As an interdisciplinary research centre, the Fulda Graduate Centre of Social Sciences (FGCSS) provides doctoral candidates with the space and resources they need to carry out applied research whilst pursuing their doctoral studies. The more than fifty doctoral candidates now based there adopt an interdisciplinary approach and conduct research into socially relevant issues, building on a foundation of research orientation, theory development and methodology. The doctoral research centre is characterised above all by an international and interdisciplinary environment, as well as a varied semester programme that is actively shaped by the doctoral candidates themselves. Upon successful completion of their studies, our doctoral candidates are awarded the academic degree Dr. rer. soc. The FGCSS’s specialisations comprise three areas: