Doctoral Programme in Technology - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants

• Make sure you are eligible to apply for a study right in the Faculty of Technology or at Turku School of Economics (Information Systems Science as major subject)
• When applying for a study right in the Faculty of Technology, an applicant has to agree with supervisors and a research director about supervision and research plan before the application can be made. This means that you must contact potential supervisors and make a supervision plan and a research plan in collaboration with them.

  • According to the Rector’s decision each doctoral candidate must have at least two supervisors. One supervisor acts as the main supervisor or UGIS supervisor. The Faculty may appoint only one supervisor for a doctoral candidate based on application and for a valid reason. A supervisor must have completed a doctoral degree, and at least one of a doctoral candidate’s supervisors must be a professor (professor, associate professor or assistant professor) or an adjunct professor. In the Faculty of Technology, one of the doctoral candidate’s supervisors has to be employed by the University of Turku or be docent (adjunct professor) of the University of Turku.

• Prepare a funding plan as a right to study does not include funding or scholarship from the University
• Prepare all the required application attachments according to the instructions
• Prepare your degree certificates for the application and require officially certified copies with English translation if needed

• Read the guidelines (below under "Applications documents and guidelines") before filling in the electronic application
• Make sure you have attached all the required documents
• Ask your supervisor to send a supervisor statement to the DPT coordinator (tech-doc@utu.fi)

Application documents must be in pdf-format.

a) Application for the right to study for a doctoral degree in the Faculty of Technology of the University of Turku

• In addition to the electronic application form, documents 1-7 and possibly documents 9-11, 13 must be submitted

b) Application for the right to study for a doctoral degree at the Turku School of Economics of the University of Turku (Information Systems Science as field of research)

• In addition to the electronic application form, documents 1-4 and 6-7 and possibly documents 9-10, 13 must be submitted

c) Application for a fixed term doctoral candidate position

• In addition to the electronic application form, documents 1-4 and 6-8 must be submitted

Supervisor’s statement is a mandatory document for all applicants: do not attach the statement to the electronic application. Instead, ask your supervisor to email the statement to tech-doc@utu.fi.

1) Curriculum vitae: Please see the instructions of TENK for writing a CV: http://www.tenk.fi/en/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae

2) List of publication: Please see the instructions in the website (Application documents): https://www.utu.fi/en/university/faculty-of-technology/doctoral-training/how-to-apply

3) Research plan

• In the Faculty of Technology, the maximum length of the research plan in all is 5 pages (Times New Roman 12pt or equivalent; line spacing 1). Research plan should contain: Name of the applicant; Planned title of the doctoral dissertation; Description of research topic and scientific goals; Research methods, experimental design and research environment; Applicants own role and specialization in the study; Timetable of research; Current state of doctoral thesis and postgraduate studies; List of references
• For applicants in Information Systems Science the maximum length of research plan is 10 pages, and cover and list of references. See more information from the selection criteria for postgraduate studies at TSE: https://www.utu.fi/en/university/turku-school-of-economics/research/doctoral-training/applying  
• By attaching the research plan to the application form the applicant gives permission for checking the research plan with Turnitin Originality Check (system for electrical plagiarism detection).

4) A copy of the degree certificates and the transcript of study records

A. If the applicant has completed the former degree(s) which make her/him eligible for doctoral studies at a University in Finland, the degree certificates, the transcripts of study records and other educational documents which may influence in the student selection must be attached in the electronic application form.

B. If the applicant has completed the former degree(s) which make her/him eligible for doctoral studies at a University abroad (i.e. outside Finland), s/he must attach the following items to the electronic application form:

• Scanned original degree certificates (in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• Scanned original transcripts of study records (in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• Scanned other original educational documents, which may be of relevance in the student selection.
• If the original degree certificates, transcript of study records and other educational documents are not written in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations of the documents 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 or a translation made by an authorized translator. A transcript in English can be replaced by a Diploma Supplement awarded by a European educational institution if it contains the information about completed courses and other study attainments.

Those applicants who have been granted a right to study and who have completed their prior degree abroad have to submit either the original degree certificates or certified copies of the degree certificates and other educational documents and the official translations of the documents to the University of Turku at the latest in 4 March 2022. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline set in the admission notification, s/he forfeits the study right. Link to the instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements.

C. In the Faculty of Technology, if the degree that gives eligibility for the study right for a doctoral degree is not completed by the deadline of application time, an up-to-date transcript of study records must be attached to the application.

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

5) Applicants applying for a study right from the Faculty of Technology: Supervision plan signed by supervisor(s), a research director and the applicant: In the Faculty of Technology a supervision plan is a mandatory attachment of the application.  Please find the supervision plan form below (under "Applications documents and guidelines")

6) Supervisor’s statement: Letter written by the supervisor(s) including the name of the applicant and supervisor, assessment of the applicant, announcing supervisor’s commitment to complete the thesis project, length of the supervisor’s position at the University of Turku, time plan for the thesis project, plan for financing the thesis project (existing funding and funding to be applied for), publication plan (must be clearly specified, which publications will be included in the thesis, what is applicant’s contribution in every publication and if the article is already accepted to be published), how does the applicant's previous studies or research merits support the application (e.g. if the previous degree is from different field), estimated date of the public defence of the doctoral thesis (first/second half of year 20xx). Supervisor should submit the attachment directly to tech-doc@utu.fi (subject line should contain ”DPT Supervisor Statement”).

7) Motivation letter: Motivation letter is one page long freeform document, which includes the reasons for performing a doctoral degree in the Doctoral Programme in Technology, and also your career plans after graduation (e.g. with regards to academic career / in Finland or elsewhere).

8) Transcript of study records of completed post-graduate studies

9) Verification of language proficiency: The University of Turku follows the Rector’s decision (15 Aug 2019) on the means of verifying one’s 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. See language requirements on the website of the university’s graduate school: https://www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/how-to-apply/language

10) Continuous company / organization (other than University of Turku) commitment to employee's post-graduate studies: A freeform document, in which a company / organization (representative of a company / organization, e.g. superior) express of being aware of the applicant's post-graduate studies and shows support (e.g. level or type of support, possible resources) for applicant's studies while the applicant works at the same time at the company / organization. The commitment should express also the impact of the thesis work for the company / organization.

11) Research director’s statement (Faculty of Technology)

• If the success of the applicant in her/his prior studies has not been sufficient, a statement of research director is needed as attachment of the application. The statement must take a stand on how the applicant has supplemented her/his knowledge and skills to achieve the required level: by studies, work experience and/or publications related to the field of doctoral thesis research.
• If the applicant does not hold a previous degree in the field of research (s)he is applying for, a statement of research director is needed as attachment of the application: what is the suitability of the previous degree for the applied research field. The statement must take a stand on possible bridge studies, and the justification may take applicant’s work experience and knowledge in relation to planned doctoral thesis work into account. There can be maximum 30 ECTS of bridge studies. Bridge studies cannot be included in postgraduate studies of 40 ECTS.
• The research director is the same person, who is suggested to be the research director in applicant’s doctoral thesis work. The research director's statement must be based on the application and its attachments, and it must be signed by the research director.

12) Other documents: For example information about grants, prizes and recommendation letters that the applicant wishes to present, in order to indicate the eligibility and merits for the applied position.

13) Reasons for changing over to a Doctoral Programme in Technology: 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 a Doctoral Programme in Technology of the University of Turku. If any materials collected during the previous dissertation process are planned to be used in the dissertation, the applicant must submit a free-form account showing that s/he has the right to use the materials. A person may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time.

The applicant must deliver all required attachments by the end of the application period. Late applications will not be processed.

Applicants must have good English language skills and a certificate that proves those skills.

    Language requirements for right to study for a doctoral degree

• Prepare to deliver your original or originally certified degree certificates to the University of Turku if you are granted the right to study a doctoral degree