dissertation phd finland

Doctoral dissertations

The dissertation can be either a monograph or a compilation dissertation. The dissertation is always evaluated on the basis of the entire dissertation, regardless of the type of dissertation.

A monograph is a unified scientific presentation in the name of its author alone, based on independent research and previously unpublished. During the monograph work, the author may publish articles related to the topic of the dissertation and refer to them in the dissertation.

Compilation dissertation

A compilation dissertation is a publication consisting of an introductory chapter and at least three scientific manuscripts dealing with a common research problem or set of problems. A compilation dissertation may consist of peer-reviewed articles already published or approved for publication, or previously unpublished manuscripts that are in the scientific peer review process or ready to be submitted to the peer review process.

Compilation dissertation's summary section A compilation work intended for dissertation must include a section summarising the articles or manuscripts prepared by the doctoral candidate, presenting the research problem, objectives, methods, materials, results and the positioning and contribution of the work in the research field. The goal is a summary section that is more than the sum of the individual articles or manuscripts. Joint publications in a compilation dissertation A compilation dissertation can also include joint publications, if the doctoral candidate's independently produced part in them can be determined. If the dissertation contains joint publications, the author of the research must provide a separate written explanation of his or her independent contribution when submitting his or her manuscript for preliminary examination. The explanation must include the approval of the other authors.  In addition, the author's independent contribution must be highlighted in the introductory chapter of the dissertation in an appropriate manner. For justified reasons, the same joint publication or essay may be used in the dissertations of several different

Language of the dissertation

The doctoral dissertation shall be written in Finnish, Swedish or English, or in some other language with the consent of the school. The language used in the manuscript shall be the same as in the final doctoral dissertation. An abstract both in Finnish and in the language used in the publication shall always be enclosed in the doctoral dissertation. If the doctoral dissertation is written in Finnish, the abstract shall be in English. If the doctoral dissertation is written in some other language than that of the candidate’s mother tongue, it is recommended that the dissertation is submitted for language revision before submitting it to the examination. The language check should be agreed with the supervisor well beforehand. The supervisor will give more instructions about how to conduct the language check and how to cover the related costs.

Evaluation criteria of the dissertation

In the evaluation, the preliminary examiner must pay attention to the following evaluation criteria:

1.Choice of topic, setting the research problem and positioning the research in scientific and social debate

2.Theoretical mastery, conceptual clarity and conceptual-theoretical development work of topic

3.Complexity of research methods used and their management, as well as quality of research material

4.Management of research results and their critical evaluation5.Adherence to good scientific practice and ethically sustainable principles

6.Critical approach and maturity of reflection

7.Demonstrated personal input and independent work

8.Consistency, clarity of presentation and correctness of language of dissertation9.Ability to create new scientific knowledge

10.(Opponent: doctoral candidate's ability to defend his/her dissertation at public examination)

Digital dissertations and theses at the University of Helsinki

This site describes how to search dissertations and theses written at the University of Helsinki. You can also read instructions about submitting and publishing theses. You can find more information about the services related to digital theses and dissertations here .

Browse or search dissertations and theses

You can search for digital theses and dissertations in the Helsinki University Digital Repository Helda .

• Browse digital master's theses in Helda
• Browse digital doctoral dissertions in Helda
• Forthcoming public examinations of doctoral dissertations
• Search digital and printed theses in the Helka Library Catalogue

How to publish your doctoral dissertation

Please read the instructions how to fill in the doctoral dissertation form and publish your doctoral dissertation in the digital repository Helda.

How to submit your master's thesis

Please read the instructions how to submit your master's thesis (or equivalent like licentiate thesis in veterinary medicine and thesis in advaced studies in medicine) for evaluation and instructions how to publish your thesis. Please read the faculty specific instructions below.

• Agriculture and Forestry
• Biological and Environmental Sciences
• Educational Sciences
• Social Sciences
• Veterinary Medicine

How to submit your bachelor's thesis

Please read the faculty specific instructions how to submit your bachelor's thesis for evaluation.

• Swedish School of Social Science

Instructions for examiners of master's theses

Please read the examiners instructions for using the E-thesis system for evaluating master's and bachelor's theses.

Contact information

• Evaluation of master's and bachelor's theses
• Teaching and Learning Services
• [email protected]
• Doctoral dissertations, availability and publishing of dissertations and theses
• Helsinki University Library
• [email protected]
• © HULib 2012-2020

UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI

• About E-thesis
• Data protection
• Accessibility

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

Guidelines of doctoral dissertation

The general stipulations on the form of the doctoral dissertation are contained in the Government Decrees 794/2004 , Chapter 5, Section 22 and 1039/2013, Sections 21, 22 and 26. The doctoral dissertation must fulfil these requirements.

As the final project of the doctoral degree, postgraduate students write a doctoral dissertation and defend it in a public examination.

Forms of the dissertation

A doctoral dissertation is a consistent presentation that is based on independent research and contains new scientific knowledge. It can be either a single work (monograph) written by the doctoral student or a collection of scientific pieces or manuscripts accepted for publication that pertain to the same theme and include a summary (an article-based dissertation or sometimes referrer to as PhD by publication). The publications may also include co-authored works provided that the portion prepared by the doctoral student independently can be demonstrated. A previously published monograph cannot be accepted as a dissertation.

A dissertation in artistic fields comprises of an artistic or practical part and a reflective portion. The artistic or practical part of the dissertation can be either an independent work of art or a series of works as well as other experimentation with or research into methods and concepts arising from the doctoral student’s own artistic work. The artistic or practical section and the related reflective part must form a coherent whole that describes, supports and promotes the artist’s development.

The dissertation must contain new scientific knowledge and demonstrate critical thinking, in-depth knowledge of one’s own field of research, mastery of research methods, and the ability to apply them. The dissertation should be written in a language approved by the faculty; it is English in most cases.

Special characteristics of an article-based dissertation

An article-based doctoral dissertation must form a scientific whole whose goals, methods and research results are presented in a summary. The faculty provides instructions on the number of articles included in the scientific whole and on whether they need to be already published or approved for publication at the time of the pre-examination. Even when considered individually, each article must contain new results or perspectives.

The publications may also include co-authored works if the portion prepared by the doctoral student independently can be demonstrated. The doctoral student must describe his/her role in the co-authored works. The article-based doctoral dissertation cannot include parts of a previous dissertation by the author.

Discuss these requirements further with your responsible supervisor.

The doctoral dissertation process

The main stages of authoring and approving a doctoral dissertation are the following:

• doctoral dissertation is drafted according to sound scientific practice
• originality check of the manuscript is done with Turnitin-tool
• pre-examination and permission to defend the dissertation (revision if needed)
• deciding the time of the public examination and appointing the opponent, the assessment board and the custos
• printing the dissertation and its electronic publication
• communicating about the dissertation
• public examination
• grading the dissertation
• archiving the dissertation

The process is largely similar in all the faculties, but the practices may vary somewhat. The best way to find out about them is to ask the faculty’s study administration personnel or your supervisor. The average time from submitting the manuscript for pre-examination to graduation is from four to six months.

Open Doctoral Programme of Computing and Electrical Engineering (DPCEE)

Open doctoral programme in built environment (dpben), open faculty of education and culture (edu), open faculty of information technology and communication sciences (dpmcp, dpii, dphat, dpla), open doctoral programme in engineering sciences, ttito, open doctoral programme in engineering and natural sciences (tlto), open doctoral programme in business and technology management (toto), open faculty of social sciences (soc), open faculty of medicine and health technology (met), open doctoral programme in administrative sciences, business studies and politics.

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

Doctoral Programme in Computer Science

The general theme of the DoCS doctoral programme is computer science. The focal areas of DoCS are Algorithmic bioinformatics; Algorithms, data analytics, and machine learning; Data Science; Networks and services; and Software systems.

Want to know more? Visit our profile & activities page to learn more about the programme.

Refine your search

• For a graduating student

ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO

JOENSUU, KUOPIO

All degrees conclude with a supervised written paper called a thesis. The following is a list of theses at UEF:

• Bachelor’s Thesis (Bachelor’s degree)
• Master’s Thesis (Master’s degree)
• Licentiate Thesis (Licentiate’s degree)
• Doctoral Dissertation (Doctoral degree)

The students get support to their thesis writing process in the form of seminars in which the participants typically present their work and comment on each other’s thesis plans at various stages. This way all participants receive feedback and support for their own writing process from both the thesis supervisor and the other seminar participants.

Instructions on the accessibility of theses have been prepared as a base file (Word template file and PDF-file ), which is applied in theses made at the university. The student is responsible for the accessibility of his / her thesis. In addition to the thesis instructions to be achieved, the student must follow the thesis instructions given by each faculties. See more about accessibility in studies (contain also word instructional video).

• Please, watch here how to import a template layout into a document you’ve already created.

The goals, form, language, and grading criteria of theses are defined in the curriculum of the respective faculty and/or academic subject. More information can be found in syllabuses and Study Communities . For extended information about licentiate theses and doctoral dissertations, please check the Doctoral Education site at Kamu .

Examination and grading of theses

The examination and grading process vary depending on the level of thesis. A Bachelor’s thesis is graded by the teacher of the study module. Master’s theses are graded by the head of department, and their examination process is uniform throughout UEF.

The examination process and instructions for licentiate theses and dissertations can be found on the Doctoral Education site at Kamu.

As per the decision (18.12.2014) of the UEF rector, the originality of all theses is to be verified via the plagiarism detection system .

Should the student be dissatisfied with the grading of his or her thesis, they may appeal for a revision. Instructions for the appeal are included alongside the grading decision.

Publicity and publication of theses

Theses written by degree students are principally public on the basis of the Constitution of Finland (731/1999 12,2 §) and Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999 1§). The guide of the Ministry of Education states that universities are obligated to ensure that theses do not include confidential material and that they become public immediately upon approval (Ministry of Education guidelines: Publicity of theses 28.1.2004 Jnl No. 3/5000/2004).

A university degree prepares students for scientific research, one key principle of which is openness. The University of Eastern Finland is committed to supporting the principles of open science and research, and strongly recommends Master’s theses and licentiate theses to be published with Open Access. Dissertations are always published, and a publishing agreement is made for dissertations that are published as a part of the UEF publication series.

Every year, UEF Library raffles off a grant worth EUR 100 among UEF students who have made their master’s thesis publicly available. Sign up by submitting this electronic form once your master’s thesis has been published online.

Faculties’ Guidelines and Instructions

Faculty of Health Sciences

Instructions

• Guidelines/Master’s thesis (pdf)
• Process chart for Master’s thesis (pdf)
• Evaluation criteria of Master’s theses (pdf)
• Thesis Supervision plan (Master’s Degree) (pdf)

Philosophical Faculty

• Evaluation criteria of theses for undergraduate degrees and other theses in the Philosophical Faculty (pdf)

Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology

Commencement of thesis and appointing thesis supervisors

• Library’s checklist for preparing master’s thesis
• Thesis submission and evaluation

• PhD Stories

Doing a PhD in Finland

• Posted by by Nicholas Rowe
• 5. November 2019
• 7 minute read

From writing your own PhD research proposal to receiving your own doctoral sword (yes, really!), doing a PhD in Finland offers many challenges and surprising turns. Find out all about them in this overview article.

Doing your PhD in Finland: How to get in

The Finnish PhD system is fairly simple, but steeped in tradition. You need a master’s degree or equivalent to be accepted for study. If you choose your own PhD topic, you submit a research proposal to a university that specialises in your area, and once your application has been reviewed they accept or reject you.

Of course, there are PhD positions available on established research projects that are advertised on media sites and educational platforms, and these would entail a formal application +/- interview.

Your application should convince the university of the need for study in your area, and of your own suitability to carry out the research. So, having a ‘track record’ is very important when proposing new lines of independent research, whereas showing potential in your field of study is perhaps more important if you are going to join an established research team.

The first steps towards my PhD

I based my research proposal on my previous research and publications. Ideally, you will contact a professor in your field who will help direct the proposal, but in my case there were no specialists in the country. I am a trans-disciplinary educationalist and specify in ‘scientific communication’ (how we as scientists, academics and professionals share our work with each other) as opposed to ‘science communication’ (how we share our results with more public audiences). So, I pressed on alone and selected my institution based on the published interests and research groups of the university. The basic application form was 5 pages, and was sent with a motivation letter, an 8 page research plan, CV and certificates.

Supervision and funding

The university appoints a supervisor based on their closeness to your field, so it is more difficult to forward new ideas and research themes if they do not align with existing expertise or interests. Funding for a PhD in Finland may be provided for established research projects in terms of scholarships. If you propose your own topic, it is normally self-funded or will require you to find external funding. Finland does not charge tuition fees for EU applicants.

My PhD journey

Between starting your PhD programme and handing in your dissertation, the PhD journey is different for everyone. As a confession, I did my PhD not for the award, but rather as a means to conduct the research.

Various military strategists have viewed that ‘the first casualty of war is the battle plan’, and this was certainly true in my case. My initial research showed that a bigger issue existed than that which I had outlined in my proposal, so my research direction changed to answer more fundamental questions and to fill important gaps in our knowledge. Overall, I think this allowed me to develop as an independent researcher and to produce a more novel knowledge contribution. However, it also showed me that when we undertake unique research, we often become solo researchers in our PhD journey. Seeing the work through to the end requires perseverance, but it also makes us experts in our field, moving our discipline forward.

While many are aware of ‘ science communication ’, there was very little attention being paid to how we communicate science among ourselves, and especially the role that conferences play in knowledge dissemination. I had rapidly become accustomed to the raised eyebrows people gave when I said I was researching conference posters, but as I explored and developed the evidence, it became clear that my initial feelings as to their neglected role and significance were well-founded .

Challenging popular opinions and the academic status quo on this topic was not easy, and I had to undertake a range of activities to get my message ‘out there’. On reflection, whilst my original topic would have served to earn me a PhD, I think the final thesis made a far more meaningful contribution and provided a baseline for promoting cultural change in my area. Importantly, I feel that it underlined the need for scientific communication to be seen as a focal area of study across disciplines, and to develop our conference activities into forming a new ‘academic currency’ beyond the ubiquitous staple of journal publication.

Dissertation and coursework for a PhD in Finland

In Finland (and many other countries), a dissertation may be a monograph thesis or a thesis based on publications (3-4 published articles plus a summary thesis of around 100 pages). The PhD or doctoral degree is the equivalent of 240 ECTS points (1 ECTS point is equal to 25-30 hours of study in the EU). Of those, the dissertation accounts for 180 ECTS and the remaining 60 ECTS are awarded for general and advanced studies. My dissertation consisted of 4 published papers plus the summary thesis, but many universities accept 3 published papers. Normally, conference proceedings papers will not count towards your dissertation, although this will depend on your discipline and institution. It is obligatory to meet the full ECTS requirements to receive a PhD.

From dissertation to defence

When your thesis is ready, it is pre-examined internally during a ‘Grand Seminar’ and evaluated by a faculty thesis panel. If approved, it is sent out for external review, usually to one national expert and one international expert. Students can suggest reviewers, but must not have contact with them. External examiners pass comments, suggest revisions, and make a recommendation as to whether the thesis should proceed to a public defence.

A digital copy of the PhD is made available to the public online 10 days before the defence date, and the event is publicized in local and national media. A printed copy of the thesis is placed in the University foyer for anyone to read (I think some Scandinavian countries still physically nail a copy to the noticeboard!).

Defending your thesis: Bring extra stamina!

The defence proceedings are run by the ‘Custos’, who is usually the candidate’s supervisor. The thesis is examined by an external ‘Opponent’ who is considered an expert in the field and selected in agreement between the candidate and their supervisor. Anyone can attend the public defence.

Usually, the Custos opens proceedings. The candidate presents their thesis in a ‘Lectio praecursoria’, then the Opponent offers their critical evaluation. In principle, it is an academic exchange and discussion of the work that has been done, but it can become quite heated, so the role of the Custos is to moderate proceedings and protect their candidate. The minimum duration of a defence is two hours, with up to four hours the norm, but up to 6 hours is permitted. At the end, the floor is opened to the public and they are free to ask questions.

Finnish PhDs are graded. The grading panel (Opponent and usually the academic who led the internal pre-examination) retires to recommend whether the defence has been successful and to grade the thesis from 1 (sufficient: performance meets the minimum criteria) to 5 (excellent: outstanding performance with only minor errors).

Celebrating with a traditional ‘karonkka’ dinner

In the evening, the new Doctor is obliged to host a formal dinner (karonkka) for their Opponent and Custos, and any number of further guests. The karonkka takes place in a private dining area or specially rented ‘kabinet’. Seating protocols, a prescribed order of speeches, individual dietary requirements … it is quite nerve-wracking to arrange, regardless of the number of invited guests! Dress is formal evening wear.

For my own karonkka, guests were given a champagne welcome, followed by an appetizer of King Crab Salad with fennel, apple & spring onion, and a hot crab broth. The main course consisted of Chicken Milanesa with horseradish, capers & grilled lime, served with Lappish potatoes in dill butter, oven-roasted root vegetables & green salad. White and red wines were served with the meal, and it is a requirement that as guests of honour, the Opponent and supervisor’s glasses are never allowed to be empty!

After the formal part of the dinner, it is custom for the guests of honour to retire. The host then entertains the remainder of the guests until the evening is done.

Becoming a REAL PhD in Finland: Getting your hat and doctoral sword at Conferment

Although you have been awarded your PhD, you are not considered a fully-fledged doctor until you have undergone the official ceremony of Conferment. How do you tell if someone is conferred? Well, on university occasions such as thesis defences or awards ceremonies, those who have not undergone conferment are not entitled to actually wear their PhD hats, and must carry them instead (a sort of ‘hat-shaming’!).

As well as their doctoral hat, new PhDs are awarded their doctoral sword at conferment. In preparation for this special distinction, a sword-whetting ceremony takes place on the evening before conferment. New doctors dress in formal dinner suits, bringing with them the sword that they will be awarded the next day. After a formal dinner, each doctor is invoked to sharpen his sword on a large grindstone turned by the Rector and the sword-whetting party. The graduates offer a short speech of what the sword means to them as a symbol of defending knowledge and pledge for their future as a new doctor.

Hats in all colors

On conferment day, new doctors dress in formal tailcoats and are presented with their sword, hat and diploma of conferment. The basic hat colour is black, but may vary for specific fields. Doctors of Fine Arts use dark blue, Doctors of Law use crimson, Doctors of Medicine and Dentistry use dark green, Doctors of Military Science use grey, Doctors of Music use sky blue, and Doctors of Theology use purple.

The Conferment ceremony is only held every few years, so it can be quite a gathering. As well as the newly conferred doctors, the assembly will include those who have been conferred with honorary doctorates by the university, and may well include well-known personages. In my case, we even had to adopt certain elements of royal protocol, and I remember thinking what sort of challenges this must pose for the bodyguards when their charge is surrounded by over a hundred well-armed ‘classmates’!

After Conferment: Church, Dinner and Dancing

After the formal conferment ceremony (which in my case lasted over 3 hours), the assembly processes through the streets of the city to a church service. On this occasion, it is quite amusing to see people ‘breaking ranks’ at the church door if this is not their thing. In the evening, you change your waistcoat from black to white, and it’s off to dinner and dancing!

For our conferment dinner, we were served an appetizer of Lappish delicacies, followed by reindeer shank with pepper sauce, a cloudberry parfait, and again, a plentiful supply of wines and champagne. As the evening died down, people slipped away to finish of the evening.

It is quite funny that in this day and age, Finland is a place where you can leave the festivities, head into town in a taxi for a nightcap, still wearing a top hat and tails and sporting a meter-long dueling sword … and nobody bats an eyelid!

About the Author

Nicholas Rowe recently completed a PhD in Adult Education at the University of Lapland in Northern Finland. As a trans-disciplinary educationalist, he specifies in ‘scientific communication’. He moved to Finland from the UK in 2010 for family reasons, having taught healthcare-related programs for 5 years before. Nicholas has a special interest in conferences as sites of learning, and doing a PhD allowed him to continue his research. His article-based PhD, titled ‘Poster, poster, on the wall; were you even there at all?’ , formed a mixed method research into the efficacy and perceptions of conference poster presentations.

Loved reading about this… thank you Nicholas. Makes me want to do a PhD there (after I finish the one I’m doing here in the UK!)… Rob Tootell

Thank you Nicholas, such an interesting article. Your say the swords are fencing swords, are they epees? How different is the formal clothing for women? When did Finland confer PhDs on women?Does everyone need to defend their thesis in Finnish?

I have started reading your work and I hope that it will offer insights for me and others in the fields of Librarianship and other faculties who are offered the opportunity of poster presentation yet those posters are lost in the noise of the conference. In fact, after my second conference when I went looking for the poster presentations I decided that there should be a morning or afternoon tea break held in the vicinity of the posters so that the delegates who wanted to eat/drink had to do so whilst in very close proximity to the posters and their presenters.

Congratulations on your achievements and thank you for your work. Dr Nadine Gibbons PhD

The swords are what they call ‘small swords’. In the 1800s people thought that carrying a full rapier in public was uncivilized so a slightly smaller sword was introduced. It was still about a metre in length, but as clothes had changed to be open at the front, these swords were easier to wear. There sole purpose was for duelling and ‘defending your honour’. I am not sure when the first one was used in academic dress, but men & women have worn them equally for a long time.

The first female PhD in Finland was in 1901.

Hi Nicholas, I have enjoyed reading about your PhD journey, Congratulations! I am looking into the possibility of doing a PhD in Finland, and wonder how intense the course work is? Also, does the system include exams like the USA qualifying exams before starting the dissertation?

Of course, regulations and processes differ between faculties and universities. Most of the time you can choose your study units from what’s on offer, and just have to have a certain amount of credits for each mandatory section. If you already have qualifications or evidence of having attained a certain level in a subject (published papers, certification, etc.), you can apply for substitution or consideration of prior learning/experience. I did a fair number of units like this. There are uni entrance exams here (but they are being phased out). Some units might have an exam assessment, but generally you have to have a Master’s or equiv. to get in, then your progress is assessed by your supervisor. People often start building their dissertation quite early for monographs, but later on for PhD by publication (at the thesis is generally later in emerging).

Thank you for any other wonderful post. The place else may anybody get that type of information in such an ideal way of writing? I’ve a presentation next week, and I am at the look for such info.

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Privacy Overview

Doctoral Programme in Fine Arts

The Academy of Fine Arts offers doctoral education that emphasises high-quality artistic work and related research in the field of fine arts.

Why study here?

Come and conduct research at the Academy of Fine Arts, where art and the artist are the focal points. Research subjects – whether embodied in the research question or the method, material or objective of research – cover the meaning, practices, techniques and methods of art, as well as the principles and institutional arrangements that determine the production, reception, training and application of art.

About the studies

Doctoral studies provide students with the abilities and the opportunity to conduct independent and creative artistic research. Artistic research is a field of multidisciplinary research that focuses on the artist and art. Graduates of our programme are artist-researchers who develop and renew arts, as well as the making, research and teaching of arts. The programme admits new students every other year.

They engage in a diverse and critical dialogue with the different actors in society. As experts in their field, they create art and produce information, knowledge, and insights based on art-related practices that can be applied in the arts and also in other sectors of society.

Our doctoral programme develops the artist-researchers’ ability to apply their skills as artists, researchers, teachers, and experts.

Structure of the degree

The Doctor of Fine Arts degree extends to 240 ECTS credits, which corresponds to four years of full-time studies.

The degree consists of the doctoral thesis project (170 cr) and doctoral studies in fine arts (70 cr), which includes 60 cr of mandatory studies and 10 cr of elective studies.

Teaching during the academic year takes place over 7 intensive seminar weeks and is arranged together with the Theatre Academy’s Performing Arts Research Centre (Tutke). The more detailed course information can be found in the study guide .

Thesis project

The doctoral thesis project in fine arts can include art exhibitions, exhibition curating, individual artworks, artistic processes or experimental arrangements and their articulation, conceptualisation and theorisation. Typically, a doctoral thesis project consists of one or several visual art components (a maximum total of 140 cr) as well as a written component (30-170 cr). In addition, the thesis project must be available as an electronically archivable documentation. The artistic components are public artistic research findings. The written component runs parallel to the visual art components and justifies the research approach and goals in relation to other research and practices within the field. On a discretionary basis, the doctoral thesis project can also consist exclusively of research in written form.

• Professor, Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts
• +358503473969
• [email protected]

Maiju Loukola

• University Lecturer, Artistic research Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts
• +358504720344
• [email protected]

Denise Ziegler

• Professor, Artistic research Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts Visiting researcher, Academy of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts
• +358504080197
• [email protected]

Contact information for the doctoral programme

Further information about the admission process.

[email protected]

Other inquiries concerning doctoral education and research at the Academy of Fine Arts

Minna Luomala Planning officer (doctoral education) [email protected] tel. +358 50 4018 630

Michaela Bränn Specialist (research) [email protected] tel. +358 40 63 13 553

More about the research and study activities

Target degree and length of study.

Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA)

You can apply to

Application period.

The next application period will be in autumn 2024. The studies begin in autumn 2025.

Application languages

English, Finnish, Swedish Read more about the language skill requirements

Tuition fee

There is no tuition fee in the doctoral programme.

Supervising teacher

Mika Elo Professor

Academy of Fine Arts

Opinnäytteiden haku: Searching theses in databases

• Opinnäytteiden hakeminen tietokannoista
• Searching theses in databases

Theses of the Tampere Higher Education Community

You can find all theses of Tampere Universities through Andor . Most of the latest theses are available openly online.

There are two ways of searching for theses in Andor.

• Basic search: Limit your search results to theses using Resource Type limiter on the left-hand menu.
• Advanced search: Select Institutional Repositories (Trepo & Theseus) option. In addition to Tampere University's theses in Trepo and Tampere University of Applied Sciences' theses in Theseus, you'll also get Tampere university's researchers' journal articles in the results.

Openly accessible theses can be found also directly through the repositories. In Trepo and Theseus the full text of the thesis is searched. You can also browse the theses there by faculty/degree programme/study subject/field of education.

The theses of the University (since 2019) that are not available openly online, can be read at Theses Access Points (Arvo + Hervanta + Linna) in the library. Dissertations can also be found in library's printed collection. The theses of TAMK (since autumn 2021) that are not available online, can be read at Theses Access Points (TAMK Main Campus) in the library.

• Andor search service This link opens in a new window

Most of the thesis written at Finnish universities can be found through the national Finna search portal. Printed versions of theses can be searched in the respective university library's own catalogue.

Submitting your thesis to evaluation

If you are looking for information on how to submit your thesis to evaluation, check our guide Submitting your thesis to evaluation .

Theses elsewhere in Finland

Thesis from other Finnish universities in electronic form can be found in each university's own institutional repository.

• Aaltodoc - Aalto University
• DHanken - Hanken School of Economics
• Helda - University of Helsinki
• Jultika - University of Oulu
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EDUFI Fellowship

• Internationalisation Higher education Internationalisation Funding

EDUFI Fellowship in a nutshell

Applicant: a Finnish university department

For whom: a doctoral student or a young researcher from outside Finland

Purpose: initial funding for completing a doctoral research project in Finland, completion of a double degree or a study visit on exceptionally compelling reasons

Application deadline: rolling deadline. You should apply for the grant five months before the start of the fellowship.

Duration of fellowship: 3–12 months, visits 3–6 months

Size of grant: 1,900 euros/month

Who can apply and for whom?

You can apply for the fellowship grant if 

• you work as a researcher or a teacher in a Finnish university department
• you will be hosting the research fellow
• you will commit to common objectives with the research fellow
• you will offer facilities and equipment for the use of the research fellow 
• you will supervise the research.

You can apply for the grant for a non-Finnish post-graduate (post Master’s degree) that you will invite to Finland or who has been in Finland for a maximum of one year before applying for the fellowship. 

The EDUFI Fellowship is available to all foreign nationals and all fields of study.

What kind of work is the grant available for?

The fellowship grant is intended for post-graduate studies and research cooperation in Finnish universities in all fields of study.

We will award the grant 

• for starting work on a doctoral research project if the whole doctoral thesis will be completed in a Finnish university. You cannot apply for the grant at the end of a research project or for post-doctoral research.
• for completing a double degree in Finland.
• for a study visit for post-graduate students working on a doctoral thesis in a university outside Finland, if there are particularly compelling reasons for the cooperation.

The fellow must work in Finland but is allowed to make conference visits abroad.

If the fellowship period is longer than six months, it can include short visits abroad to gather research material, if needed, in addition to conference trips. These visits in total cannot exceed one month.

If more time will be needed for gathering material during the EDUFI Fellowship, the fellowship grant can be applied only for those periods during which the fellow will be working in Finland.

The fellows cannot apply for the EDUFI Fellowship themselves, because the grant will be awarded only to a Finnish university department.

The university will pay the grant to the fellow as a personal grant. The university will invoice EDUFI for the grant as a lump sum at the earliest when the scholarship holder’s arrival in Finland is confirmed but at the latest three months after the start of the scholarship period.

The grant can be split over several periods.

The grant is intended to cover the living costs of the fellow in Finland. We will not pay separate accommodation costs or contribute to travel, visa, residence permit or insurance costs.

Rolling deadline

You can apply for the fellowship grant at any time. Please send the application to us at least five months before the planned start of the fellowship.

The application process will take about three months. Usually about 35-40% of applications are approved every year. Decisions will be sent to the applicant university department.

Fellows will need the following documents for their visa/residence permit application

• a copy of the EDUFI fellowship decision
• an invitation from the host university department

Application form and instructions

You can fill in the EDUFI Fellowship application form in Finnish, Swedish or English. The application form comes with instructions on how to fill it and a list of required annexes. Please e-mail the signed form and annexes to: Kirjaamo(at)oph.fi , and write “EDUFI Fellowship” in the subject line of the e-mail.

NB! EDUFI will not process applications where the applicant is some other than a Finnish university representative.

The Finnish National Agency for Education submits information on all decisions made on applications in the call EDUFI Fellowship to the tutkiavustuksia.fi service for publication (Act on discretionary government grants 688/2001). 

As for discretionary government grants that have been made available for application after 1 October 2023, under section 32 of the Act on Discretionary Government Grants, the name of the natural person who is the government grant recipient, the purpose of the government grant and the regional allocation of the use of the government grant will be published by the State Treasury in the tutkiavustuksia.fi service. In addition, other public information on applying for, awarding and use of the discretionary government grant may be published in the service. 

In negative decisions, the name of a natural person applying in a personal capacity will not be published, nor will awarded grants of less than EUR 1,000 be published.   

Please find a link to our list of frequently asked questions and their answers below. We encourage you to read them through before contacting us. 

• You can find our list of frequently asked questions here.

The aim of the EDUFI Fellowship is to help make Finnish research and teaching more international and to build networks between Finnish and foreign universities. Final reports allow us to monitor the impact of the fellowships.

In your report, you will be asked to list the main results of the fellowship period and to describe how the objectives for the fellowship were achieved.

Please submit the report within a month after the end of the fellowship.

Please use the online reporting form.

• Fill out the online reporting form here

In case you have any questions, please contact us via email:  edufi_fellowship [at] oph.fi

Päivi Jokinen

Tarja Mäkelä (changes in grant periods, invoicing)

Theses, dissertations, and departmental publication series

Thesis of University of Oulu and Oamk are published online.

Theses of the University of Oulu

In the Laturi system it is possible to administer the whole university student's thesis process, i.e. supervision, plagiarism detection, evaluation and approval, as well as electronic publishing.

After approval the thesis is transferred from Laturi into the university’s central archive and made available to the public on dedicated workstations in the library. Provided that the student has given permission for this, the thesis will also made available in OuluREPO - the open access repository of the University of Oulu .

• Read more about a thesis process from Laturi guide .

Theses of Oamk

Theses of Oamk are published in Theseus . Theseus is a service provided by Arene ry - the Rectors' Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences. Theseus gives you online access to theses and publications from Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences.

• Read more about uploading your thesis in our guide for graduating student

Doctoral dissertation series Acta Universitatis Ouluensis

The doctoral dissertations of the University of Oulu are generally published in the series Acta Universitatis Ouluensis. The dissertations are available as openly accessible online publications and also as printed books. Additionally, the series also publishes other peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as compilations, such as conference publications and festschrifts. The series is divided into eight subseries. Each subseries has its own series editor appointed by the faculty in question.

• See the Acta guide for further information

University series and ISBN identifier

University of oulu study materials series.

The series has been established to promote the publishing of study materials produced at the University of Oulu, and to improve both the external appearance and the quality of the content of the university’s study materials. By publishing in the series, departments and individual teachers will also have a better chance of gaining merit as producers of study material.

• See the University of Oulu study materials series guide for further information

Other University of Oulu series

More detailed editing instructions for research publications are available in the general guidelines for series editors .

ISBN identifier

To apply for an ISBN identifier for a University of Oulu publication, send this form to: [email protected]

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Finland’s PhD Sword and Hat Tradition

• By Dr Harry Hothi
• August 19, 2020

As my PhD graduation day neared in 2012, I was given the opportunity to travel to Toronto and I ended up missing the university ceremony, eventually receiving the doctoral degree certificate in the post a few weeks later. Had I been a PhD student in Finland, I would also have missed the Conferment ceremony and not received my PhD sword and hat. Let me explain…

Finland’s Doctoral Sword and Hat

Once the university is satisfied that the academic requirement for earning a PhD have been met, candidates are formally awarded their doctoral degree certificates which can be collected during graduation ceremonies similar to those in the UK or picked up from the university some-time later.

Whilst on paper you’ll now be a PhD holder, in Finland you’re not considered to be a proper Dr’ until you’ve been through the official ceremony of Conferment which involves receiving a doctoral hat and an actual doctoral sword! In fact, doctoral degree holders that haven’t gone through Conferment are ‘not allowed’ to wear their doctoral hats at any future ceremonies requiring them and must instead carry them in their hands!

The University of Oulu describes the Doctoral Hat as “a symbol of liberty…scholarship and freedom of research” and the Doctors Sword is “a symbol for the scientist’s fight for what he or she, in rigorous research, has found to be good, right and true”.

Conferment ceremonies take place every couple of years and as you can imagine are a big deal for new PhD holders/doctors. At the conferment ceremony, new doctors are presented with their PhD hat, PhD sword and certificate of conferment.

The PhD or Doctoral hat, which looks like a top hat, is normally black in colour, but this colour may also vary depending on the specific degree awarded; A Doctor of Medicine, for example, is associated with a green hat, whilst a Doctor of Fine Arts with a dark blue hat. It also usually displays the university emblem attached to a velvet ribbon.

On the evening before conferment day, a traditional sword-whetting’ ceremony occurs. At this, new PhD holders bring the sword that they’ll officially be presented with the next day and they sharpen this sword on a hand-turned grindstone that’s turned by the other people at the ceremony. This is usually followed by a short speech by the new doctor in which they describe the importance of the sword to them and how it symbolises the defence of knowledge and their responsibilities as a new doctoral degree holder. When they are worn in official ceremonies in the future, they are traditionally placed on the left side.

PhD Defence in Finland: The Dress Code

In addition to Finland’s PhD Sword and Hat customs, Finnish university PhD defences (i.e. the viva) are steeped in tradition when it comes to the academic dress code. Most commonly, male doctoral candidates wear a tailcoat and black waistcoat with black socks and shoes, or a dark suit or military uniform. Female candidates usually wear a long-sleeved, high-necked short black dress or two-piece suit. Candidates are not permitted to wear hats or any prominent jewellery.

The Custos and Opponent (I’ll explain what these mean further on), assuming that they themselves hold doctoral degrees, traditionally carry their doctoral hats in their hands when they walk into and out of the auditorium. During the actual examination, they place their hats on the table in front of them.

At the post-examination karonkka (celebratory dinner), most men usually wear a tailcoat but this time with a white waistcoat instead of black, whilst women tend to wear evening dresses. In more modern times however, there has been a trend towards men starting to wear black/dark suits and women short, formal dresses.

As well as the tradition of clothing, swords and hats, the process of submitting and defending a PhD thesis is itself a rite of passage of students. Read on to learn more….

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

The Finnish PhD Defence

First off, in Finland when you have write up your thesis you can do so in two main ways. The first is the conventional way used in the UK and elsewhere of a continuous large document, more than 50,000 words in length. The second (and the most common) is to submit a shorter summary thesis combined with 3 to 4 published papers.

When it’s ready, the thesis is examined internally by a thesis panel made up of faculty within your institution. This process occurs during what is known as a Grand Seminar’, which hopefully concludes with your thesis being approved for review by external examiners. The external examiners will critically assess your research and the contents of your thesis and make suggestions for any edits or revisions if deemed necessary. The primary outcome you’re after here is approval from the external examiners for your thesis to move to the next stage: The Public Defence.

The levels of formality and adherence to past traditions does now vary to some extent across Finnish universities but traditionally, the next step is for the University Faculty to select an Opponent or Opponents and the Custos. The Custos is the name used to describe the person that will be chairing the public defence and the Opponent(s) are the people that will be formally debating with the PhD student about the content of their thesis (i.e. the examiners’).

Once the Opponent(s) and Custos have been appointed, a date for the public defence is set. At the University of Helsinki , for example, public defences usually take place on Wednesdays or Fridays at midday or at 10am on Saturdays; the actual examination however starts at a quarter past the hour, at time referred to as the “academic quarter”.

On the day of the defence, which takes place in a large auditorium and is open to any member of the public to attend, the public examination officially starts after the PhD student enters the auditorium, followed by the Custos and Opponent(s) (the order here is important).

The doctoral candidate will first deliver a “lectio praecursoria” which is a 20-minute presentation that introduces the work of their research and the methodology used. This is followed by short introductory remarks about the research by the Opponent, after which the formal cross-examination begins.

The formal examination can last several hours, with the Opponent systematically working through the content of the thesis and the doctoral candidate defending their work as questions arise. After examination by the Opponent is complete, he or she will (hopefully!) declare to the Faculty that the thesis should be accepted (i.e. that the doctoral degree should be awarded).

After this, the ‘floor’ is opened up to the general public, with anyone from the audience welcome to ask questions, moderated by the Custos. This sessions concludes with the PhD candidate, Opponent and Custos leaving the auditorium in the same order that they came in.

Assuming that they pass the examination, the successful doctoral candidate will traditionally invite their Opponent and Custos to a formal evening dinner known as a karonkka. These dinners are in themselves quite an event, with expectations of ‘fine’ dining, prepared speeches and smart dress.

The traditions involved in Finland for gaining a PhD and the symbolism of new doctors being presented with a Doctoral Hat and Sword is something quite special and one that I hope lasts for a long time to come. Had I done my PhD research in Finland, I wouldn’t have missed my Conferment Ceremony for the world!

Banner image source : https://blogs.helsinki.fi/eltdkpromootio2015/doctoral-conferment-ceremony/instructions/doctoral-hats-and-swords/

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Sam is a new PhD student at Teesside University. Her research is focussed on better understanding how writing poetry can help cancer survivors to work through mental and emotional issues.

Helena is pursuing a PhD at the University of Vienna. Her research is centred around how we perceive, understand and share the suffering of other people around us, aka empathy for pain.

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The University of Florida Graduate School’s Thesis & Dissertation team helps you format and submit your master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation.

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Learn more on their section of our Graduate Student Success Center's website by clicking here: Thesis & Dissertation .

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Cade Marcotte will defend his PhD thesis in August

Friday, April 26, 2024

Cade Marcotte will defend his PhD thesis in August, and has already accepted a plum academic job at   New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, ID, where he will be teaching, among other things, the history of physics.

Congratulations Cade and cheers to your upcoming PhD defense! 

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Doctoral Programme in Business Studies

The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies (DPBUSINESS) provides world-class business research expertise that transcends the traditional limits of the discipline.

Doctoral studies in business studies aim at familiarising the students with the research, theories and research methods in the field in a way which qualifies the students to prepare a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation. Furthermore, students strengthen their knowledge in their specific specialisation fields. The doctoral programme encourages students to take an international approach: to participate in researcher exchanges, study in foreign universities, make presentations in international conferences, publish in international journals and become members of international researcher networks.

The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies in the University of Eastern Finland operates at Joensuu and Kuopio campuses. In the doctoral programme, doctoral students work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).

The director of the doctoral programme is Professor Juho Pesonen , and the coordinator is Amanuensis Salla Lappalainen.

Research areas in the doctoral programme

The mission of the Business School emphasizes cross-disciplinary and internationally acknowledged approaches to research and teaching. Research is also aiming to conrtibute to the development of local business life and to the wellbeing of society as a whole. The common dominator of the research is the development, growth and internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

One of our main objectives is to have more and better research articles published in prestigious journals. We encourage our personnel to build international networks through researcher exchange, conference participation and international research funding.

There are seven fields within Business Studies for doctoral students to choose from:

• Innovation Management (Kuopio Campus)
• Service Management (Joensuu Campus)
• Accounting and Finance (Kuopio Campus)
• Business and Law (Joensuu Campus)
• International Business and Sales Management (Kuopio Campus)
• Tourism Marketing and Management (Joensuu Campus)
• Digital Marketing and Analytics (Joensuu Campus and Kuopio Campus)

Research groups in UEF Business School

Applied Business, Law and Economics Research Group (ABLE)

Intellectual Capital Management

Innovation Management (INNO)

International Business and Sales Management (IBS)

Accounting and Finance in SMEs

Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research Group

Tourism Business

Trust in Organizations

How to apply?

In the doctoral programme, doctoral students work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).

Fields of research and contact persons

General instruction:  [email protected]

The fields of research, heads of the major (first on the list) and main supervisors:

International Business and Sales Management:

Saara Julkunen

Irina Mihailova

Service Management:

Tommi Laukkanen

Pia Heilmann

Jonna Koponen

Business and Law:: 

Tourism Marketing and Management:

Raija Komppula

Juho Pesonen  (head of the doctoral programme)

Innovation Management:

Päivi Eriksson

Hanna Lehtimäki

Tero Montonen

Kaisa Henttonen

Accounting and Finance:

Mervi Niskanen

Hannu Ojala

Henri Teittinen

Digital Marketing and Analytics:

Eligibility and admission procedure

Admission requirements.

The background requirement for eligibility for a doctoral study right is either a master degree in Business, other higher education level degree or an equivalent foreign degree that has been completed in an institute part of the official higher education of the country. The degree must also have included an advanced level thesis. The grade of the thesis or equivalent, as well as the overall grade of your advanced level studies must be at least “good” (GPA 3 on a scale of 0-4, Finnish grade 3/5 or equivalent). In addition, there are requirements for English language certification. Your research topic must fit into the focus areas of the main subject and all the other criteria must be met. These admission criteria have been described in the following sections.

Admission requirements concerning background education

The criteria for the eligibility of the study background has been described in the next applicant groups 1-4. The applicant’s study background must fill all the criteria mentioned in one of the groups to be eligible for doctoral studies. If the applicant is not eligible, they cannot be granted a doctoral study right.

If the major subject decides necessary, a qualified applicant must supplement their studies, for example, if they have graduated in other subject than the major subject that they are applying to or if the background degree is not in the field of business or if they do not possess sufficient competencies for completing a doctoral degree in the chosen major subject. The professor of the major determines whether supplementary studies are required or not and they must be completed before completing studies that are part of the doctoral degree. The maximum of supplementary studies is 60 ECTS. Supplementary studies must have an average grade of “good” (3/5 or equivalent).

Applicant groups

• Applicants with a Finnish Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration or other field who have mainly achieved the grade good (cum laude approbator, 3/5 or equivalent) or higher for their pro gradu thesis or equivalent and the grade good (3/5 or equivalent) or higher for their major subject studies. If the grade is lower than this, it is possible for the applicant to be accepted through other merits (excellent research plan and/or previous peer reviewed publication).
• Applicants with a degree in a Finnish university of applied sciences and the degree includes a thesis. The thesis must be completed with the overall grade good (3/5 or equivalent) or higher and the average of the major subject studies must be good (3/5 or equivalent). If the grade is lower than this, it is possible for the applicant to be accepted through other merits (excellent research plan and/or previous peer reviewed publication).
• Applicants with a Finnish licentiate or doctoral degree in Business or other field.
• Applicants who have acquired a relevant degree abroad which, in the country in question, provides eligibility for further university studies and for pursuing a doctorate. Applicants who have obtained their qualifications abroad must demonstrate their competence to pursue a research project by detailing their major studies (that include a Master’s thesis or other similar study project that corresponds to a pro gradu thesis) for which mainly at least the grade good (GPA of all studies must be at least 3 on a scale of 0-4 and additionally with a degree completed in other than an EU country, GMAT must be at least 600 points) has been awarded and which have been completed before applying to the doctoral programme. If the Master’s thesis or other study project has been written in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, an English summary must be attached to the application. Applicants with a degree completed abroad must also attach their original thesis in PDF-form on the application form. Major subjects will also check the thesis with a plagiarism detection program.

Other admission requirements for doctoral study right

• The proposed research topic must be scientifically and practically relevant and connect to the research strategy and focus areas of the pursued major subject (the links to research groups can be found on our webpage). The applicant must select their major subject when applying and the applicant must have the competencies and readiness for doctoral studies and undertaking a dissertation. The major evaluates the competences during admission and the requirements vary between subjects.

Required competencies in major subjects:

• International Business and Sales Management: high scientific level of research plan and theoretical contribution in the field of International Business and Sales Management, high goal orientation of publication plan concerning international peer-reviewed journal publications.
• Accounting and Finance: The requirement is that the applicant has taken enough courses in Accounting and/or Finance. The applicant should also demonstrate knowledge relating to research methodologies relevant for the planned doctoral dissertation through previous thesis or equivalent.
• Service Management; Innovation Management, Business and Law; Tourism Marketing and Management: it must be apparent from the research plan that the applicant has familiarized themselves with previous research through which is able to indicate a justified research gap, the research problem must be well-justified and defined, the applicant must have good knowledge of a method that suits the research problem.
• There must be enough supervision resources to be allocated for the proposed thesis. The major subject which the applicant selects when applying to a doctoral study right will decide the availability of supervision resources.
• When applying for a doctoral study right through student admission, a maximum of 5 page long research plan is required (reference list is not included into the maximum). The plan must be of high quality and e.g. the following aspects will be evaluated: what is the scientific contribution of the proposed research topic, how realistic and coherent the research plan is and how it is executed, acknowledgement of the research ethical questions.

Contents of the plan:

• starting points and theoretical basis of the research, previous research
• aims of the research, research tasks and questions
• research methods and data, administration of data
• working plan, working plan for part of the tasks. Especially in article dissertations it is important to describe what kind of parts the research will be conducted in and published (when applying to positions, a more detail description is required but when applying to a doctoral study right, it is not required to have a comprehensive plan of all the articles)
• schedule and funding plan
• publication plan
• evaluation of opportunities to exploit the results of the research, societal significance of the research results
• Proficiency in English.

If the applicant fulfils at least one of the following requirements, a separate language test is not required but the applicant is to prove their English proficiency with the applicable degree certificate and the transcript of their academic record:

• English as foreign language included in at least a Bachelor-level degree conducted in Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) or in an EU/EEA country.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree conducted in English language in a Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) or in an EU/EEA country.
• Bachelor's or Master's degree conducted in English language in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States.

The applicants are to prove their language skills in English as follows if they do not fill the aforementioned requirements:

 English language test: 

TOEFL paper-based: Total score 600 and Writing 4.0

TOEFL Internet-based: Total Score 100 and Writing 22

IELTS (Academic): Overall Score 6.5 and Writing 5.5

PTE (Pearson Test of English), min. 59 points

C1 Advanced (CAE), pass levels A, B or C / C2 Proficiency (CPE), pass levels A, B, C or level C1 Certificate

Funding doctoral studies

The right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding or a contract of employment at the University. However, full-time doctoral students need to look for funding to cover their costs of living and potential research costs (travel costs, research material etc.).

Doctoral studies can be funded for example by external funding from a fund or by studying part-time while at work. Occasionally there are early stage researcher positions open for application at the UEF. Doctoral students apply for funding themselves and there are no automatic scholarships or positions received.

Read more about funding options of doctoral studies on Kamu Student handbook.

Application period

You can apply to the Doctoral Programme in Business Studies twice a year: by the end of October and by the end of April.

What is Studyinfo.fi?

Studyinfo.fi is the official national admissions portal with all the up-to-date information about study programmes leading to a degree in Finland.

Apply via Studyinfo.fi

Fill in the online application for the programme at the studyinfo portal., requirements for the doctoral dissertation.

The doctoral dissertation demonstrates the student’s in-depth knowledge of the field of research, related fields and the philosophy of science. Furthermore, the dissertation demonstrates his or her ability to apply the methods of scientific research in practice, both independently, and critically in his or her field of research as well as independently to generate new information.

One of the following can be accepted as a doctoral dissertation:

• A separate piece of research (monograph). A monograph is a work based on the research project by the doctoral student. It is a coherent and independent study and should contain the data and methodology used and the results as a whole.
• An article-based dissertation (a collection of research articles):

     Please see the requirements for an article-based dissertation in Kamu:

      Requirements of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies

      Requirements of the Philosophical Faculty

In business an essay-based dissertation can also be approved. The essay-based dissertation comprises at least three published or unpublished independent entities dealing with the same set of research problems. Some of these entities may be scientific articles or other publications and unpublished essays.

The degree consists of a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation and 40 ECTS (from 1 August 2024 onwards, 30 ECTS) of studies supporting research and professional competence. The curriculum details are available in the Study Guide of student information system Peppi.

Courses for doctoral researchers are organized by doctoral programmes, faculties and the Doctoral School of UEF .

Instructions and forms for doctoral studies

You can find information for different phases in the doctoral education on Kamu Student handbook :

• Doctoral education at the University of Eastern Finland
• Starting doctoral education
• Doctoral curriculum and study requirements
• Internationalisation in doctoral education
• Guidance and support in doctoral education
• Support for doctoral research
• Funding of doctoral education
• Wellbeing of doctoral researcher
• Permission for public examination and pre-examination of doctoral dissertation
• Publishing of doctoral dissertation

Travel grants for doctoral researchers’ seminar and conference visit costs

UEF Business School awards travel grants for study, seminar and conference trips for doctoral researchers upon application. These travel grants are intended for doctoral researchers who are not employed by the University of Eastern Finland (including part-time work for grant-funded researchers).

Applications must be accompanied by:

• a statement of completion of the studies foreseen in the postgraduate study plan and an individual plan for the timetable for the missing studies
• approval from the supervisor to attend the event(s) (e-mail is acceptable)

The travel grants are awarded by the head of department/school. The application period is continuous. Applications will be processed within 1­-2 months of receipt (excluding the summer vacation period).

Applications are submitted using the digital application form . See the application form and further information.

News and events

Dissertations, doctoral defence of valeria iannone, msc, 8 may 2024: microbiome treatment could alleviate metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (masld), doctoral defence of hasan sohail, msc, 6.5.2024: epidemiological studies on the adverse health effects of non-optimum ambient temperatures, doctoral defence of xudan zhu, msc, 10.5.2024: the mechanisms behind aquatic browning in boreal catchments, doctoral defence of gulraiz iqbal choudhary, msc, 4.6.2024: practical solutions for early detection and management of chronic diseases.

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Phd student kale serrato doyen is a mellon/acls dissertation innovation fellow.

Kale Serrato Doyen, who is pursuing a PhD in history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded a 2024 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship . The program supports doctoral students in the humanities and interpretive social sciences as they pursue bold and innovative approaches to dissertation research.

Doyen is one of 45 awardees , selected from a pool of more than 700 applicants through a rigorous, interdisciplinary peer review process. Doyen’s research explores Black geographies in Pittsburgh through the photographic archive of Charles “Teenie” Harris, a 20th-century studio photographer and photojournalist for The Pittsburgh Courier. In her dissertation, “Mapping the Teenie Harris Archive: Photography, Community and Pittsburgh’s Black Built Environment,” Doyen will collaborate with local communities to digitally map Harris’ photographs, providing a spatial context to long-standing histories of displacement, social inequality and Black life in Pittsburgh.

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) launched the program in 2023 with the support of the Mellon Foundation to advance a vision for doctoral education that prioritizes openness to new methods and sources, underrepresented voices and perspectives and scholarly experimentation. The awards are designed to accelerate change in the norms of humanistic scholarship by recognizing those who take risks in the modes, methods and subjects of their research.

Each fellow receives an award of up to $50,000, consisting of a $40,000 stipend for the fellowship year; up to $8,000 for project-related research, training, professional development and travel expenses; and a $2,000 stipend to support external mentorship that offers new perspectives on the fellow’s project and expands their advising network. With fellows pursuing their research across the country and beyond, ACLS will also provide opportunities for virtual networking and scholarly programming throughout the fellows’ award terms.

Employees, benefits open enrollment is May 1-15

Pitt is launching an office of sustainability in the health sciences, here are the speakers for pitt’s graduate school commencement ceremonies.

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Prizes for Best PhD Thesis 2023

The Department of Chemistry is pleased to announce the following prizes for outstanding work by graduate students. These awards, announced each spring, recognize doctoral research and carry a $1,000 prize. The awards were established in Academic Year 2021-22 and are funded by endowments made possible through the philanthropic support of faculty, friends, and alumni.

George H. Cady Prize for Best Thesis in Inorganic Chemistry

Ben Mitchell earned his Ph.D. in 2023 for his work with Assistant Professor Alexandra Velian on “Leveraging Molecular Nanoclusters for Atomistic Insights Into Reactive Interfaces.” He is now a Science, Technology, and Policy Fellow of the Building Technologies Office in the Department of Energy. As a fellow, Ben works on advancing a range of innovative technologies and solutions to decarbonize commercial building infrastructure. Ben is based in Washington, DC.

Gary and Sue Christian Prize for Best Thesis in Analytical Chemistry

Caitlin Cain will earn her Ph.D. in 2024 for her work with Professor Robert Synovec on “Advances in the Chemometric Analysis of Multiway Chromatographic Data to Improve Discovery and Identification.” In summer 2024, she will begin a postdoctoral research position with Professor Robert Kennedy at the University of Michigan, where she will probe our understanding of the brain metabolome with use of capillary liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemometric data analysis methods.

B. Seymore Rabinovitch Prize for Best Thesis in Physical Chemistry

Kristina Herman will earn her Ph.D. in 2024 for her work with Affiliate Professor Sotiris Xantheas titled “Extension of the Many-Body Expansion (MBE) to Periodic Systems: Developing Tools to Analyze and Improve Models of Intermolecular Interactions.” Kristina has accepted a position as a postdoctoral scholar with Prof. Greg Voth's group at the University of Chicago where she will develop multiscale computational models of the HIV life cycle.

Congratulations, Ben, Caitlin, and Kristina!

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PhD Dissertation Defense - Hannah Fung, "Cell size & flexible cell fate decisions in the stomatal lineage"

The Department of Biology cordially invites you to the dissertation defense of 

Hannah Fung

Bergmann Lab

"Cell size & flexible cell fate decisions in the stomatal lineage"

Password: 208057