doctor of education finland

Doctoral Training at the Faculty of Education

Doctoral training at the Faculty of Education aims at preparing the students for a career in research, teaching or other demanding tasks of expertise.

Doctoral degrees in the Faculty of Education are Doctor of Philosophy (Education) and Doctor of Philosophy. The optional major subjects are education, adult education, special education or crafts education. 

Potential doctoral candidates at the Faculty of Education need to apply for a right to study for a degree from the Faculty of Education. The candidates apply for either of the two doctoral programmes, KEVEKO or OPPI Doctoral Programme. The Faculty of Education has common application requirements for both programmes.

Application instructions

The doctoral studies of the Faculty of Education emphasise multidisciplinarity, extensive range and internationality. Graduating doctors are guaranteed skills not only for academic researcher careers but also for other demanding expert and development positions. The studies included in the degree support dissertation research and the development of scientific expertise in educational sciences.

The curriculum for 2022-2024 includes dissertation (200 ECTS) and 40 ECTS of Studies in the field of education and relevant for the development of expertise.  

Studies in the field of education and relevant for the development of expertise -module includes the following studies:

• Studies in the research field, min. 13 credits
• Methodological and method studies, min. 8 credits
• Studies of research ethics and scientific writing, min. 7 credits
• Presentation in a national or an international scientific conference, 2-12 credits
• Optional studies supporting the development of scientific expertise, 0-20 credits

Curriculum for a doctoral degree in the UTU Peppi-system

NOTE! In spring 2024, the Faculty will be updating its curricula and the guidelines and regulations for doctoral studies, which may result in changes to the regulations for doctoral studies and doctoral dissertation. The doctoral dissertation is not measured in credits from 1 August 2024 onwards. If you study on a full-time basis, you can complete your degree in three to four years.

The study guides linked below include the  instructions and regulations, admission criteria and curriculum for postgraduate studies:

Study Guide 2022-2024 (pdf)

Study Guide 2020-2022 (pdf)

Study Guide 2018-2020 (pdf)

Study Guide 2016-2018 (pdf)

USEFUL LINKS

• University of Turku Graduate School UTUGS
• Registration
• Peppi Study System for Students
• Passive register
• FinEd – The Finnish Multidisciplinary Doctoral Training Network on Educational Sciences , FinEd organises an annual seminar for the doctoral researchers and mantains a mentor pool.

Information about funding is availabel on the page of the University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) and from the Intranet pages of the Research Funding Unit . In the Research Funding Unit, there are also Annual Cycles of Research Funding , as well as information about the Research Professional , an extensive international research funding opportunities database.

The Faculty of Education offers financial support for doctoral candidates with various ways. Doctoral candidates can apply support for language checking for dissertation articles, summary or monograph, and dissertation printing expenses. In addition, annually the doctoral candidates can apply for a grant for completing a doctoral degree. Further information about the financial support of the Faculty of Education and doctoral programmes is at the Intranet. FEEDBACK

Feedback about every course organised by the Faculty of Education is gathered after the course. You can give feedback about courses as well as anything connected to the doctoral studies with a Webropol form. The answers go to the Chief Academic Officer as well as to the Doctoral Programme Coordinator.

HELP IN CONFLICT SITUATIONS

If you experience problematic situations or conflicts in your doctoral studies, please contact the Chief Academic Officer or the Doctoral Programme Coordinator. If needed, problems and conflicts are discussed by the Steering Group of Doctoral Programme or the Steering Group of Research and Postgraduate Education at the Faculty of Education. Please also read the website of the Graduate School for the Graduate School's guidelines and instructions for superivision , as well as Procedural instructions regarding conflicts over doctoral researchers’ supervision.

PERSONAL STUDY PLAN (PSP)

At the beginning of the doctoral studies all doctoral researchers make a personal study plan (PSP). The personal study plan will be drawn up in the electronic study system Peppi . Please also see for instructions on how to use Peppi . 

You can find the curriculum for studies in 2022-2024 at the study guide of Peppi.

SCEDULE FOR COURSES

For the doctoral courses organised by the Faculty of Education in autumn term, sign up between June 15 - August 15, 2022. For the courses organised in spring term, sign up between Nov 15 - Dec 15, 2022.

The courses are enrolled in in the PSP (personal study plan) section of the ‘student Desktop’ of electronic Peppi Study System.

The minimum number of participants in the courses is usually eight. Places in courses are usually available on a first-come-first-served basis, so early enrollment is recommended. Please cancel your place in the course as soon as possible if you’re not able to participate, so we can offer the place for the next student on a waiting list.

NOTE: According to the policy of the Faculty, all doctoral researchers need their supervisor's approval for participating in courses. All courses should promote the progress of the doctoral dissertation study.

Doctoral courses organised in spring 2024 (pdf, updated January 15th, 2024)

Doctoral courses organised in autumn 2023 (pdf, updated June 15th, 2023)

Doctoral courses of the Faculty of Education in Peppi System

You may also participate in the courses organised by the UTUGS. In addition, the other faculties and doctoral programmes organise training and courses that are available for the doctoral candidates of other faculties and doctoral programmes. More information about these courses can be found on the website of other faculties.

LECTURE AND SEMINAR PASS

For the study module "Studies in the research field" you can collect studies by presentations at conferences but also by going to listen for example scientific guest lectures or public examinations of dissertations and by participating conferences without your own presentation. Participating in these events are collected in the lecture and seminar pass ( printable Lecture and seminar pass). A total of 30 hours of participation amounts to three credits. One hour refers to 60 minutes. Doctoral researchers' credits will be recorded in the study module 'Studies in Research Field'. Apply for registering the credits by using the electronic form as explained below.

REGISTERING THE STUDIES AND TRANSCRIPT OF STUDIES

A doctoral candidate completes doctoral studies according to the curriculum of the doctoral programme and/or a personal study plan. Doctoral candidate applies for registering credits by using the electronic form in the UGIS system . Most courses completed at the University of Turku will be registered automatically, so you do not need to apply for registration with the form. The form is used, for example, to apply for credits from conference presentations, research visits, and other corresponding studies which are described in the curriculum of the doctoral programme.

In the Electronic Study System Peppi , the credits can be looked at either on PSP (Personal Study Plan) or on Credits page at the top panel. On the right side of the PSP Overview, there is a Download Transcript button, where transcript can be downloaded in PDF format. The records of each study right appear separately on the transcript. The transcript matches the structure of your PSP if it exists. If the PSP doesn't exist (in the case of old study rights), the records are structured as they are in old Nettiopsu. Remember that a self-printed transcript of records is an unofficial document.

The official transcript of study records as well as registration certificate can be ordered from the Chief Academic Officer or Student Secretary Riitta Pajula .

At the time of granting the right to study, the Dean, on the recommendation of the Doctoral Programme Steering Committee, will appoint at least two supervisors for the doctoral research. If necessary, for example because of the specific nature of the research theme, a third supervisor may be appointed. Supervisors must have doctoral degrees. The first supervisor must be a professor, assistant/associate professor or docent. The expertise of the supervisors, as well as their supervision skills and ability to commit themselves to acting as supervisors, are taken into account in the appointment decision.

The first supervisor must be employed by a faculty’s department or an emeritus/emerita professor who has an emeritus contract with the faculty. In exceptional cases for well-justified reasons, the first supervisor may also be a docent who is not employed by the faculty. In this case, the second supervisor appointed for the dissertation research must be a professor, assistant/associate professor, or docent employed by the faculty’s department. The first supervisor must have sufficient expertise in the theme of the dissertation and be able to commit themselves to the task of supervisor.

The first supervisor has the main responsibility for the supervision of the content of the doctoral thesis. In addition, the first supervisor will generally act as the administrative supervisor (i.e. UGIS supervisor) for the postgraduate studies. If the first supervisor is not employed by the faculty, the second supervisor is appointed as UGIS supervisor. The UGIS supervisor should be well acquainted with the rules and practices of the University of Turku and the Faculty of Education for doctoral studies. They will also have access to the University's electronic systems. The UGIS supervisor approves, among other things, the doctoral researcher's personal study plan (HOPS) and study attainments. They also express their opinion on the doctoral researcher's activity each year after discussing the matter with the other supervisors.

The roles and division of labour of the supervisors are agreed in advance and recorded in a supervision agreement at the beginning of the doctoral studies. Supervisors not employed by the faculty will not be paid unless specific funding is known to be available for that purpose. Doctoral researchers should maintain active and regular contact with all their supervisors throughout their studies to ensure that supervisors remain informed of the progress of the dissertation and the achievement of the milestones agreed on in the supervisory meetings. The supervisor should be informed of any significant delays or changes in the timetable.

If the research topic changes significantly, the new research plan needs to be approved by the first supervisor. A request for a change of supervisor may be made to the Dean, for well-justified reasons, using the electronic form. Before submitting the request, the doctoral researcher should contact and agree on the change with all parties involved, i.e. both the new and the old supervisors. The supervision relationship may come to an end when the supervisor retires or leaves the University of Turku or when the doctoral researcher's right to study is transferred to the passive register.

SUPERVISION PLAN

The content, schedules and practices of the supervision are agreed upon in the supervision plan, which the doctoral researcher and the first supervisor fill in together e.g. in their first supervision session. The supervision plan includes the responsibilities, obligations and rights of the parties. The doctoral researcher is responsible for drawing up the supervision plan. The supervision plan is filled in electronically and the plan is electronically approved by all supervisors. The supervision plan should be updated regularly according to changes in the circumstances.

FOLLOW-UP GROUP

In addition to the supervisors, a follow-up group can be appointed to support the doctoral researcher and the progress of their studies and the development of expertise. The task of the follow-up group is, for example, to follow up and give constructive feedback on the progress of the dissertation, support the completion of the degree in the target time, and provide support for the doctoral researcher's career planning and networking.  Follow-up groups appointed after 1.8.2022 should include one or more supervisors of the doctoral dissertation and 1-2 persons who hold a doctoral degree and who are not the supervisors. The follow-up group can also include members from outside the University. The follow-up group is appointed on the initiative of the doctoral researcher or their supervisor. Further information about the appointment and tasks of a follow-up group is in the study guide.

CHANGING SUPERVISORS

The doctoral researcher may apply for a change of supervisor or appointing a new supervisor if adequately justified. Before applying for the change, the doctoral researcher should be in contact with all parties involved. The change of supervisor is applied for via an electronic form . The Vice Dean responsible for postgraduate studies accepts changes in supervisors.

Postgraduate seminars an important part of doctoral training. In the seminars a doctoral researcher practices scientific conversation and argumentation concerning their research theme. At the Faculty of Education an obligatory part of doctoral studies is participation in the seminars of the Doctoral Programme (8 ECTS). Doctoral researcher also presents the progress of the dissertation regularly in the seminars.

It is also recommended that those planning postgraduate studies would take part in their future supervisor’s postgraduate seminars about six months before applying. In the KEVEKO Doctoral Programme, joint postgraduate seminars for all the doctoral researchers of KEVEKO are organised once a semester. All first supervisors of the programme participate in the seminar and comment on the presentations of doctoral researchers. Also the visiting professors of the Department of Education usually attend the seminars. Please contact KEVEKO coordinator to inquire the meeting dates.

The postgraduate seminars of OPPI Doctoral Programme are listed on the website of Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction (CERLI) .

Most of the work is done! Now, there are a few things to do before graduating as a PhD.

When the manuscript of your dissertation is getting ready, please read thoroughly the guidelines of the Faculty of Education on these pages as well as the guidelines of the University of Turku. You'll find the instructions also in the UGIS System . Leave enough time for all preparations.

When planning the date of the public examination, please take into account the following:

• preliminary examination takes about 2 months
• schedule of the Faculty Council meetings (getting the permission to defend)
• reserve about one month for finalising the manuscript, making the layout, making the publishing agreement and printing
• electronically published dissertation needs to be submitted to be published and made available at least 15 days before the dissertation defence, the printed dissertation is released publicly at least 10 days before the dissertation defence.
• coordinating the schedules of the doctoral researcher, the opponent and the custos takes time, too.

> Guidelines for doctoral dissertation of the Faculty of Education

> University's guidelines for dissertation defence

Chief Academic Officer Anne Niemimäki

Coordinator Sanna Niukko / KEVEKO and OPPI Doctoral Programmes

[email protected]

Doctoral Programme on Educational Policy, Lifelong Learning and Comparative Education Research (KEVEKO)

Doctoral programme on learning, teaching and learning environments research (oppi).

Doctoral admissions

You can search for doctoral programmes on the application portal Studyinfo.fi , or you can contact the universities directly about the doctoral study and research options they offer. Check the application times and procedures, eligibility requirements and other details with the university you are interested in. The following links will take you to each university's Doctoral studies and research info pages.

• Aalto University
• University of Helsinki
• University of Eastern Finland
• University of Jyväskylä
• University of Lapland
• LUT University
• University of Oulu
• Hanken School of Economics
• University of the Arts Helsinki
• Tampere University
• University of Turku
• University of Vaasa
• Åbo Akademi University  

Doctoral / PhD funding opportunities

See the advice on doctoral level scholarships  to learn where you can search for doctoral level research funding. The universities may also offer paid doctoral and post-doc positions, see below.

Academic research positions and jobs

Announcements for doctoral and post-doc researcher positions at Finnish universities can also be found on academic recruitment sites like:

• Jobs in Finland / Academic
• Academicpositions.fi

Early career researcher info & advice

Information, advice and guidelines for early career researchers - compiled by the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers (FUURT)

Scientific research in Finland

Research.fi is a service offered by the Ministry of Education and Culture where you can learn more about the Finnish science and innovation system and policy, and research conducted in Finland.

• Research.fi

Doctoral education pilot

Build a sustainable future with research - get your doctorate from aalto.

We are hiring 178 doctoral researchers in the new doctoral education pilot funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.

Build your career path like this

• Choose the field of research (see below) 
• Apply for a doctoral researcher position (Positions will be opened for the pilot during March-April)
• Apply for the right to study in the doctoral programme
• Take advantage of a high-quality education 
• Leverage Aalto's connections with the business world

Research areas

The positions in the new doctoral education pilot are in the following fields:

Finnish flagship areas 

• QDOC - Quantum Doctoral pilot programme (Quantum flagship), 40 positions
• CIMANET - Circular Materials Bioeconomy Network (FinnCERES flagship), 35 positions
• Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence ( FCAI flagship ), 30 positions
• Doctoral Education Pilot for Mathematics of Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (FAME flagship), 14 positions
• Digital Waters Doctoral Education Pilot (DIWA flagship), 14 positions
• I-DEEP – Innovative Doctoral Education Ecosystem for Photonics (PREIN flagship), 14 positions
• EDUCA Flagship doctoral school pilot project, 4 positions

Other research fields

• MIcroELectronics doctoral school pilot, 10 positions
• Intelligent Work Machines, 8 positions
• Doctoral pilot in software engineering, 5 positions
• Sustainability Transformations, 4 positions

QDOC - Quantum Doctoral Pilot

National Graduate School in Quantum Science and Technology

CIMANET Doctoral Education Network

Circular Materials Bioeconomy Network: From bio-based resources to advanced materials (CIMANET).

FCAI – Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence, doctoral program

Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence.

FAME - Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling

Develops methods of applied mathematics and physics for the benefit of society

I-DEEP – Innovative Doctoral Education Ecosystem for Photonics

The programme addresses the urgent need for training high-level experts in the rapidly growing photonics industry. I-DEEP extends its reach to all Finnish universities with research activities in light-based technologies.

DIWA – Digital Waters Flagship Programme

Promoting sustainable development by linking digital solutions to water resource management.

EDUCA - Education for the Future Flagship

Addresses the challenges of decreasing learning achievement, increasing truancy and dropout rates, and digital technology in education

Doctoral education addressing sustainability transformations

Research will focus on sustainability transformations in different sectors of society to find solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable use and management of natural resources.

Research Council of Finland Flagship programme funding

A flagship is an effective mix of cutting-edge research, impact in support of economic growth or society, close connections to the business sector and society at large, adaptability, and a strong commitment from host organisations. Flagships are high-quality, high-impact competence clusters.

Aalto granted 178 positions in doctoral education pilot

Most of the positions are in Finnish flagship programme areas

What is the pilot about?

The Ministry of Education and Culture will allocate EUR 255 million to universities for piloting new practices in doctoral education in 2024–2027. This additional funding will be allocated to 1000 doctoral researchers who will have an employment contract. Aalto University is hiring 178 new doctoral researchers.

The ministry is providing funding for 1000 doctoral researchers in Finland, 800 of whom will focus on areas in the flagship programmes of the Research Council of Finland, while 200 will be in other research fields. 

The pilot is a major effort to strengthen research activities and the impact of research and expertise in society at large. The project aims to increase the number of doctoral graduates and to reform doctoral education and strengthen its social impact.

The growing need for researchers was identified in the report of the Finnish Parliamentary Working Group on Research, Development and Innovation. The doctoral education pilot will enable universities to respond to the ever-increasing talent shortage and supply the workforce with researcher training across sectors without compromising the quality of education.

Our doctoral education is of high quality 

All key research fields are ranked first or second among Finnish universities based on the impact of their publications in the Academy of Finland's State of Science 2022 report.  

Companies and employment 

Doctoral researchers get to work in an ecosystem where close cooperation with businesses and society is valued. Doctoral graduates from Aalto consider their doctoral degree important for their career, and are able to find work in the private sector more successfully than doctoral graduates from other universities, on average.

We invite companies to participate in the pilot

Aalto University invites companies to participate in the pilot either as a partner or as a mentor for a doctoral student. The call for partners is open now.

Join the MEC-funded doctoral pilot at Aalto University 2024-2027

Aalto University offers companies a unique opportunity to participate in the doctoral education pilot funded by MEC.

‘It’s outrageously interesting to produce new science’ – experiences of doctoral studies and employment

Doctoral research and studies make you an expert in your research topic and increase your professional abilities.

Mashrura Musharraf: You don’t get to see a lot of women like me in academic leadership positions

Finnish Quantum Flagship receives €13M boost

Leonardo Fierro: Sharing experiences for a better doctoral student life

• Published: 6.3.2024
• Updated: 2.4.2024

The Doctoral School and doctoral education at Tampere University

The scientific and artistic doctoral degrees are organised at Tampere University in the form of doctoral programmes. The university has 2,700 doctoral researchers and approximately 200 doctoral dissertations are defended yearly. When you want to start your doctorate at Tampere University, you submit your application to one of the 21 different doctoral programmes. Your chosen faculty and doctoral programme enables you to pursue diverse opportunities for learning and development and to develop your research skills.

After you have been accepted to Tampere University as doctoral researcher, you can make use of The Doctoral School's courses. In collaboration with the doctoral programmes, the Tampere University’s joint Doctoral School provides systematic, up-to-date and high-quality education to all researchers across faculty borders. The Doctoral School supports the development of diverse, multidisciplinary and international expertise among doctoral researchers and works to promote employability of our doctoral graduates.

In Finland, doctoral dissertations are published manuscripts, and they are publicly examined. You can participate in the public defences of our doctoral researchers also online. Read more about new findings from the press releases. Forthcoming public defences of doctoral dissertations (announcement in Finnish) Forthcoming public defences of doctoral dissertations (announcement in English) Past public defences of doctoral dissertations (announcement in English) Past public defences of doctoral dissertations (announcement in Finnish)

Doctoral education pilot opens at Tampere University

Tampere University will recruit 106 fully funded PhD candidates for a three-year term in calls that open in spring and autumn 2024. The posts are part of the national doctoral education pilot programme.

Learn more about our Doctoral Programmes

The Doctoral Programmes of Tampere University offer doctoral education in accordance with the research and education strategies of Tampere University, and the focus areas and guidelines of each faculty. More information about the profiles of our doctoral programmes and how to apply is available on the programme-specific webpages.

Get to know our doctoral programmes and find their contact information

Read about the admission to doctoral studies

Find out more on specialty training in medicine

Get to know The Doctoral School's courses and events

The courses and resources offered by The Doctoral School will help you identify and develop essential skills related to research, research methodologies and research ethics. You can select courses from over 50 offered each year. We also host many events, which support our doctoral researchers goals and networking.

Study Guide for the Doctoral School's joint courses for all doctoral researchers

Find out more about our events at The Doctoral School

What is The Doctoral School?

The Doctoral School offers English- and Finnish-taught courses both online and in classroom. Our courses and events help you gain experience on multidisciplinary and international teamwork while making effective progress towards your degree. The Doctoral School is an active participant in national and international doctoral education networks. We monitor the feedback and employment rate of our graduates to develop our doctoral education further.

Doctorate holders are multifaceted experts

Collaboration between the Doctoral School and faculty-based doctoral programmes provides an excellent basis for you and our 2,700 doctoral researchers to develop their academic expertise and excellence. Tampere University focuses both on theoretical and applied sciences. We can offer you education that is readily transferable also to working life outside the academia.

Watch our doctoral researchers tell you about their experiences

All courses and support for doctoral research

The doctoral school staff.

Pirjo Nikander

Research Director

tutkijakoulu

Doctoral School

Jenni Hokka

tutkijakoulutus

Henna Luoma-Halkola

Ira Virtanen

Senior Specialist

Science Communication; Researchers' Communication Competence

Liisa Ahlava

Doctoral Education

Contact information and the Doctoral School in social media

doctoralschool [at] tuni.fi

Twitter/X  @DocSchool_TAU

Give us feedback!

We continue to build our site and welcome all feedback. Please also let us know if you spot any mistakes on our site. If you wish to get a reply, remember to include your email address in your feedback message.

If you have questions about studying with us, please contact [email protected] (Tampere University) or [email protected] (Tampere University of Applied Sciences). If you have problems with your user account or other IT-related issues, get in touch with our IT Helpdesk

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Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) constitute the Tampere Universities community. Our areas of priority in research and education are technology, health and society. Tampere University: +358 (0)294 5211 Tampere University of Applied Sciences : +358 (0)294 5222

The first YUFE4Postdocs researchers started at the University of Eastern Finland

Alina solomon appointed as professor of neuroepidemiology, childhood sedentariness causes excessive insulin, raising the risk of type 2 diabetes, sustainability and circular economy morning coffee session, mai vu, bpharm, mph: doctoral defence in pharmacoepidemiology, kuopio, changes in pharmacy systems in the nordic countries – evidence based or an ideological playground.

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Refine your search

Doctoral education pilot

The Ministry of Education and Culture will allocate 255 million euros to universities for piloting new practices in doctoral education in 2024–2027. The University of Eastern Finland is involved in 11 pilots, with numerous doctoral researcher positions opening at the university.

Universities will work together to improve doctoral education and reinvent practices. The pilots aim to increase the mobility of doctoral graduates between universities, businesses, research institutes and other organisations, develop direction and guidance, and promote the employment of doctoral graduates in different sectors of society.

The pilot disciplines represent flagship areas of research or topics from other fields, involving research institutions and companies in the implementation. The next call for doctoral positions will open in fall 2024. You can find descriptions of the pilots below. All open doctoral positions are listed on the university's Open Positions website .

Explore pilot programmes and doctoral positions

Digital waters doctoral education pilot (diwa-dp-pilot).

The Digital Waters (DIWA) Doctoral Pilot will focus on the Digital Waters Flagship research area of complex interactions and responses in the hydro-, atmo- and cryosphere and train experts in methodological, data/digital and management skills needed to become game changers and leaders in the field of water research, governance, and innovation. We will address the methodological challenges of dealing with growing amount of (big) data and large datasets across different climatic zones (boreal – arctic), the use of new observational systems in field campaigns, and integrated analysis and modelling of environmental processes under climate and land-use change pressures.   

The DIWA is coordinated by the University of Oulu. In total, 60 doctoral researchers will be employed within the DIWA doctoral training pilot project. Of these, 5 doctoral researchers will be employed by University of Eastern Finland. 

In the spring call 2024, 2 positions for Doctoral Researchers will become available in the fields of environmental modelling and analysis at the University of Eastern Finland.  

Please see the webpage Open positions for more information about the vacancies.

More information

Jussi Kukkonen

2nd Vice-Dean

Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

jussi.​kukkonen​@uef.fi

+358401485410

Doctoral Education Pilot for Mathematics of Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (DREAM)

Doctoral Education Pilot for Mathematics of Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (DREAM) will educate 100 doctors nationwide in a diverse and multidisciplinary setting, encompassing applied mathematics, physics, engineering, and applied sciences. The PhD students are trained by the experts on fields of our Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (FAME) in close interaction with companies and other sectors of the society. 

At the University of Eastern Finland, 10 positions for Doctoral Researchers will become available in the fields of inverse problems, computational imaging, modelling, biomedical signal and image analysis, artificial intelligence, control, and scientific computing.

FAME – Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling on the Research Council of Finland's website

Tanja Tarvainen

Department of Technical Physics, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

tanja.​tarvainen​@uef.fi

+358403552310

Marko Vauhkonen

marko.​vauhkonen​@uef.fi

+358403552112

A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

olli.​grohn​@uef.fi

+358503590963

Doctoral Education Pilot in Precision Cancer Medicine (iCANDOC)

The rapidly increasing number of cancer cases ("cancer tsunami") has led to the identification of cancer as one of the six grand challenges in Europe and highlighted the urgent unmet need for new solutions. Precision medicine and digital health technologies have matured to a point where assessment of the relationship of tumor-specific characteristics with the patient's response can inform diagnostic and drug discovery efforts by identifying novel mechanisms and targets. The linkage of digital and precision cancer medicine approaches represents the research area of this Doctoral education pilot in precision cancer medicine (iCANDOC) which is based on the iCAN Digital Precision Cancer Medicine Flagship . This research field leverages Finnish strengths including high-quality digital health registries and biobanks.

iCANDOC provides an outstanding opportunity for a new doctoral training pilot training doctoral researchers efficiently for the needs of future employers both in private and public health care sector to secure an adequate supply of experts in this vital field in Finnish society and enhance our competitive advantage on a global scale.

At the University of Eastern Finland 5 positions for Doctoral Researchers will become available. The doctoral education pilot positions for iCANDOC will be supervised by Principal Investigators of the multidisciplinary Cancer community (RC Cancer). If you are interested in applying for a position in the thematic field of iCANDOC, you should contact a possible supervisor without delay. 

The Multidisciplinary Cancer Research community

Arto Mannermaa

Institute of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences

arto.​mannermaa​@uef.fi

+358403552752

Doctoral pilot in software engineering (Software)

The Finnish Doctoral Education Pilot in Software Engineering offers 49 positions for doctoral researchers in the field of Software Engineering.  The positions are part of the Finnish national pilot for doctoral training and provide full funding for doctoral research for a period of three years, starting in August 2024.

The research focus of these positions is software engineering. This discipline spans specification and design requirements for software systems to their development, testing, verification, deployment, and maintenance. Software engineering research focuses on principles, designs, methodologies, programming languages, tools, and architectures that ensure robust, safe, and efficient software products and services that meet their intended requirements and users' needs.

As a doctoral researcher in the Finnish Doctoral Education Pilot in Software Engineering you belong to a research network that gathers the top researchers in the field from 9 participating universities.  This consortium is uniquely positioned to advance doctoral education in software engineering in Finland, collectively covering most major software engineering subfields, including empirical software engineering; constructive software engineering; software architectures; software applications; programming languages; user interface programming; software security; software engineering for industrial systems and edge computing; software verification, validation, and testing methods; software processes; human-centric software engineering; requirements engineering; software-intensive business; software product management; and global software engineering.

At the University of Eastern Finland, 3 positions for doctoral researchers become available.

Markku Tukiainen

Head of Department

School of Computing, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

markku.​tukiainen​@uef.fi

+358504411508

Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence (AI-DOC)

The Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence (AI-DOC) offers 100 paid PhD student positions in the field of AI. The positions are part of the Finnish national pilot for doctoral training and provide full funding for doctoral research for a period of three years, starting in August 2024. The doctoral program is hosted by the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence FCAI , and includes 10 Finnish universities.

The areas involved are Fundamental AI, AI in communications and signal processing, AI in health, AI in engineering, AI in language and speech technology, and AI in society and business. The program offers possibilities to work with companies and academic partners in the network. Joint supervision between research areas, universities, and industry partners provide doctoral researchers quality supervision, exchange possibilities, and access to a large pool of top AI researchers from 10 participating universities and industry.

At the University of Eastern Finland, 5 positions for doctoral researchers become available.

Matti Tedre

matti.​tedre​@uef.fi

+358504340376

Innovative Doctoral Education Ecosystem for Photonics (I-DEEP)

The Flagship for Photonics Research and Innovation PREIN is at the forefront of the world-class recognized photonics research dedicated to the science and technology of light, the key enabling technology of the 21st century. Addressing the urgent need for a highly educated workforce in many sectors of our society, the Innovative Doctoral Education Ecosystem for Photonics (I-DEEP) consortium positions itself as a transformative initiative that capitalizes on PREIN, the national FinnLight infrastructure program and the Photonics Finland academic and industrial cluster. The overall rationale of I-DEEP is to educate a new generation of doctoral students through innovative approaches that accelerate graduation time without compromising the quality of education.

At the University of Eastern Finland 8 positions for Doctoral Researchers will become available in fundamentals, materials, components, and applications of photonics.

The Flagship for Photonics Research and Innovation PREIN Innovative Doctoral Education Ecosystem for Photonics (I-DEEP)

Jyrki Saarinen

Department of Physics and Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

jyrki.​saarinen​@uef.fi

+358505954348

National Doctoral Education Pilot based on Immune system (ImmuDocs)

Doctoral Education Pilot based on Immune system (ImmuDocs) will educate 81 doctors nationwide in a diverse and multidisciplinary setting, encompassing all areas of immunology, such as infections, autoimmune diseases and inflammatory diseases. The PhD students are trained by the experts of the InFLAMES (Innovation Ecosystem based on the Immune System) Flagship in close interaction with partner universities, companies and other sectors of the society.

In the spring call 2024, one position for Doctoral Researchers will become available in the field of immunology at the University of Eastern Finland.

Please see the webpage Open positions for more information about the vacancies.  

More information  

Tuure Kinnunen

tuure.​kinnunen​@uef.fi

+358505629349

Quantum (Quantum)

The Quantum Doctoral Pilot Programme will educate 90 doctorates at 7 universities in Finland, bringing together versatile quantum science and technology expertise in theoretical, experimental, and applied physics, chemistry, photonics, computational science, materials science and technology, nanotechnology, electrical engineering and electronics, as well as economics. This is further supported by 50+ collaborating companies, providing a comprehensive quantum science and technology ecosystem. Quantum is also part of the Finnish national quantum collaboration, InstituteQ , and the new Finnish Quantum Flagship . The program will support strong networking as all doctoral researchers in Quantum will participate in common networking events and annual summer/winter schools.  

At the University of Eastern Finland, we have 2 open positions within Quantum.

The Quantum Doctoral Pilot Programme

Andreas Norrman

Assistant professor.

andreas.​norrman​@uef.fi

+358505994225

Explore other doctoral pilot programmes

Educa flagship doctoral school pilot project (educa).

More information coming.

Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of Social Services (DocSoc360°)

Sustainability transformations (sustra).

Sustainability Transformations (SusTra) doctoral education pilot educates 40 doctors in Finland. The University of Eastern Finland leads the pilot that involves 10 universities and the Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE. The research themes include, for example, citizens’ lifestyles, planetary well-being and planetary health, production and consumption, governance and legal systems, and cultural transformations.

“Our research is solution-oriented. Our society needs solutions that are based on facts and considerate of ethical issues, and that will increase citizens’ trust in a good future,” says Professor Arto O. Salonen, the academic director of the doctoral education pilot.

Read a news piece on doctoral education addressing sustainability transformations

Arto O. Salonen

Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies

arto.​salonen​@uef.fi

+358503590613

Welcome as a doctoral researcher to the University of Eastern Finland

Do you want to pursue a doctor's degree at Finland's most multidisciplinary university? Join our team, where every researcher is valuable and receives individual support from top experts.

The research at the University of Eastern Finland is international, scientifically high-quality, and produces interdisciplinary researched knowledge and solutions to global challenges. The doctoral programmes of the University of Eastern Finland train postgraduate students to become high-level researchers and experts in all disciplines of our university.

Innovative doctoral education

• At least two academic supervisors and one external mentor
• Support for career planning and orientation
• Efficient guidance and support for progress monitoring
• An international, creative, and inclusive university community
• Multisite work
• High-level scientific community

Get to know us as an employer

Staff benefits, an academic community characterised by well-being, career stories, human resources excellence in research.

We are happy to assist with questions related to the doctoral pilot. For inquiries about positions for doctoral researchers, please contact the designated persons mentioned in the job announcements.

Kaisa Laitinen

Head of academic affairs.

Student and Learning Services, University Services

kaisa.​laitinen​@uef.fi

+358504327573

Learn more about the doctoral education pilot

University of Eastern Finland to lead two new pilots in doctoral education

The Ministry of Education and Culture has allocated a total of 225 million euros to universities for pilot projects in doctoral education. The University of Eastern Finland is involved in 11 pilots now selected for funding.

Doctoral education pilot DREAM trains experts in mathematics, physics and computation for industry

Coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland, the Doctoral Education Pilot for Mathematics of Sensing, Imaging and Modelling, DREAM, will be training doctors in the thematic field of the FAME Flagship.

Doctoral education addressing sustainability transformations will start in Finland

The University of Eastern Finland leads a unique doctoral education pilot in sustainability transformations research, which will train 40 doctoral graduates in Finland.

Call for doctoral education pilot projects in other research fields 2024–2027

• The funding is applied for by a university or by a consortium of several universities and/or other research organisations in a specific research field.
• The funding can only be granted for costs incurred at universities.
• The funding is applied for to cover the costs of field-specific pilots, mainly consisting of the recruitment of doctoral researchers for a fixed term (3 years) in pilot projects that will test new methods of researcher training. Funding can also be granted to cover the costs arising from supervising doctoral researchers.
• The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is prepared to fund a total of 200 new doctoral researchers (no prior doctoral study right) within this call.

Before you log in to the online services (SARA) to fill in the application, carefully read the call text below.

If the translated English version of the call text is in conflict with the Finnish call text, the Finnish version should always be considered primary.

Read the full call text on this page.

Between 2024 and 2027, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture will fund a pilot programme to test new practices in doctoral education in Finland. The programme will start in 2024, and the doctoral researchers are expected to graduate in 3–4 years.

Objectives:

• increase the number of PhDs in Finland, taking into account the supply of new knowledge
• test a more flexible process for doctoral education
• increase the mobility of doctoral researchers between universities, companies, research institutes and other organisations and encourage new PhDs to pursue diverse research careers
• provide information on doctoral training processes and collect data on the possible need for regulation of third-cycle studies
• develop guidance practices and the integration of scientific and artistic postgraduate studies with previous studies (incl. the possibility to complete a master’s degree during doctoral studies)
• increase the employment of PhDs in a wide range of sectors in society.

The doctoral education pilot programme is an expansion of the doctoral training funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture in 2024–2027 and implemented by Finnish universities. The programme will fund up to 1,000 new fixed-term doctoral researcher positions and part of the related supervision.

A field-specific pilot project is a doctoral education scheme implemented by one or more universities and/or other research organisations in a specific field of research, in which doctoral researchers are recruited for a fixed term of three years.

R&D expenditure refers to expenditure that can be recorded as R&D expenditure as defined in the official statistics on research and development published annually by Statistics Finland.

The funding is granted for a fixed term. The funding is applied for by a university or by a consortium of several universities and/or other research organisations in a specific research field. Universities will define the type of research or artistic activity that can be included in the doctoral thesis required for the doctoral degree.

The costs of other research organisations cannot be covered from funding granted to a field-specific pilot project. Other research organisations can participate in the pilot project, for example by funding employed doctoral researchers, by contributing to dissertation supervision or by providing research infrastructure.

The consortium application is submitted by the coordinating university on behalf of the whole consortium.

A consortium application is an application built around a joint doctoral education plan for a specific research field. Consortium compositions cannot be changed after the call deadline.

The application is started by a responsible person approved by the university. The completed application is submitted by the person via the Research Council of Finland’s online services.

The responsible person can authorise one or several persons to read or edit an incomplete application in the online services. The authorisation is given on the tab ‘Authorisation’ in the online services. Please note that the authorisation is valid only when the call is open.

The funding period starts on 1 August 2024 or 1 January 2025. The duration of an individual field-specific pilot project is either three or three and a half years. However, the maximum employment of an individual doctoral researcher hired with the funding is three years.

The funding is intended to cover the salaries of around 200 full-time doctoral researchers and the supervision and research costs related to their doctoral dissertations.

The funding to be distributed through this call depends on the Finnish Parliament’s decision to allocate the necessary funds to the Research Council of Finland in the 2024 state budget.

The funding is awarded to a Finnish university and must be used for the costs described in the submitted plan.

Funding plan

In the application, provide a cost estimate including an estimate of the annual amount of funding needed, itemised by type of expenditure. The cost estimate must be realistic.

• The average annual salary, supervision and research costs for one doctoral researcher are estimated at 85,000 euros.
• The application may include justified additional supervision costs.
• The funding can only cover costs that can be accounted for as R&D expenditure.

What is required from the site of research?

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture requires that participating universities and other organisations guarantee the usual basic facilities for the implementation of the project, enabling doctoral researchers to obtain their doctorates in 3–4 years.

How to submit and supplement the application

The deadline is non-negotiable. We will not consider (process) an application that has not been submitted by deadline. The deadline for applications is 29 November 2023 at 16.15 Finnish time.

The application is submitted by a competent person appointed by the university. The consortium application is submitted by a competent person from the coordinating university on behalf of the whole consortium.

Make sure to submit the application in good time before the deadline. The system will only accept applications that contain all obligatory information.

You can edit and supplement the application until the deadline. You can make changes to a submitted application (e.g. change appendices), but you must make them before the deadline.

If you notice that your application lacks important information after the deadline, immediately get in touch with the call’s contact person, so that they can reopen the application for you. Make sure to re-submit the application after you have supplemented it. We will consider the supplemented information if it is possible in view of the review and decision-making process.

We may ask you to supplement the application. The request for supplementation will be sent to you by email. If you do not supplement the application by the given deadline, or if the application is substantially incomplete even after a request for supplementary information, we may decide to dismiss it (i.e. it will not be processed). You must make sure that your contact details (email address) are up to date.

How the application becomes pending

According to section 17 of the Finnish Administrative Procedure Act and section 8 of the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector, the sender is responsible for the application arriving by the set deadline.

An application becomes pending when the online application and the obligatory appendices have been submitted in the online services. The system will confirm a successful submission by sending an email to the address you have provided.

Publicity and data protection

After the funding decisions have been made, the application and its appendices become public documents. This publicity is based on the Finnish Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

The Research Council of Finland is committed to following regulations on data protection. The applicant is responsible for the disclosure of the personal data contained in the application and, where appropriate, for requesting the consent of the parties concerned.

The GDPR-compliant privacy statement concerning the research funding process is available on our website under Data protection .

The application consists of forms completed in the online services and a PDF appendix.

As an applicant, you have the right to submit your application in Finnish or Swedish, but we ask that you to submit it in English to facilitate the international review.

The online application contains the following parts

Details on competent person

• Personal details

Site of research

Consortium parties (if applicable)

• Details on each party (name, email address, organisation and country)
• Read the guidelines for consortium applications.

Funding for the project

• Enter the funding period, no more than 3.5 years.
• The universities involved in the consortium will provide the number of positions applied for and the other costs (estimated at €85,000 per year per position).
• The other consortium parties will not fill in the cost estimate.

Obligatory appendices

Action plan for field-specific pilot project

• Submit the plan as a PDF appendix on a separate tab in the online services.
• You must follow the structure and the number of pages provided in the guidelines.

Structure of action plan:

1. Brief description of the field of research and its scientific level in the consortium (max. 1 page)

2. Description of field-specific pilot project (max. 4 pages)

2.1 Justification for choice of pilot project

• Name and desired start date of field-specific pilot project (1 August 2024 or 1 January 2025)
• Objectives and detailed description of pilot project and its linkages to the research field
• How will the pilot project support researcher education and doctoral needs in the research field?

2.2 Actions, resources, schedules, risk management, monitoring

• Description of planned activities, taking into account responsible science and justification for the amount of funding applied for
• How does the pilot project differ from current doctoral training processes – what are the means to achieve the 3–4-year target for PhD completion?
• Description of key players and added value of cooperation, summary of core competences of key players including supervision experience
• Description of implementation risks and risk management
• Description of how the university will monitor the progress of activities and the achievement of objectives

2.3 Societal impact

• What is the significance and impact of the actions in terms of promoting knowledge transfer, competence-based growth and other societal needs?
• How will the pilot project contribute to the broader objective of increasing the employment of new PhDs across a wide range of sectors in society?

Submit application

• You can submit the application when you have filled in or attached all the necessary information.
• The joint consortium application is submitted by the competent person of the consortium. The person can submit the consortium application only after all subprojects have tagged their applications as complete.
• A red warning triangle on the tab tells you that some information is missing.
• You can supplement and edit the application until the deadline. Resaving will replace the earlier version.
• If you want to supplement the application after the deadline, please get in touch with our contact persons listed in the call text.

Authorisation

• You can authorise another person to supplement or view your application.
• Start by entering the person’s name in the field. If the person has an account in the online services (SARA), they can be selected from the list.
• The person must have an account in our online services (SARA).
• You cannot authorise more than one person at a time to edit a field in your application, and you cannot edit that same field while the authorisation is active.
• Do not authorise yourself.
• See technical instructions on the authorisation process in the how-to guides for the online services .

We mainly use foreign experts as reviewers.

The applications will be reviewed by an international panel. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture will make the funding decisions based on the review reports, by using an overall assessment.

See the review guidelines and review questions that will be used in the review: review guidelines (PDF)  and review form (PDF) .

The fundamental principles of the review are transparency, integrity, equity, competence and diversity.

Review criteria

• Feasibility, credibility and follow-up of the proposed plan
• Cooperation of universities and other actors and their commitment to the implementation of the field-specific pilot project
• How the plan will benefit from the strong scientific basis in the field
• How linkages with employment during the doctoral education are taken into account with universities, other actors and the rest of society; the importance and added value of this cooperation
• Potential impact of the plan on the development of doctoral education in Finland

The funding decisions will be prepared based on the review reports.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture will make the funding decisions in January–February 2024. The Ministry will inform the universities of its decisions.

How to receive the funding

A positive funding decision is accompanied by the funding terms and conditions.

• Get in touch via our helpdesk (contact Division of Information Management) if you encounter technical issues in the online services.
• Primary email address: [email protected]
• Research Council of Finland: Maiju Gyran, Timo Lehtinen, Sanna Marjavaara and Helena Vänskä
• Ministry of Education, Science and Culture: Paavo-Petri Ahonen and Saara Vihko

Frequently asked questions (in Finnish)

Do you have questions or feedback for us?

USC Rossier Faculty Share Takeaways From Finland Intensive

We just returned from a week in Finland with students of USC Rossier’s  Global Executive Doctor of Education  program. The program equips leaders from around the world to improve education through innovative practices, smart policy decisions and mission-driven entrepreneurial solutions. As a USC Rossier program, the program’s signature aim is to advance educational equity. On this visit, we brought 22 impressive leaders with us to learn about the Finnish education system.

Over the course of six intensive days, we met together with senior educational leaders, policymakers and administrators. We listened and posed questions as we explored all levels of the Finnish education system from early childhood, through primary and secondary, to higher education and adult learning. Our daily itineraries included visits to schools and universities as well as education incubators and startup campuses. We held discussions with organizations, officials and scholars responsible for implementing and improving on the Finnish education model.

The objectives of our visit were multifold. By spending time looking at the Finnish education experience, we wanted to see what had made their success possible. In 2003, Finland was ranked #1 in the world in science and reading and second in math in  Programme for International Student Assessment  (PISA) 1 , while its tertiary system of education was ranked first by the World Economic Forum. Though it has slipped some since then, Finnish students continue to perform well above the  Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD) average. Through our visit we sought to gain insights into the nature of their success as well as what might be applicable for improving our own educational systems. We also aspired to further international discourse and thinking in education and participate in an exchange of knowledge, fully aware that all of our systems of education have laudable features as well as areas for growth. We were especially interested in the Finnish experience in light of its rapidly diversifying demographics, with rising refugee and immigrant populations.

What we found special

At the end of our visit, we spent time as a group discussing what we had learned. The following lessons emerged as being particularly salient:

• The child and equity are at the center of decision making.  From the highest levels of government, to municipalities, to schools, to classrooms, there was a consistent message and focus on the dignity of humans, kids and teachers. This was evident in their emphasis on “solutions for the many, not the few” and on ensuring every student receives an education that prepares them for life. We learned that they were as surprised as anyone when the 2003 PISA results were published and they came in first, “We were just educating kids in the way we know,” placing equity as the key priority.
• The basis of education is child development.  A consistent theme we found was a commitment to doing what is developmentally appropriate for kids. We saw this reflected in the design of schools and classrooms, in the curriculum and in the focus of research at the university.
• A trust-based system of education.  They described this as trust-based accountability. A trust in schools and teachers and students allowed a focus on learning and reflection, not on accountability. A trust in teachers as experts in their fields and as esteemed professionals. As a result, teachers have autonomy in their classrooms and freedom to experiment. A trust in students to find and guide their own passions, and to have ownership of their school spaces. In this environment of trust, it is okay to say “I don’t know” and to fail. Some of our questions were met with, “I don’t know,” or “We are struggling there,” and “How can we together think about that?”
• A systemic focus on social-emotional learning and well-being.  We saw this shared value in language, in the curriculum, and in school culture. Repeatedly we heard and experienced “wellbeing first, then learning” and “wellbeing = well learning.”
• Coherence of the system–from early childhood education through adult education.  Early childhood education and adult education are very purposefully part of an integrated and coordinated system.
• Research-based practice and practice that influences future research.  Teacher education is research-based and teachers are trained as researchers and continue to be consumers and producers of new knowledge in the field. Spaces at the university are purposefully designed for learning about practice. There is close collaboration between education entities, startup campuses and university research hubs to guide practice. We noted how often conversations and answers began with discussing the research that supported practices and how practices were influencing the focus of future research in a continuous learning cycle.
• Joy is seen as an essential element of learning.  In libraries, classrooms and outdoor spaces, we saw evidence of joy in learning and kids who appeared happy to be in school.

Questions we left with

Like most societies, Finland is in the midst of change, and change is producing some unexpected reactions. While only 4% of the population is immigrant, in 2022 nearly 50,000 new immigrants arrived in the country, and there was a 189% increase in refugees between 2021 and 2022 alone. As is true in many Western European countries (and the United States) the influx of new immigrants is producing political backlash. A few months ago, an anti-immigrant “True Finn” party received enough votes to win representation in the national government, despite its embrace of openly racist rhetoric.

With the influx of immigrants, new challenges are emerging in schools. Finland now has greater disparities between “native” Finnish children and immigrant children than any other nation in the OECD, and those disparities remain in second-generation immigrant students. While there are large variations in the proportion of immigrant populations across schools in Finland, we mainly visited schools with a small proportion of immigrant student populations. We collectively left wondering:

• How might a system like Finland’s equitably support a diversifying student population?  We are curious how growing immigrant and refugee student populations’ needs will be met in the education system. What are their pathways to college and careers? What are the effects of the distribution of immigrant populations—some schools having a large percentage of immigrant/refugee student populations and others not—and other implications for growing segregation? Are schools with a large percentage of immigrant and refugee student populations provided with additional support to meet their needs? And, importantly, we want to know more about the implications of these developments for equity. We noted that the Finnish definition of equity may often be more akin to the concept of equality. Ultimately, we wondered how and if they will find a different path to avoid challenges other countries have faced regarding immigrant education, integration and honoring their own languages, cultures and histories.
• How will the rapid diversification of schools and society affect the culture of trust that underpins much of their success?  What will the “culture of trust” look like, how durable is it and how will it endure? How will increased challenges in meeting more diverse needs influence the trust that exists at the core of the system?
• Finally, impressed by their commitment to research and innovation and the support systems they have created for new start-ups, we wondered:  How can Finland create the conditions for the continued innovation and change they will need?  To what extent do their current policies support the innovation-driven culture that spurred their educational success in the first place? What are other Nordic neighbors, such as Sweden and Estonia, doing to support an innovation culture and what impact is that having on those education systems? And, how does research support their innovation and experimentation in education, and how can we better incorporate research into the innovation cycle.

We arrived to Finland with big questions and we left with new ideas, new drive and fresh inspiration for the ongoing quest for deeper answers.

1  The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics and science literacy every three years.

BY Rob Filback , Cathy Krop and Pedro Noguera

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Healthcare , MEDI Connection

How to become a doctor in finland.

Finland is an appealing destination for many doctors abroad, but working as a medical professional in Finland comes with some specific requirements. Here we have listed some necessary information to put you on the right track of how to become a healthcare professional in Finland.

EU/EEA countries (2022)

This process is faster and easier if you’ve undertaken your studies in an EU/EEA country, these are listed here for reference:

• Czech Republic
• Netherlands
• Iceland (EEA)
• Liechtenstein (EEA)
• Norway (EEA)
• Switzerland (EFTA)

Licensing process

The National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) must recognize your qualifications before you can practice medicine in Finland. Depending on whether you completed your studies within the EU/EEA or not, there are different routes to working in Finnish healthcare.

The doctor (EU/EEA) route also applies if you gained your certification elsewhere but have worked as a doctor within the EU/EEA for at least 3 years and have citizenship or comparable status in the EU/EEA.

If you haven’t yet reached YKI 3-4 level language skills, we provide Medical Finnish courses which are designed to not only teach you the language but also the necessary vocabulary for the healthcare sector.

We have also written a blog post to help prepare you for the YKI test .

Valvira licensed professions

The following are occupations in which you are eligible to be licensed by Valvira:

• Dental hygienist
• Dental technician
• Medical laboratory technologist
• Occupational therapist
• Physiotherapist
• Psychologist
• Public health nurse
• Radiographer
• Speech therapist

Authorization to practice

For other professions, you may be authorized (even if you studied outside of EU/EEA), but restricted to a fixed period and possibly a specific health facility.

Protected occupational titles

• Chiropractor
• Hospital cell biologist
• Hospital chemist
• Hospital geneticist
• Hospital microbiologist
• Hospital physicist
• Orthopedic technician
• Practical nurse for social and health care
• Psychotherapist
• Trained masseur

For more detailed information about Finnish healthcare licensing requirements for your specialization, you can read more on the Valvira website: Qualified in EU/EEA (Finnish) Qualified outside EU/EEA (Finnish)

Sources: Ammattioikeudet | Valvira EU- tai ETA-valtiossa koulutettu lääkäri | Valvira EU- tai ETA-valtioiden ulkopuolella koulutettu lääkäri | Valvira

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Doctoral education

As a rule, the right to complete a doctoral degree can be applied for by individuals who have completed a licentiate degree in medicine or dentistry, or another applicable higher education degree.

Those considering postgraduate studies must start by contacting researchers and research groups to find a suitable supervisor and research topic. The right to complete a doctoral degree is applied for from the Faculty after choosing the appropriate doctoral programme, supervisor(s) and thesis committee as well as drawing up the research plan.

The right to complete a doctoral degree is applied for with an electronic application form in the Studyinfo system at a separately announced time.

The objective of doctoral degrees is to familiarise doctoral students with scholarly thinking as well as to provide them with the ability to learn research methods and solve academic questions.

The objective of postgraduate education is that doctoral researchers

• Become profoundly familiar with their own field of research and its social significance; Gain knowledge and skills needed to apply academic research methods independently and critically within their field of research; Create new academic knowledge;
• Become highly familiar with the progress, basic problems and research methods of their own field of research; and
• Attain a grasp of the general theory of science and other disciplines related to their field of research that enables monitoring of progress in those fields

Applying for the right to pursue a doctoral degree Doctoral dissertation

Are you already a doctoral researcher?

The Instructions for Students website  is a service for doctoral researchers where you can find information on the funding of studies, the completion of the doctoral dissertation and all other instructions needed for completing a doctoral degree.

The doctoral programmes of the University of Helsinki operate under the auspices of the University of Helsinki Doctoral School. As a rule, doctoral education at the Faculty of Medicine takes place in the following doctoral programmes.

• Doctoral Programme in Biomedicine
• Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research
• Doctoral Programme in Oral Sciences
• Doctoral Programme in Population Health
• Doctoral Programme in Human Behaviour

Doctoral programmes hosted by other faculties where you can complete doctoral degrees in medicine, dentistry, psychology and philosophy:

• Doctoral Programme Brain & Mind
• Doctoral Programme in Integrative Life Science
• Doctoral Programme in Clinical Veterinary Medicine
• Doctoral Programme in Drug Research
• Doctoral Programme in Microbiology and Biotechnology
• Doctoral Programme in Cognition, Learning, Instruction and Communication

For further information on belonging to a doctoral programme, see the University website .

At the Faculty of Medicine, there are, as a rule, two application rounds per year: one in the spring and one in the autumn. If you are considering embarking on postgraduate studies, please carefully read the application instructions well in advance of the beginning of the next application round. Please reach out to your prospective doctoral programme. A carefully prepared application is the first step towards a doctoral degree.

Further information

Further information can be obtained from Admissions Services: [email protected] .

NB. Please see information on admissions on each doctoral programme’s own website . See also the University of Helsinki web page  "The application process in a nutshell" .

The postgraduate Doctor of Medical Science and Doctor of Dental Science degrees are offered to holders of a licentiate degree and demonstrate the ability to conduct independent scholarly research.

Please see the doctoral programme–specific requirements on the programme websites and in the course catalogues  ( Sisu ).

The studies required for a doctoral degree acquaint doctoral researchers with the general issues and methods of scholarly research and medical research.

• Become profoundly familiar with their own field of research and its social significance and gain the knowledge and skills needed to apply academic research methods independently and critically and create new academic knowledge within their field of research;
• Attain a grasp of the general theory of science and other disciplines related to their field of research that enables monitoring of progress in those fields (chapter 5, section 21, Government Decree 794/2004).

Structure and scope

A doctoral degree can be completed in four years of full-time study. The degree can also be completed on a part-time basis. The degree comprises studies worth a total of 40 credits and a doctoral dissertation. In accordance with the degree requirements that entered into force on 1 August 2017, doctoral studies are divided into discipline-specific studies (30 credits) and general transferable skills studies (10 credits). The new degree requirements apply to all doctoral researchers who have been granted their right to complete a degree after 1 August 2017. Students must complete their degrees in accordance with the specific requirements of their doctoral programmes.

Discipline-specific studies and research ethics, 30 cr

The objective of discipline-specific studies is in-depth familiarisation with knowledge and methods in the research field as well as following its progress. The discipline-specific studies include a compulsory course on research ethics.

A book examination can be included in the discipline-specific studies. Research visits abroad as well as presentations and poster presentations held at international conferences may be included in discipline-specific studies if the doctoral researcher is the first or second author of the presentation. In addition, presentations and poster presentations held in Finland as well as presentations held at internal academic clinic or departmental meetings can be included in discipline-specific studies. The maximum number of credits awarded for the above-mentioned activities is determined in accordance with doctoral programme–specific requirements.

General transferable skills, 10 cr

The aim of studies in general transferable skills is to familiarise doctoral researchers with, for example, common research methods in medicine and dentistry, the planning of research, the assessment and publication of results, academic writing and the ethics principles of research.

In general transferable skills studies, the Faculty particularly emphasises methodology courses. Courses that touch upon, among other things, the philosophy of science, ethics, research planning and methodology can be accepted as studies in general transferable skills. In addition, courses and other studies related to academic writing, research reporting, publishing and presenting as well as project-based work can be included in general transferable skills studies. The content of these studies is determined in accordance with doctoral programme–specific requirements. Training in the field of the doctoral dissertation cannot be included in general transferable skills studies.

Doctoral researchers must complete a compulsory laboratory animal course if they personally conduct animal experiments.

The Faculty of Medicine offers the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to persons who have completed a second-cycle degree at a Finnish university or an equivalent degree at a university outside Finland.

A doctoral degree can be completed in four years of full-time study. The degree can also be completed on a part-time basis. The degree includes a doctoral dissertation and 40 credits of studies. In accordance with the degree requirements that entered into force on 1 August 2017, doctoral studies are divided into discipline-specific studies (30 credits) and general transferable skills studies (10 credits). The new degree requirements apply to all doctoral researchers who have been granted their right to complete a degree after 1 August 2017. Students must complete their degrees in accordance with the specific requirements of their doctoral programmes.

The objective of discipline-specific studies is in-depth familiarisation with knowledge and methods in the research field as well as following its progress. The discipline-specific studies include a course on research ethics.

A book examination can be included in discipline-specific studies. Research visits abroad as well as presentations and poster presentations held at international conferences may be included in discipline-specific studies if the doctoral researcher is the first or second author of the presentation. In addition, presentations and poster presentations held in Finland as well as presentations held at internal academic clinic or departmental meetings can be included in discipline-specific studies. The maximum number of credits awarded for the above-mentioned activities is determined in accordance with doctoral programme–specific requirements.

The aim of studies in general transferable skills is to familiarise doctoral researchers with, for example, common research methods in their field of research, the planning of research, the assessment and publication of results, academic writing and the ethics principles of research.

Studies up to five credits in university pedagogy can be included in general transferable skills studies.

The Faculty of Medicine offers psychology majors the opportunity to complete the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology), provided that they have completed the Master of Arts (Psychology) degree or the advanced studies and the traineeship included in the Master of Arts (Psychology) degree.

A doctoral degree can be completed in four years of full-time study. The degree can also be completed on a part-time basis. In accordance with the degree requirements that entered into force on 1 August 2017, the degree includes a doctoral dissertation and 40 credits of studies. The new degree requirements apply to all doctoral researchers who have been granted their right to complete a degree after 1 August 2017. Students must complete their degrees in accordance with the specific requirements of their doctoral programmes.

The purpose of discipline-specific studies is to support the doctoral thesis project and the development of doctoral researchers’ expertise. Discipline-specific studies focus on psychology and neuroscience, methodology and other topics supporting the thesis project. As the objective of doctoral education is that doctoral researchers become profoundly familiar with their research field and follow international trends in it, it is recommended that they attend both national and international conferences and courses related to the topic of their doctoral thesis. NB! The requirements of a doctoral degree always include a course in research ethics.

Studies in general transferable skills develop doctoral researchers’ skills and self-understanding as researchers. They also support doctoral researchers in acquiring what are known as generic skills. In addition, courses and other studies related to academic writing, research reporting, publishing and presenting can be included in the degree.

Since 1 August 2008, the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, has provided holders of a second-cycle degree in the natural sciences with the opportunity to complete a Licentiate of Philosophy degree which includes specialist training in clinical chemistry or clinical microbiology (Decree amendment 221/1994, section 14a/28 September 2000).

The Licentiate of Philosophy degree comprises two main components: postgraduate research studies and a licentiate thesis, as well as training completed alongside them. The scope of the postgraduate research studies is 60 credits.

Holders of a Doctor or Licentiate of Philosophy degree need not complete a Licentiate of Philosophy degree as part of the specialist training in clinical chemistry or clinical microbiology. Rather, they will receive a separate certificate for qualification in clinical chemistry or clinical microbiology.

NB! In accordance with the rector’s decision on 29 November 2017, the names of specialist training programmes that begin with the word ‘sairaala’ (clinical) in Finnish have been changed.

The amendment to the Universities Act, which entered into force on 1 January 2015, defines professional specialisation programmes as studies intended to be completed after a higher education degree and designed for degree holders in order to promote their professional development and specialisation. They are intended to generate competence in areas of expertise for which no market-based provision of education is available. Specialisation programmes do not constitute education leading to a university degree. In the future, the training in clinical chemistry and clinical microbiology completed as part of the licentiate degree cannot be called professional specialisation education. In the future, they will be called specialist training in clinical chemistry and specialist training in clinical microbiology.

Applying for the right to study

Eligibility for postgraduate studies.

The basic requirement for the specialist training in clinical chemistry is a second-cycle degree in the natural sciences or a Master of Science (Technology) degree, including an extensive syllabus in biochemistry or chemistry, or a corresponding degree completed abroad.

As a rule, the basic requirement for the specialist training in clinical microbiology is a Master of Arts, Master of Science (Agriculture and Forestry) or Master of Science (Food Sciences) degree, with general microbiology (Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki) or microbiology (Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki) as the major subject. In addition, applicants with a master’s degree in biosciences with something other than microbiology as the major subject are required to have completed advanced studies (120 cr) in general microbiology and a six-month traineeship in the field of microbiology. They are also required to present additional evidence of academic activity (in addition to a special assignment, for example, contribution to a scholarly article or supervised supplementation of a secondary assignment into a master’s thesis).

Applications are accepted from applicants who have completed the required degree and who have been appointed to or have served in a training position, post or locum post for at least one (1) month.

Application periods and procedures

A continuous admission procedure is in use. Applicants submit the required application documents to the Faculty’s academic affairs office, including supporting statements by the supervisor of their Licentiate of Philosophy degree and thesis and the degree programme coordinator. The dean decides on granting the right to study.

Admissions criteria

• Eligibility for postgraduate studies required by standing orders
• Appointment to or prior service in a training position, post or locum post for at least one (1) month
• Acceptable research plan for licentiate research
• Acceptable personal study plan
• Supporting statement by the supervisor of the Licentiate of Philosophy degree and thesis
• Supporting statement by the degree programme coordinator

Specialist training in clinical microbiology

Coordinator: Docent, Clinical Instructor Hanna Jarva  [email protected]

Specialist training in clinical chemistry

Coordinator: Kari Pulkki,  [email protected]

Training agreement

A personal training agreement can be concluded if the trainee is completing a training-related service at a training site outside university hospitals. The programme coordinator decides whether service at a training site outside university hospitals can be included in the degree. The training agreement can be submitted to the Faculty’s academic affairs office together with the degree certificate application (at the graduation stage).

Examinations

The specialist training in clinical microbiology and clinical microbiology involves a national qualification examination. The examination will be conducted in conjunction with the national specialist examination in medicine and dentistry. Registration for the examination takes place electronically five weeks before the examination date. Instructions and the registration form are available on the website for the specialist examination in medicine . Registrations will be forwarded to the Faculty, which will review rights to study. You will also receive an email confirmation that you are allowed to take the examination.

The Faculty awards certificates for completed degrees. Before applying for a degree certificate, postgraduate students must have their entire training programme approved. The application must specify the service and training sessions proposed to be included, and must be accompanied by certificates for such service and training. Service certificates must also include information about any leave and interruptions of service.

Once a postgraduate student’s entire specialist training in clinical chemistry or clinical microbiology (or psychology) has been approved, they can apply for a Licentiate of Philosophy degree certificate.

• Degree certificate application
• Coordinator for specialist training in clinical chemistry, Clinical Instructor Päivi Lakkisto, [email protected]
• Coordinator for specialist training in clinical microbiology, Docent, Clinical Instructor Hanna Jarva,  [email protected]
• [email protected] , +358 2941 26200 (academic advice on specialist training), Mon 12.00–15.00 and Thu 10.00–12.00
• Meilahti doctoral student services +358 2941 26617,  [email protected]  (postgraduate research studies and licentiate research)