Before applying / Doctoral training at the Faculty of Medicine

A person applying for the right to study for a doctoral degree must first discuss with his/her supervisor of the supervision of the thesis work, of the choice for a doctoral programme, the contents of the doctoral studies, the composition of the follow-up committee for doctoral training and other details related to the project. A doctoral researcher may have a maximum of 3 supervisors. At least one of the supervisors must be an adjunct professor (docent) or possess a corresponding or higher academic qualification. See Study guide for doctoral training, chapter 4.3.

NB! Supervisor(s) must have knowledge of doctoral training at the University of Turku. Therefore, at least one supervisor must be from the University of Turku or from a unit within the Turku University Hospital expert responsibility area (ERVA). At least one supervisor (UGIS supervisor) must have access to University of Turku electronic systems. According to the rector’s new decision each doctoral researcher will be appointed at least two supervisors, however, only one supervisor may be appointed based on application and for a valid reason.
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. When appointing only one supervisor, the regulations on supervision presented in the Faculty of Medicine study guide for doctoral training and the following additional criteria apply and must be present in the application:

• The supervisor’s prior merits in supervision of doctoral researchers
• The supervisor must be able to dedicate a sufficient amount of time to supervision, and must possess sufficient knowledge of supervision practices at the University of Turku
• The supervisor must present a reasoning for why the thesis project in question is suited for supervision by only one supervisor
• The scope and methodology of the thesis project are such that supervision by only one supervisor is sufficient

Draw up the supervision plan together with the supervisors and enclose it including all signatures to the application’s appendix. The supervisors give their consent to the supervision and to the submission of the application by signing the supervision plan. The faculty decides on the supervisor based on the evaluation of the doctoral programme and the Doctoral Committee.

> Supervision and study plan (Fill in electronically, print and sign together with the supervisor/-s and the head of subject)

Information about the follow-up committee is also included in the application and the supervision and study plan. For more information on the follow-up committee - see below.

After negotiating and in cooperation with their supervisors, an applicant to doctoral training assembles a follow-up committee. The follow-up committee consist of the doctoral researcher’s supervisors, and one to three other researchers who have completed a doctoral degree and are familiar with the topic of the candidate’s research. One of these other members must come from outside the doctoral researcher’s own research group. The outside member of the follow-up committee cannot be a spouse, parent, sibling or their spouse, or a child or their spouse of either the supervisor(s) or the doctoral researcher.

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 details of the follow-up committee are recorded in the application and in the supervision and study plan (see previous part).

More information about the follow-up committee, committee meetings and annual progress report:

> Study guide for doctoral training, chapter 4.4.

> Follow-up Committee Meeting and Annual Progress Report at the Faculty of Medicine

Discuss with the head of the doctoral subject on the possibility to carry out the thesis work in a given subject (department) before applying. The head of the doctoral subject gives her/his consent by signing the above mentioned supervision plan.

> Subjects in doctoral training and heads of doctoral subject (PDF)

A link to the supervision and study plan is in the part “Supervision”.

A doctoral researcher is expected to have a capability to communicate fluently in English for the sake of the studies, research and integration to the scientific community. When applying for a right to study you prove your knowledge of English either with your previous studies (degrees) or with a language test. Despite of this, it is possible to pass the doctoral degree in Finnish language.

Applicants comply with the University's common language requirements for applicants:
Language requirements for admission / Right to study for a doctoral degree

If you are going to verify your language skills with a language test, make sure that you book your test time well in advance, even a couple of months before the application period, to make sure that the test result is available during the application period.

The main rule is that you need to have either a Finnish higher university degree or a foreign degree that is comparable to the Finnish degree. > Eligibility

To verify your eligibility, you must submit certain educational documents (conditional on the criteria listed below):

I.If the applicant has completed the former degree(s) which make them eligible for doctoral studies at the University of Turku or has a completed specialization training or right to pursue specialization training at the University of Turku, doctoral degree certificate is not needed as an application enclosure.

II. If the applicant has completed the former degree(s) which make them eligible for doctoral studies at some other university in Finland, the degree certificates, the transcripts of study records and other educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection must be attached to the electronic application form.

III. If the applicant has completed the former degree(s) which make them eligible for doctoral studies at a university abroad (i.e. outside Finland), they 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 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 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.

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 as instructed in the admission notification. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline set in the admission notification, he/she forfeits the study right. Instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements are available here: https://www.utu.fi/en/study-at-utu/accepted-students/original-documents.

Please keep your original degree certificates and other relevant educational documents at hand during the application process, because the schedule for submitting the documents after the notice of acceptance is tight.

Check the appendix documents from the instructions of the call for applications of the doctoral programme. Prepare all the documents, get the required signatures and scan the documents to PDF form in order to have all the material ready for the electronic application form.

The application documents will not be returned to the sender.