Finnish Doctoral Programme in Oral Sciences (FINDOS-Turku) - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants

1. Check the application period and requirements.
2. Read the instructions of the Faculty of Medicine and the Doctoral Programme carefully!
3. 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.
4. Get the required signatures in time and prepare the appendix documents as pdf's.
5. Fill in the electric application form.
6. Remember to apply in time. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be processed.
7. Keep the original degree certificates and other relevant educational documents at hand during the application process.

Specific admission requirements in FINDOS

• Suitable Academic Degree (Licentiate of Dentistry or equivalent, MSc level) e.g. in biology, biochemistry or biomaterials. Dental and medical students at the university of Turku may receive the right to study for a doctoral degree already before obtaining the Licentiate degree.
• Research plan approved by the supervisor.
• Research area in the field of oral sciences.

An application should

• Contain a scientifically significant and feasible thesis project which thematically fits in the scope of the scientific fields represented by FINDOS.
• Demonstrate that the applicant is motivated and has potential to develop into an independent researcher.
• Demonstrate that the applicant will significantly benefit from the four-year PhD training program.
• Include structured research and study plans approved by the supervisor.

The supervisor

• Please read carefully the current requirements on the Faculty of Medicine's instructions webpage
• Represents the scientific fields of FINDOS.
• Can provide the Doctoral Researcher with adequate supervision and scientific training.
• Actively participates in the development of the FINDOS curriculum.

The Follow-up committee for doctoral training

• More information and current requirements are available at the Faculty of Medicine Study guide for doctoral studies - chapter 4.4 (pdf)

During the application period 28 August–15 September 2023, you can apply for:

• the right to study for a doctoral degree in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Turku from 1 January 2024 onwards
• a fixed-term Doctoral Researcher position under an employment contract

The position of a Doctoral Researcher is set to begin on 1 January 2024 at the earliest and for the duration of a maximum of four years (up to until 31 December 2027). The positions are primarily intended for full-time doctoral dissertation research and doctoral studies. Duties other than those related to doctoral dissertation research, such as teaching duties, must be proportioned so as not to compromise the completion of the doctoral dissertation within the planned schedule. As a rule, up to 5% (a maximum of about 80 hrs per academic year) of the annual working time of the Doctoral Researcher can consist of teaching.

When determining the length of the employment contract, prior funding granted for pursuing a doctoral degree is taken into account. The maximum length for a Doctoral Researcher position is four years. A person already awarded with a doctoral degree cannot be chosen as a Doctoral Researcher under an employment contract.

A Doctoral Researcher position requires living in Finland for the duration of the employment contract.

The salary is based on the salary system of the university’s teaching and research staff. It consists of a task-specific salary component and a personal performance salary component. The task-specific salary component of a Doctoral Researcher is at level 2–4. The component based on personal performance is 6–50% of the task-specific salary. The task-specific salary component of an entry-level Doctoral Researcher is typically on level 2, in which case the salary range is 2 313–3 273 € per month at the beginning of the employment relationship. A probationary period of 6 months applies.

• both of the above (the right to study for a doctoral degree and a fixed-term Doctoral Researcher position)

Those applicants who are not citizens of an EU/EEA country and who have been granted a right to study for a doctoral degree at the University of Turku in the spring 2023 application round or who are granted a right to study in the autumn 2023 application round may apply for the Finland Fellowship funding for the year 2024. The funding is applied for by checking the corresponding field on the application form.

Doctoral researchers with immunology, immunology-based drug development and/or diagnostics as their field of study have the possibility of applying for the InFLAMES Doctoral Module and of including the studies offered within the module as part of their doctoral studies.

When applying for a right to study

You are required to have completed a relevant Master’s degree awarded by a university 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 for granting a right to study.

The eligibility criteria and other general guidelines can be found on the web pages of the the Faculty of Medicine, and the FINDOS-Turku Doctoral Programme.

When applying for a fixed-term Doctoral Researcher position under an employment contract

You are required to have an active right to study in the doctoral studies of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Turku. If you have not yet been granted a right to study, you must apply for a right to pursue a doctoral degree in the Faculty of Medicine within this call for applications. A right to study is a prerequisite for an applicant to be chosen for a fixed-term Doctoral Researcher position under an employment contract;

You are planning to pursue or pursuing your first doctoral degree;

Possible previous funding for pursuing a doctoral degree granted by University of Turku is taken into account when determining the length of the funding period.

The right to study for a doctoral degree and/or fixed-term Doctoral Researcher positions are applied for by filling in an electronic form and attaching the required additional documents. A link to the electronic form will be published on the website of the graduate school. The form will be accessible as the application period begins on 28 August 2023 and closes at 11:59 pm on 15 September 2023.

The instructions for filling in the electronic form (pdf)

Ohje sähköisen hakulomakkeen täyttämiseen (pdf)

The application documents will not be returned to the sender.

If you are applying for a right to pursue a doctoral degree, you are required to submit all of the attachments described below. If you already have a right to study and you are only applying for a fixed-term Doctoral Researcher position under an employment contract, you are expected to submit attachments 1–3.

All of the required attachments must be submitted before the end of the application period. Applications that arrive after the application period has ended will not be processed. The application documents will not be returned to the sender.

For the application the applicant must prepare:

• a summary of the research plan (max 1000 characters) and
• the following documents in pdf-format:

1. Research plan (max 5 pages, see guidelines and additional points)

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. Curriculum Vitae of the applicant, including a list of publications when applicable. Please see the instructions of Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK) for writing a CV.

3. Motivation letter (max 1 page)

The motivation letter is one page long freeform document, which includes the reasons for applying for the doctoral studies in the Finnish Doctoral Program in Oral Sciences (FINDOS-Turku). 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 FINDOS-Turku. A student may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time. 

4. Supervision and study plan (Fill in electronically, print and sign together with the supervisor/-s and the head of subject) NB! At least one of the supervisors should have access to UTU IT-systems (utu user account). Additional information is available at the Faculty of Medicine webpage, under the “Supervision” section. 

5. Degree certificates and transcripts of study record

a. 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.

b. 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:

• scanned original degree certificates (in the language that the degree was completed in)
• scanned original transcripts of study records (in the language that the degree was completed in)
• 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.

6. 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. See the language requirements on the webpage of the university’s graduate school: https://www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/how-to-apply/language

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

7. Copy of a 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.

8. When only one supervisor for doctoral training is proposed, the supervisor’s justified plea for approval of only one supervisor must be attached to the application. See Before applying / Doctoral training at the Faculty of Medicine > Supervision at https://www.utu.fi/en/university/faculty-of-medicine/doctoral-training-at-the-faculty-of-medicine/how-to-apply-for-doctoral-training-at-the-faculty-of-medicine/before-applying

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

Assessment procedure

The FINDOS-Turku steering committee will process the applications. Applications may also be sent for evaluation to national and/or international reviewers. External evaluators from the national FINDOS network will evaluate the applications for funded doctoral candidate positions. The applicants for the funded positions may be invited for an interview by the evaluation panel. Please note that, due to the tight evaluation schedule, invitations for interviews will be sent on short notice. 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.

Assessment and selection criteria

In the selection of funded Doctoral Candidate positions, the following factors are emphasized: quality and feasibility of the research plan, applicant’s merits and completed studies as well as the 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. Any other funding received by the applicant for doctoral studies is taken into consideration when determining the duration of the Doctoral Candidate position.

When admitting the right to study for a doctoral degree, the eligibility criteria of the applicant (see 3.1.) and the selection criteria of the FINDOS-Turku Doctoral Programme, Faculty of Medicine, are considered in addition to criteria mentioned above. A prerequisite for admission is that there is at least one person who has agreed to act as a supervisor and who fulfils the qualification requirements for supervisors.

The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine decides on granting the right to study for a doctoral degree (1 January 2024 onwards) based on the proposals of the steering committees of the Doctoral Programmes. The Head of the department decides on recruitment of the applicant for the position of a Doctoral Researcher based on the proposal of the steering committee of the doctoral programme.

All applicants will be personally informed about the decisions. The names of the applicants who have been selected for the position of a Doctoral Researcher will be announced on the website of the doctoral programme by the end of November 2023.

An admitted applicant has to notify the University of Turku of their acceptance of the study place by 3:00 pm (UTC +2) on 15 December 2023 according to the instructions given in the admission notification. 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, an applicant 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’s and Master’s level degrees awarded by Finnish universities of applied sciences, Bachelor’s and Master’s 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 4 March 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 of Medicine within 14 days of the official publishing of the results. The demand must be made in writing and must include detailed grounds for the rectification. The demand for rectification must be sent to the Faculty of Medicine and sent to the address: Outi Irjala, Faculty of Medicine, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland or outi.irjala@utu.fi.

FINDOS-Turku

Faculty of Medicine

Contacts:

Director of the FINDOS-Turku Ulvi Gursoy, ulvgur@utu.fi

Coordinator Sanni Helander sanni.helander@utu.fi

findos@utu.fi