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 their own language test arrangements.
4. Get the required signatures in time and prepare the appendix documents as pdf's.
5. Applications for the right to study for a doctoral degree are submitted in the Studyinfo system, and applications for the position of doctoral researcher are submitted in the University of Turku's recruitment system (Talentti) by filling in the electronic application form and attaching pdf attachments to the application. Please note that if you are applying for both the right to study and the doctoral researcher position with an employment contract, you must submit your application with attachments in both application systems.
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. Link to he eligibility criteria.
• 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 under section Supervision
• 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 29 August – 12 September 2025, you can apply for:

1. The right to study for a doctoral degree in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Turku from 1 January 2026 onwards
2. A fixed-term doctoral researcher position with an employment contract 

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. 

Applications for the right to study for a doctoral degree are submitted in the Studyinfo system, and applications for the position of doctoral researcher are submitted in the University of Turku's recruitment system (Talentti) by filling in the electronic application form and attaching pdf attachments to the application. Please note that if you are applying for both the right to study and the doctoral researcher position with an employment contract, you must submit your application with attachments in both application systems (see below for details). The application attachments are described in more detail at the end of this Call for applications (Annex 1 & Annex 2).

1. How to apply for a right to study

To apply, fill in the electronic application form on Studyinfo and submit the required attachments (see Annex 1). The Studyinfo application form will open on 29 August 2025 and close on 12 September 2025 at 4 pm (local time in Finland). Link to the University of Turku Graduate School website where the application forms are published.

In this application round, you can apply for admission to up to two doctoral programmes at the University of Turku. You can only have one valid doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time.

Late applications will not be considered. You cannot change the study programme (doctoral programme) or the application after the application deadline.

Only the right to study for a doctoral degree is applied for in the Studyinfo system. If you also wish to apply for a doctoral researcher position with employment contract, you must apply for the position separately (see the section 'How to apply for a doctoral researcher position').

2. How to apply for a doctoral researcher position

To apply for a doctoral researcher position with an employment contract, fill in the electronic application form in the University of Turku's recruitment system (Talentti) and submit the required attachments (Annex 2). The application form will open on 29 August 2025 and close on 12 September 2025 at 4 pm (local time in Finland).

The positions will be advertised in the Open Positions of the University of Turku and on the website of the University of Turku Graduate School at the beginning of the application period. Link to the University of Turku Graduate School’s website where the application forms will be published. Late applications will not be considered. It is not possible to change the doctoral programme or the application after the deadline.

To be eligible for the position of a doctoral researcher, applicant must have an active right to study for a doctoral degree in FINDOS-Turku Doctoral Programme. If you have not yet been granted a study right for a doctoral degree, you must apply for a right to study from FINDOS-Turku Doctoral Programme in the Studyinfo system (see the section ‘How to apply for a right to study’).

When you are applying for a right to pursue a doctoral degree, you are required to submit the attachments described below. 

If you already have a right to study a doctoral degree and you are only applying for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract, you are expected to submit attachments 1–3.

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). By attaching the research plan to the application form the applicant gives permission for checking the research plan via the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software, in accordance with the quality assurance system of the University of Turku (UTU).

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 a 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 UTU, the applicant must provide reasons for changing over to FINDOS-Turku. A student may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the UTU 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 transcript of study records
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 the following items to the electronic application form:

• Scans of the original degree certificate or the original electronic degree certificate of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. Master's degree certificate)
• Scans of the original transcript of records or the original electronic transcript of records of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. transcript of records of the Master's degree)
• Other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection (e.g. studies you have completed outside the degree that are related to the right to study you are applying for).

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:

• Scans of the original degree certificate or the original electronic degree certificate of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. Master's degree certificate in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• Scans of the original transcript of records or the original electronic transcript of records of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. transcript of records of the Master's degree in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• Other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection  (e.g. studies you have completed outside the degree that are related to the right to study you are applying for).
• If the original degree certificates and other educational documents 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 or a translation made by an authorized translator. A transcript of records or degree certificate 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.

6. Verification of language proficiency (if needed)

The University of Turku follows the Rector’s decision (15.8.2019, supplemented 21.12.2023) on the means of verifying one’s language proficiency. You should carefully read the University of Turku’s guidelines on language proficiency. Link to the website of the language requirements. You must attach a scanned certificate of language test approved by the University of Turku to your application, unless otherwise stated in the guidelines.

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 Faculty of Medicine instructions

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 researcher 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 researcher 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 researcher position.

When admitting the right to study for a doctoral degree, the eligibility criteria of the applicant (see What is expected of you) 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 2026 onwards) based on the proposal of the steering committee of the Doctoral Programme. 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 informed of the decisions personally by 28 November 2025 at the latest. 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 2025.

An admitted applicant has to notify the University of Turku of their acceptance of the study place by 3 pm (local time in Finland) on 15 December 2025 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 6 March 2026 at the latest. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline, they forfeit the study right. Link to the instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements.

FINDOS-Turku

Faculty of Medicine

Contacts:

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

Coordinator Maiju Kannisto, findos@utu.fi