Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants

The doctoral researchers of DPCR pursue a doctoral degree either in the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Technology or Turku School of Economics.

Please read carefully the instructions of the faculty you are applying to well advance before the actual application period (below), since there are many things that need to be agreed on or arranged before applying (supervisors, research plan, postgraduate study plan, possible language test etc.).

Instructions for the applicants

• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Technology
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Turku School of Economics

The supervisor

A prerequisite for admission is that at least two persons* have agreed to act as supervisors and fulfill the qualification requirements for supervisors. Finding a supervisor is the responsibility of the applicant.

Please follow the instructions of the faculty in question. Links to the supervision of each faculty and The School of Economics can be found below in the sections Application documents, subsection 5. Signed supervision and study plan.

*At Faculty of Medicine: When only one supervisor for doctoral training is proposed, a justified application the supervisor’s justified plea for approval of only one supervisor must be attached to the application.

The Follow-up committee

The aim of the follow-up committee is to ensure the progress of the doctoral researcher’s thesis work and studies, to provide an outside perspective to their research, and to support both the doctoral researcher and the supervisors in possible conflict situations.

The applicant negotiates with their supervisor(s) to assemble the follow-up committee and agrees with the members of the committee on annual monitoring practices. The follow-up committee is not mandatory in all the faculties but the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research strongly recommends forming a follow-up committee regardless of the faculty of the applicant.

• Check the application period
• Read the instructions of the faculty in question and the doctoral programme carefully!
• If you are going to verify your language skills with a language test, make sure that you book your test time well in advance. It is the applicant’s responsibility to make his/her own language test arrangements
• Get the required signatures in time and prepare the appendices
• Fill in the electric application form
• Remember to apply in time
• Keep your original certificates at hand and prepare to acquire officially certified copies if needed!

You are required to have completed a relevant higher university degree or a university of applied sciences, or a relevant study programme abroad which in the awarding country gives eligibility for the corresponding level of higher education (Universities Act 558/2009, 37§);

You must fulfil the University of Turku language skill requirements;

You are required to fulfil the prerequisites set by the doctoral programme and the faculty in question for granting a right to study. This information is available on the webpage of each faculty:

• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Technology
• Turku School of Economics

If the applicant has a right to study for a doctoral degree at another university or in another doctoral programme at the University of Turku, the applicant must provide reasons (in the motivation letter) for changing over to the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research. A doctoral researcher may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time.

> How to Apply for Doctoral Training at the University of Turku

The right to study for a doctoral degree is applied for by filling in an electronic form in My Studyinfo service and attaching the required additional documents. The application documents are specified below in the section Application documents.

A link to the electronic application form of the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research, the list of required attachments and the guide for filling in the form will be available during the application period on this page.

The May 2024 period for applying starts on the on the 1st of May and ends on the 15th of May 15 pm. (local time in Finland)

The application form and the enclosures must be submitted by the application deadline. Applications that have not arrived by the deadline will not be processed. The application documents will not be returned to the sender.

During one application round the applicant may apply to a maximum of three doctoral programmes at the University of Turku. You can only have one valid study right at a time for a doctoral degree at the University of Turku.

 

Application documents:

Please see the required attachments from the application call in question!

Please note that due to technical reasons, some of the documents required for applying to the Doctoral Programme for Clinical Research are not marked as mandatory in the application form. Please make sure you provide the required documents. 

1. Research plan

• Please note the DPCR model (incl. the funding plan)
• For your information some instructions on how to describe the statistical methods

When applied for the Turku School of Economics, the research plan should be maximum of 10 pages, for more instructions see Applying to Doctoral Studies at Turku School of Economics | University of Turku (utu.fi)

The research plan should follow the guidelines for the responsible conduct of research (see Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) | Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK). The research plans can be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in the preparation of the research plan should be clearly indicated in the research plan. 

2. CV of the applicant including the list of publications (e.g. Template for researcher's curriculum vitae)

3. CV from one supervisor (max 2 pages) and the list of publications 2021-2023

4. Motivation letter (max 1 page) 
The motivation letter is a one page long freeform document, which includes the reasons for applying for the doctoral studies in the Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research (DPCR). Please describe your motivation for completing a doctoral degree and how you think the doctoral degree will affect your career.  

If the applicant has a right to study for a doctoral degree at another university or in another doctoral programme at the University of Turku, the applicant must provide reasons for changing over to DPCR. A student may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time. 

If you are applying to the Turku School of Economics, please also follow the instructions of the School: 

• A one-page letter of motivation. In the letter, the applicants must state reasons why they are applying specifically to the University of Turku and to the chosen major subject. The applicants must also express the novelty value the intended research would bring to the scientific field. The letter must also include the applicant’s reflections on their professional aspirations.  

5. Signed supervision and study plan 

• Faculty of Medicine supervision and study plan
  • Please read the instructions on the Faculty of Medicine webpage before making your application.
  • Faculty of Medicine Subjects in doctoral training and heads of subjects
• Faculty of Science supervision and study plan
• Faculty of Technology supervision and study plan
• Faculty of Social Sciences commitment by a supervisor (file or copy of email message by a professor or a researcher with a doctoral degree working at the University of Turku to confirm that she/he is willing to supervise applicant’s dissertation project). No template for study plan.
• Turku School of Economics supervision plan or a commitment letter by supervisors. Study plan template

• When preparing a study plan, please use the study guide

NB! At least one of the supervisors should have access to UTU IT-systems (utu user account).

6. Degree certificates and transcripts of study records

1. If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution in Finland, you must attach your scanned original degree certificates, transcripts of study records and other educational documents which may be of relevance in the selection to the electronic application form.
2. If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution abroad (i.e. outside of Finland), you must attach the following items to the electronic application form:
   1. scanned original degree certificates (in the language that the degree was completed in)
   2. scanned original transcripts of study records (in the language that the degree was completed in)
   3. scanned other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection and that you are applying based on.

If the original degree certificates or transcripts of study records are not written in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations to one of these languages must also be submitted. An official translation here refers to a translation of the educational documents issued by the awarding institution and a translation made by an authorised translator. A transcript in English can be replaced by a Diploma Supplement (DS) awarded by a European educational institution, provided that it contains the information about completed courses and other study attainments.

Please make sure that all attachments are good-quality, easy to read, full colour scans or photographs of the complete required document. Attachments that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.

The applicants who have completed their prior degree in a country other than Finland and who are granted a study right in this call, need to deliver either the original degree certificates or certified copies of the original degree certificates and their translations to the University of Turku, as instructed in the admission notification, on 6 September 2024 at the latest. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline, they forfeit the study right. Instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements.

• NB! Please keep your original degree certificates and other relevant educational documents at hand during the application process.

7. Verification of language proficiency (if needed)

The University of Turku follows the Rector’s decision (15 Aug 2019) on the means of verifying one’s language proficiency. Please see language requirements on the webpage of the university’s graduate school and the instructions: Language proficiency

• If the applicant is required to prove their language proficiency with a language test, a scanned certificate of a completed language test must be attached to the application

8. Copy of valid passport

Attach a copy of your valid passport or official identification card with photo and information on citizenship. If you have a Finnish personal identity code and you have entered it on the application form, you do not need to attach a copy of your passport.

9 Letter of support for the collaboration provided by the representative of the research organisation  / principal investigator, if the data is mainly collected outside the University of Turku or TYKS Expert Responsibility Area. 

10. Supervisor's comment on the funding, if the thesis work is a main job for the applicant (not required when applied for the Turku School of Economics).

11. A justified application for the approval of a supervisor, when proposing only one supervisor. (Only when applied for to the Faculty of Medicine. In other Faculties two supervisors are required).

When applying for the right to study for a doctoral degree at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Technology or Turku School of Economics, the required attachments may vary from the above-mentioned. Please check and follow the instructions of the faculty in question.

Please note that due to technical reasons, some of the documents required for applying to the Doctoral Programme for Clinical Research are not marked as mandatory in the application form. Please make sure you provide the required documents. 

The applicant must deliver all required documents by the end of the application period. Any late submissions will not be processed.

The steering committee of the DPCR will review the applications. The applications may also be sent for evaluation to national and/or international reviewers. The research plans attached to the applications may be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system.

In the selection process, the following factors are emphasized: quality and feasibility of the research plan, applicant’s merits and completed studies as well as applicant’s capability and motivation to complete a doctoral degree. The applicant’s research topic must fit in with the profile of the Doctoral Programme.

For the right to study for a doctoral degree, the eligibility criteria of the applicant and the selection criteria of the Faculty (see above) are considered in addition to the criteria mentioned above.

The Dean/Vice Dean of research affairs of the faculty decides on granting the right to study for a doctoral degree based on the proposal of the steering committee of the doctoral programme. Additional information on the decision process on the webpages of each faculty. Applicants of the March application round will be personally informed about the admission decisions by the end of May. Applicants of the May application round will be personally informed about the admission decisions by 16 June.

An admitted applicant has to notify the University of Turku of their acceptance of the study place according to the instructions given in the admission notification:

• by 3:00 pm (Finnish time) on 14 June 2024 if you applied in the March application round,
• by 3:00 pm (Finnish time) on 19 June 2024 if you applied in the May application round.

If the admitted applicant does not give the notification by the end of the allotted time period mentioned above, the applicant forfeits the study place. A person admitted to more than one university or polytechnic degree programme only notifies the one educational institution at which they choose to accept the study place. Notification, i.e. accepting a study place, is binding and may not be cancelled or changed later.

According to Finnish university legislation, a student may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree in Finland during one academic term (autumn term 1 Aug – 31 Dec or spring term 1 Jan – 31 Jul). This rule applies to all higher education, i.e. Bachelor and Master level degrees awarded by Finnish universities of applied sciences, Bachelor and Master degrees awarded by Finnish universities, and Licentiate and Doctoral degrees awarded by Finnish universities. This regulation is not applied to study rights received in transfer student selections, from the Åland University of Applied Sciences, from the Police University College, and from institutions of higher education outside Finland.

The applicants who have completed their prior degree in a country other than Finland and who are granted a study right in this call, need to deliver either the original degree certificates or certified copies of the original degree certificates and their translations to the University of Turku, as instructed in the admission notification, on 6 September 2024 at the latest. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline, they forfeit the study right. Instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements.

Appeal for rectification

If an applicant is dissatisfied with the result of the student selection (right to study for a doctoral degree), he/she has the right to submit an application for the rectification of the decision to the Faculty in question within 14 days of the official publishing of the results.

In spring 2024, the faculties will be updating their curricula and the guidelines and regulations for doctoral studies, which may result in changes to the regulations for doctoral studies and doctoral dissertation form 1 August 2024. An approved applicant will complete their studies in accordance with the regulations that will come into force on 1 August 2024, and instructions for updating the personal study plan will be provided separately.