The University of Turku is involved in developing a new type of doctoral training through a doctoral education pilot funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture for the period of 2024–2027. The pilot will create a number of new three-year doctoral researcher positions at the University.
The Ministry of Education and Culture will allocate a total of €255 million to universities for piloting new practices in doctoral education in 2024–2027. The additional funding will be used to train 1,000 new doctoral researchers. The University of Turku received additional funding for a total of 136 new doctoral researchers, which corresponds to 13.6% of the total additional funding. Of the University’s flagships, Innovation Ecosystem based on the Immune System (InFLAMES), Flagship doctoral school pilot project (EDUCA), and Digital Waters Doctoral Education Pilot (DIWA) were the most successful in the funding call.
“The University of Turku was more successful in the allocation of funding than expected, as our national share of doctoral graduates each year has been a little over 10%. The decision reflects our strong track record in competing for the Research Council of Finland's flagship funding, as the majority of the places awarded to us are allocated to our three flagships. In total, the University of Turku will receive €34.7 million in funding to implement the pilot in 2024–2027. The application process was carried out last November under a very tight schedule and I would like to thank our University community for a great performance in a challenging situation,” says Vice Rector Kalle-Antti Suominen who coordinated the application at the University of Turku.
Pilot aims to improve doctoral education
The national doctoral education pilot is part of an increase in funding for research and development, with the aim of increasing R&D funding to four percent of the gross national product by 2030. In addition, the national pilot aims to develop guidance, increase mobility between universities, companies, research institutes and other organisations, encourage doctoral graduates to pursue diverse careers, and increase their employment in a wide range of sectors of society.
The appropriation of €255 million will be used to implement a total of 15 pilots for field-specific doctoral education. Nine of these are pilots in flagship fields and six in other fields that can be selected freely. Of the new doctoral researcher positions, 800 will be in flagship fields and 200 in other fields. The field-specific pilots will be implemented by consortia designed by universities. Research institutes and businesses are also involved.
New doctoral researchers can apply for the national doctoral education pilot's contract positions. The first doctoral researchers will start in the field-specific pilots in August 2024. The next application period for doctoral studies at the University of Turku starts on 28 February 2024.
Doctoral education pilots in which the University of Turku is involved:
Doctoral education pilots in flagship fields
- Finnish Doctoral Program Network in Artificial Intelligence
- EDUCA Flagship doctoral school pilot project
- Digital Waters Doctoral Education Pilot (Flagship DIWA)
- Quantum
- PREIN Doctoral education pilot
- National Doctoral Education Pilot based on Immune system
- Doctoral Education Pilot in Precision Cancer Medicine
- Circular Materials Bioeconomy Network: From bio-based resources to
advanced materials
Doctoral education pilots in optional fields
- Sustainability Transformations
- Doctoral pilot in software engineering
- Intelligent Work Machines
