_i_Internships" as a member.

As part of the volunteer service, the MTR-programme is offered in February, July and August. On these dates it will also be possible to make initial contacts with other students.

You are welcome to exchange ideas individually via MS Teams via chat or video conferences or via Mattermost.

As soon as you have access to MS Teams, you will find the template for the volunteer report under Teams "ACDH-CH_i_Internships" as a member under "General / Files".

The internship should conclude with a brief final presentation by the volunteers as part of the MTR-programme and a brief volunteer report (submission deadline two weeks after the end of the internship). Afterwards, a volunteer certificate will be drawn up by the supervisor (and sent to the graduate (e-mail or via mail) no later than two weeks after receipt of the volunteer report.

Whether, and to what extent your university or your field of study will credit an internship, must be clarified by you independently and in advance with your student coordinator at your respective institution. Students who are enrolled in the MA Digital Humanities at the University of Vienna can gain up to 8 ECTS for their internship (80h: 4 ECTS, 120h: 6 ECTS, 160h: 8 ECTS).

In some cases, an internship for your studies must meet a minimum level for reasons of quality assurance, or a completed form is required. If you have successfully completed your internship, we will be happy to confirm that you have completed your internship.

We would like to offer all applicants the opportunity to complete an internship with us. Therefore, we cannot guarantee you a fixed place for another internship.