PhD Students

Central European University’s Medieval Studies Doctoral Program is accredited both in the United States of America (1996) and Hungary (2005). The US accreditation of the program, leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medieval Studies, is administered by the Department of Medieval Studies; the Hungarian accreditation of the program, leading to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History, is in the framework of the Doctoral School of History (which brings together students admitted to the Medieval Studies Department and Department of History), and administered through the program-coordinator of the School and the Department of Medieval Studies; both degrees can be and are commonly pursued together; however, it is also possible only to pursue a US degree. In these regulations, unless otherwise specified, the title Medieval Studies Doctoral Program denotes both these two degree programs jointly.

The Medieval Studies Department was founded in 1992 and was accredited in the US in 1994. The department founded the oldest doctoral program at Central European University in 1996 and has exerted exceptional educational influence across Central and Eastern Europe by successfully training academic staff now employed in many higher education and cultural institutions.  The Doctoral School of History, accredited in Hungary, was born from the association of two doctoral programs accredited by the New York Board of Regents, US, namely, the aforementioned Medieval Studies Doctoral Program (1996) and the Doctoral Program in History (1997, administered by CEU’s Department of History). An extended version of both programs was successfully accredited in Hungary in 2005 and comprises:

  • Comparative History (associated with the History Department);
  • Interdisciplinary Medieval, Byzantine and Late Antique Studies (associated with the Medieval Studies Department).

The joint Doctoral School facilitates research on historical issues from an inclusive and methodologically diversified perspective; doctoral students working on medieval topics will acquire a wider and more modern context for integrating the results of their research and, at the same time, doctoral students working on post-medieval topics will achieve a better knowledge of the historical roots of their subjects.