- Global Themes — editorial clusters (e.g. ocean climate, coastal resilience, fisheries) linking institutes and programmes by research agenda. Start at Themes when you think in problems.
- Research Fields — hierarchical discipline pages under /research-fields/ and
/field/{slug}/. Canonical URLs for SEO and many catalog filters. - Fields of study (FoS) — tags on scholarship and vacancy cards used for catalog filters. Often coarser than the full field tree.
Three layers
When to use which
| You know… | Start here |
|---|---|
| A challenge (“ocean acidification”, “sustainable fisheries”) | Global Themes |
| A discipline label (oceanography, marine ecology, coastal engineering) | Research Fields |
| You already have a shortlist of ads | FoS / discipline facets on scholarships or vacancies |
Practical tip
Start with a theme or field page to learn the landscape, then use scholarship/vacancy filters for concrete listings. Do not expect every theme to map 1:1 to a FoS tag. If a filter looks empty, try the parent field or the scholarships field landing — see field taxonomy how-to.
Keep catalogs distinct
Themes and fields help you discover institutes and programmes. Timed doctoral calls still live in Open PhD Positions; standing programmes live in PhD Scholarships. Taxonomy pages are navigation, not vacancy lists.
Frequently asked questions
What are Global Themes?
Editorial clusters (for example ocean climate, coastal resilience, fisheries) that group institutes and programmes by research agenda — useful when you think in problems rather than department names.
What are Research Fields?
The hierarchical discipline taxonomy under /research-fields/ and /field/{slug}/. These are the canonical discipline URLs for SEO and many catalog filters.
What are fields of study (FoS) tags?
Tags on scholarship and vacancy cards used for filters. They can be coarser than the full field tree — if a filter looks empty, try a parent field or the scholarships field landing.
Next step