Cricetidae are among the earliest and most important families of modern rodents. Their evolutionary history is however still understudied and there are ongoing debates about their internal phylogenetic relationships. In my PhD project, the evolution of Cricetidae is analyzed in the context of Cenozoic tectonic and climatic events by reconstructing phylogenies with Maximum Parsimony as well as Bayesian Inference. Additional to morphological data of fossil specimens, also morphological and molecular data of extant members is included in the analyses. On this way, new insights are gained about the evolutionary processes, that are key to the biodiversity of this important rodent family as we see it today.