TIAS Call 2023-2024: Instructions for applicants

The purpose of TIAS Postdoctoral Fellowship is to advance professional competence of researchers who have recently gained their doctorate and have participated in international activities and collaboration. Postdoctoral is defined as being within five (5) years of applicants having passed their PhD. Applicants are also expected to have attained other academic achievements.

Applicants must have completed their doctoral degree by the end of the application period. They must have gained their doctoral degree a maximum of five years before the end of application period, 12 January 2024. This date should be taken as being the date at which all work for the PhD is successfully concluded, rather than the date of formal graduation. In cases where the PHD has been successfully completed but the degree certificate has not yet been issued, applicants should provide confirmation from the University where the PhD was undertaken that the PhD has been successfully completed and that no additional work is required. Please note that by the time the employment contract is signed, the doctoral certificate must be delivered to the University.

Only for special reasons, such as maternity, paternity or parental leave, military service or non-military service, or a long illness may more than five years have passed since the successful completion of the degree. Applicants who wish to plead special reasons should justify this in their curriculum vitae.

The salaries of TIAS Fellows are determined within the university salary system for teaching and research personnel. The salary for Postdoctoral Fellow (official title Postdoctoral Researcher) positions corresponds to a requirement level 5 and the pre-estimated personnel percentage of 17 % (current euro-denominated gross salary 3686 € per month). Progress in the researcher’s personal performance can be taken into account when determining the salary level during employment.

The purpose of TIAS Collegium Fellowships is to offer researchers an opportunity to gain competence for the most demanding research posts or other expert positions after the postdoctoral research stage. Successful publishing and other scientific work as well as significant activity and engagement in international academic networks after gaining the doctorate are requirements for appointment to a Collegium Fellow post. 

Applicants are expected to have ambitious research plans that aim at new scientific breakthroughs. They must have been awarded their PhD no more than twelve years before the end of the application period, 12 January 2024. Only for special reasons, such as maternity, paternity or parental leave, military service or non-military service, or a long illness may more than twelve years have passed since the successful completion of the degree. Applicants who wish to plead special reasons should justify this in their curriculum vitae. Tenured Professors (i.e. those with the title of Professor) are not eligible to apply.

The salaries of TIAS Fellows are determined within the university salary system for teaching and research personnel. The salary for Collegium Fellow (official title Collegium Researcher) positions corresponds to a requirement level 7 and the pre-estimated personnel percentage of 17 % (current euro-denominated gross salary 4955 € per month). Progress in the researcher’s personal performance can be taken into account when determining the salary level during employment.

The main task of TIAS Fellows is to carry out an internationally excellent research project over a three year period, during which the results of the project should be disseminated in a number of ways including books, book chapters, peer reviewed articles, newspaper articles, conference papers, public dissemination events etc. Fellows are also required to contribute to the intellectual life of the Institute via such things as attending and presenting at TIAS meetings, organising TIAS events and cross disciplinary working with their co-Fellows.

In their motivation letter, applicants should state how their work supplements existing work at the University, identifying both the department within which they wish to be located and relevant members of staff whose work aligns with their own. Please note that it is not necessary for applicants to contact departments or staff members.  Applicants should also outline how their work relates to one or more of the strategic research and education profiles of the University of Turku for 2021–30: 1) Biodiversity and sustainability 2) Future technologies and digital society 3) Cultural memory and social change 4) Children, young people and learning 5) Health, diagnostics and drug development 6) Sea and maritime studies (see strategic research and education profiles on the UTU website). Successful candidates are requested to demonstrate engagement in international academic networks and must provide evidence of their ability to work in a research environment of high international standard.

The positions are located at one of the campuses of the University of Turku and successful candidates are required to live in Finland. Applicants should be aware that they are applying to an interdisciplinary research Institute and should therefore be committed to interdisciplinary working. Such working includes an obligation to attend regular TIAS meetings and events and to make contributions to the academic and social life of the Institute. In addition to TIAS meetings, Fellows are expected to attend the campus regularly.

TIAS Fellows have the opportunity to contribute to teaching activities at the University of Turku. Such contributions will make up a maximum of 5 % of a Fellow’s annual work load of 1612 hours. In addition, they may devote another 5 % of their total work time to other academic and administration duties.

Applications must be submitted via University of Turku’s electronic application form:

>> Postdoctoral Fellow applications
>> Collegium Fellow applications

The application deadline is 12 January 2024 at 15:00 (Finnish time, GMT +2). Late applications cannot be submitted and applications cannot be completed after the application deadline.

Please note that once the application has been submitted the applicant can still make further adjustments to the application up until the end of application period. We strongly recommend that the application is completed as early as possible.

In the application form applicants are asked to choose the department/unit within which they wish their research to be located. Please choose from the list further down on this page.

The application must contain all the following documents, which must be in the following order:

1. Research plan abstract (1 page; max 2 500 characters, plus spaces)
2. Research plan (maximum 25 000 characters, plus spaces)
3. Curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)
4. List of publications (maximum 2 pages; please indicate the five most important)
5. Letter of Motivation (maximum 2 pages)
6. Copy of doctoral certificate (if unavailable please supply a copy of official confirmation that the PhD has been passed).

Documents 1-5 must be compiled together into one PDF document, so there will be two attachments: documents 1-5 and the doctoral certificate document. Please upload the documents 1–5 as a “CV” attachment on the application form.

All the documents must be written in English with Times New Roman, font size 12. This font size must be used throughout including in the Bibliography. Footnotes and tables must be font size 10. Any words within maps, pictures etc. must be at least font size 9.

The documents must be named by using the last name of the applicant and the document title (e.g. Smith_Documents_1_5, Smith_DoctoralCertificate.) Both attachments must be in PDF format. The maximum file size for the attachments is 10 MB. Please upload the documents 1–5 as a “CV” attachment on the application form.

Incomplete applications will not be processed and we reserve the right to automatically exclude applications which do not follow the limits listed above and the structure below. We further reserve the right to automatically exclude applications which have the incorrect font size in any part of the application. Applicants who have any questions about this should contact TIAS as soon as possible and at least one week prior to submitting their applications.

Documents 1-5 must be compiled together into one PDF document, so there will be two attachments: documents 1-5 and the doctoral certificate document. Please upload the documents 1–5 as a “CV” attachment on the application form.

All the documents must be written in English with Times New Roman, font size 12. This font size must be used throughout including in the Bibliography. Footnotes and tables must be font size 10. Any words within maps, pictures etc. must be at least font size 9.

The documents must be named by using the last name of the applicant and the document title (e.g. Smith_Documents_1_5, Smith_DoctoralCertificate.) Both attachments must be in PDF format. The maximum file size for the attachments is 10 MB. Please upload the documents 1–5 as a “CV” attachment on the application form.

Incomplete applications will not be processed and we reserve the right to automatically exclude applications which do not follow the limits listed above and the structure below. We further reserve the right to automatically exclude applications which have the incorrect font size in any part of the application. Applicants who have any questions about this should contact TIAS as soon as possible and at least one week prior to submitting their applications.

Please use all the subheadings here and ensure that all parts are completed in order.

1. Research Plan Abstract (1 page; max 2 500 characters, plus spaces) 

   The one-page abstract must contain, in order, the following:

• Applicant’s name and academic degree
• Title of the research
• Department in which the applicant wishes to be located (and which will make an initial assessment of the application). Please note that it is not necessary for applicants to contact departments
• Summary of the research plan (aims, research material and methods)
• Key words (maximum 5)

2. Research plan (maximum 25 000 characters, plus spaces). Please note that this limit will be strictly enforced.

      The research plan must indicate the following in order:

• Name of the researcher, title of the research plan and site of research
• Background and significance of the research
• Research objectives and methods, including specifying the multidisciplinary aspects of the research
• Implementation and outputs: The current state and schedule of the applicant’s research, a timetable for the research and publications/outputs, dissemination strategy including considerations of open access. Please see open science policy of UTU.
• National and international collaboration, including linkage with research conducted at the University of Turku and to the University’s research themes.
• Bibliography (included in the 25 000 characters)

Research ethics

The University of Turku is committed to complying with the guidelines on responsible conduct of research and procedures for handling allegations of misconduct, issued by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity. Consequently, TIAS requires that applicants commit to complying with responsible conduct of research and adhere to the Advisory Board’s guidelines. Please see The Finnish Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and Procedures for Handling Alleged Violations of Research Integrity in Finland 2023 (PDF). In addition to committing to the Code, applicants should briefly identify the elements of their research plan which may raise ethical issues and how they intend to deal with these.

3. Curriculum vitae (maximum 2 pages)

   The curriculum vitae must be no more than two pages in length and must include the following information:

• personal data: name and year of birth
• academic education: degrees, dates and places, major subject, topic of doctoral dissertation
• posts and positions of primary importance
• research allocations and grants during the last five years
• most important expert assignments
• most important scientific acknowledgements and awards
• outreach/impact activities

4. List of publications (maximum 2 pages)

   Applicants are required to clearly indicate the 5 most important publications in relation to the research plan. Any non-English titles must be translated into English.

5. Motivation letter (maximum 2 pages)

   In no more than two pages explain in the following order:

• Why the research should be conducted at TIAS and its constituent faculties including, wherever possible, providing the names of staff members whose work aligns with the proposed project
• How the research, contacts, supervising and teaching experience will benefit TIAS and the University of Turku
• How the three-year research period will contribute to the applicant’s continuing professional development
• How the applicant will contribute to the multidisciplinary TIAS community
• How the research will contribute to the research profile of the University of Turku and one or more of the strategic research and education profiles for 2021–30
• How the proposed project is interdisciplinary and what the implications of this are.

Applicants should upload a copy of their doctoral certificate. If the original degree certificate is not written in English, Finnish or Swedish an official translation in English must also be submitted. In cases where the PHD has been successfully completed but the degree certificate has not yet been issued, applicants should provide confirmation from the University where the PhD was undertaken that the PhD has been successfully completed and that no additional work is required.

Please note that by the time the employment contract is signed, the doctoral certificate must be delivered to the University.

Applications meeting all the formal requirements are preliminarily assessed by departments in consultation with the Director and Board of the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies. The Board then draws up a shortlist of the applications to be evaluated by external evaluators with expertise in the relevant discipline(s). In order to ensure international excellence, the majority of reviewers are based outside of Finland. Reviewers are asked to rank, from 1–6, the following:

• Applicants’ previous academic achievements relative to their career stage
• Quality of the research plan and feasibility of the research given the three years’ time limit
• Theoretical and methodological framework of the research
• Evaluation of the proposed publications and outputs, including the potential to enhance the applicants’ career development
• Overall assessment, which must not be simply the mathematical average of the sub-ratings.

Reviewers are also asked to comment on any ethical issues around the proposed research although this section does not receive a grade.

Based on the external evaluations, the TIAS Board of Management makes final decisions on the successful applications.

The successful candidates will be informed directly and the names of the appointees will be announced on the TIAS website and the website of the University of Turku.

It is anticipated that final decisions about successful applicants will be made in May 2024, with final results appearing on the TIAS website in June 2024, following confirmation that successful candidates have accepted the positions offered to them.

All applicants who are shortlisted will be sent copies of their external reviews. However, due to the expected volume of applications, we are unable to provide feedback to applicants who are not shortlisted. 

An information session for applicants was held online on Monday 11 December 2023 between 15.00 and 16.00 Finnish time (GMT +2). 

Slides of the info session presentation (PDF)

For more information on TIAS please see the TIAS website.

Further questions about the Call may be addressed to tias@utu.fi.

Please choose one of the units marked with en-dash (–).
>> Faculties and units on the website.

Faculty of Education
– Department of Education
– Department of Teacher Education

Faculty of Humanities
School of History, Culture and Arts Studies:
– Archaeology
– Art History
– Comparative Literature
– Creative Writing
­– Cultural and Experience Tourism
– Cultural Heritage Studies
– Cultural History
– Cultural Management
– Digital Culture
– European and World History
– European Ethnology
– Finnish History
– Finnish Literature
– Folkloristics
– Gender Studies
– Landscape Studies
– Media Studies
– Museology
– Musicology
– Study of Religion
School of Languages and Translation Studies
– Applied Language Studies
– Classics
– Digital Language Studies
– English
– Estonian Language and Culture
– Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages
– French
– German
– Hungarian Language and Culture
– Italian
– North American Studies
– Romanian Language and Culture
– Russian Studies
– Scandinavian Languages
– Spanish
– Translation Studies

Faculty of Law
– Faculty of Law

Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology 
– Speech-Language Pathology (Logopedics)
– Psychology
Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science
– Philosophy
– Contemporary History
– Political Science
– John Morton Center for North American Studies
– Centre for East Asian Studies
Department of Social Research
– Social Policy
– Social Work
– Sociology
– Economic Sociology
INVEST Flagship
– INVEST Flagship

Turku School of Economics
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
– Management and Organisation
– Information Systems Science
– Entrepreneurship
Department of Accounting and Finance
– Accounting and Finance
– Quantitative Methods in Management
– Business Law
Department of Marketing and International Business
– Marketing
– International Business
– Operations and Supply Chain Management
– Economic Geography
– Pan-European Institute
Department of Economics
– Department of Economics
Finland Futures Research Centre
– Finland Futures Research Centre

>> Instructions for applicants as a printable PDF file