Geographic sciences is a field that encompasses human activity and the physical makeup of planet Earth. Studies in this field can include the interaction between the two, as well as the technology used for data analysis.

Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of roughly 8.47 million people in Central Europe.

The PhD is a doctoral degree, specifically called a "doctor of philosophy" degree. This is misleading because PhD holders are not necessarily philosophers (unless they earned their degree in philosophy!). That said, PhD recipients are able to engage in thought experiments, reason about problems, and solve problems in sophisticated ways.