Doctoral studies: Main stages in applying
The instructions are valid during the 2025 admission rounds to doctoral programmes at JYU.
Start preparing the application well in advance. It is recommended to start preparing the application before the application period begins.
The Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ has 18 doctoral programs that operate in the faculties' doctoral schools.
- Familiarise yourself with the general application guidelines. Please note the requirements for official certification of copies of educational documents and the country-specific requirements.
- Check your eligibility for doctoral studies. If needed, ask for further information from the doctoral school concerned.
- Check whether you need a certificate of your Finnish or English language proficiency. Book a language test at your earliest convenience, if needed.
- Think of a tentative research topic or theme area on which you would like to write your dissertation.
- Find out about the dissertation requirements of the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
- Find out about the funding opportunities for dissertation research. The right to study in the doctoral program does not include funding. The necessary funding must be applied for separately.
- Contact the representative of the subject in the unit providing doctoral training in your field of science (faculty, department, or independent institute) to arrange supervision for your doctoral studies. Please see the faculty-specific application guidelines below.
- As instructed in the faculty-specific application guidelines, discuss with the representative of the subject or with your possible supervisor about your research plan, doctoral study plan, and financing plan for your doctoral studies.
Faculty-specific guidelines
Prospective doctoral students must contact the specialisation representative at the department organising the doctoral education via email well before before sending the application. You can contact the specialisation representative before the application period begins. Please note that failure to contact specialisation representative may result in your application being rejected.
Contact persons by doctoral programme:
- Doctoral programme of the Department of History and Ethnology: contact the specialisation representative
- Doctoral programme of the Department of Language and Communication Studies: contact the specialisation representative
- Doctoral programme of the Department of Music, Arts and Culture Studies: contact the specialisation representative
- Doctoral programme of the Centre for Applied Linguistics: contact the doctoral programme representative
- Doctoral programme in the School of Social Sciences and Philosophy: contact the specialisation representative
Detailed information on contact persons can be found on the website of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, under the section "Degree Programme Representatives and Specialisation Representatives". You can find the contact information of the contact persons on the university's contact information page.
If necessary, the contact person directs the applicant further.
During the application phase, the applicant’s previous studies and grades are assessed. In addition, the research plan, funding plan, the doctoral study plan and possible supervisors are discussed.
If they wish, doctoral programmes or specialisations may interview applicants or ask for a video. Applicants will be contacted and sent separate instructions if they are invited for an interview or if a video is requested.
The planned dissertation topic must be in line with the field of study and doctoral degree you wish to pursue. Find out more about the research carried out at the Faculty and contact the researchers in the research group you are interested in to ask about the possibility of getting supervision for your dissertation work.
To be considered for the doctoral programme, applicants must already have at least one supervisor (supervisor-in-charge) who has an employment relationship with the Faculty of Information Technology with an open-ended contract or a fixed-term contract or tenure track of at least four years from the start of the doctoral studies. In addition to the supervisor-in-charge, at least one other supervisor is appointed for all doctoral students. All supervisors must have a doctoral degree. The information on the supervisors, who have agreed to the role, must be given on the electronic application form in Studyinfo.fi.
Please note: ask your intended supervisor-in-charge to send a recommendation letter to doctoral-studies-it@jyu.fi by the end of the application deadline. The letter is not included in the online application.
Finding a supervisor at JSBE
The planned dissertation topic must align with the field of study and the doctoral degree the applicant wishes to pursue. The applicant should familiarize themselves with the research conducted in the Faculty and contact the teaching and research staff of the School of Business and Economics to inquire about the possibility of obtaining supervision for the dissertation. The supervisor-in-charge must be employed by the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, be a member of the faculty’s teaching and research staff, hold a doctoral degree, and have sufficient scientific merits. More information about supervision can be found on the Doctoral study supervisors page.
It is important to contact the potential supervisor-in-charge well in advance (at least one month before the application deadline) to inquire about their availability for supervision. Send the preliminary research and doctoral study plan (use templates on the Required Attachments page) and possible recommendation letters to the supervisor. The supervisor will assess whether the dissertation topic meets the requirements of the study field and degree objective, whether the doctoral study plan is realistic, whether the applicant’s previous studies are suitable for the planned doctoral degree, and whether they are willing to commit to supervising the dissertation.
The applicant must name the proposed supervisor-in-charge in the Studyinfo application and attach the supervisor’s endorsement to the application, confirming their support for the research and doctoral study plan and commitment to supervision.
If the applicant is selected, a follow-up group must be appointed for them. The follow-up group includes at least one person with doctoral degree, who is not the supervisor of the student in question and is not closely linked to student's dissertation research, for example as a co-author, or in a role that enables the production of research-based information. Follow-up group members may be external to the University. More information can be found on the Follow-up group page. It is advisable to discuss the composition of the follow-up group with the potential supervisor-in-charge already during the application period.
All doctoral programmes
Those planning to apply for a right to pursue a doctoral degree must arrange supervision well in advance of submitting their application. In all doctoral programmes in the Faculty of Education and Psychology, securing supervision before submitting an application is one of the selection criteria used to assess applications for doctoral studies. Please note that the absence of supervisors in accordance with the application guidelines may result in rejection of the application.
Every doctoral student must have a designated supervisor-in-charge and at least one other supervisor. All supervisors need to have a doctoral degree. A supervisor-in-charge can be a professor, an assistant/associate professor, a docent or a person who has significant scientific evidence equivalent to a docent, who is employed at the Faculty of Education and Psychology1. The supervisor-in-charge must have a non-fixed-term employment contract or alternatively, a fixed-term employment contract during which a doctoral dissertation can be expected to be finished. The supervisory group formed by the supervisors must have at least one supervisor from the faculty2 who has a non-fixed employment contract or a tenure track employment contract. There can be members in the supervisory group also outside the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥.
1 In the doctoral programme in education alternatively at Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius or Finnish Institute for Educational Research
2 In the doctoral programme in education alternatively at Kokkola University Consortium Chydenius
The doctoral study plan signed by the supervisors and a member of the follow-up group has to be scanned as an attachment to the electronic application form.
Doctoral programme in cognitive neuroscience
Please read the general instructions above. The potential main supervisors are (in alphabetical order):
- Piia Astikainen, Associate Professor
- Jarmo Hämäläinen, Professor
- Jan Kujala, Professor
- Paavo Leppänen, Professor
- Miriam Nokia, University Researcher
- Tiina Parviainen, Associate Professor
- Jan Wikgren, Senior Lecturer
Finding a supervisor
The research topic must align with the research conducted in the Faculty; thus, the applicant must familiarize themselves in advance with the Faculty’s research areas.
Before applying, the applicant must contact the professor in charge of the research area / specialisation or the teaching and research staff of the Faculty to inquire about the possibility of obtaining supervision for the dissertation. The supervisor-in-charge must be employed by the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥, be a member of the faculty’s teaching and research staff, hold a doctoral degree, and have sufficient scientific merits. More information about supervision can be found on the Doctoral study supervisors page.
It is important to contact the potential supervisor-in-charge well in advance (at least one month before the application deadline) to inquire about their availability for supervision. Send the preliminary research and doctoral study plan (use templates on the Required Attachments page) and possible recommendation letters to the supervisor. The supervisor will assess whether the dissertation topic aligns with the research conducted in the Faculty, whether the doctoral study plan is realistic, whether the applicant’s previous studies are suitable for the planned doctoral degree, and whether they are willing to commit to supervising the dissertation.
The applicant must name the proposed supervisor-in-charge in the Studyinfo application as well as one or two other supervisors who do not need to be employed by the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥. Additionally, the application must include the details of a member of the follow-up group. The follow-up group includes at least one person with doctoral degree, who is not the supervisor of the student in question and is not closely linked to student's dissertation research, for example as a co-author, or in a role that enables the production of research-based information. Follow-up group members may be external to the University. More information can be found on the Follow-up group page.
The applicant must attach to their application the supervisors' approval form (use template on the Required Attachments page) signed by all supervisors, the member of the follow-up group, and the main representative of the subject, confirming their support for the application and commitment to their tasks.
Find out more about the research being done in the faculty and get in touch directly with potential supervisors in the field of research you want to pursue. At the time of granting of the study right, each doctoral student will be assigned at least two supervisors and a follow-up group in accordance with the university and faculty guidelines. Applicants need to have at least one committed supervisor (supervisor-in-charge) at the application stage. The information on the supervisors, who have agreed to the role, must be given on the electronic application form in Studyinfo.fi. The information on the follow-up group can be given on the electronic application form in the Studyinfo portal, or according to separate instructions after the application period has ended.
Positive selection decisions are not made without information about the supervisors and the follow-up group.
The applications are assessed in doctoral school or doctoral programme-specific groups. Applicant’s eligibility to apply, the fulfilment of language skills requirements and the authenticity of application documents are checked.
Faculty-specific guidelines
After the expiration of the application period, the Faculty will seek recommendation for the application from the department. The department has a steering group, a research board or their equivalent, which assesses the applications in accordance with their own requirements. The groups are:
- Department of History and Ethnology: department's steering board
- Department of Language and Communication Studies: department's research steering group
- Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies: department's research board
- Centre for Applied Language Studies: team of supervisors
- Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy: the board of the doctoral programme of the department of social sciences and philosophy.
The Faculty sends the applications to the contact person of the relevant group.
The group may invite the applicant for a meeting to answer questions regarding the application. The group may also discuss the applicants with, for example, the specialisation representatives of the relevant subjects or the head of the department.
The group records the endorsements into a statement. The chairperson or the secretary of the group will submit the statement to the faculty.
- If the application is not endorsed, the justification is recorded as a part of the statement.
- If the application is endorsed, a proposal for the appointment of the supervisor-in-charge and at least one additional supervisor and the follow-up group for the applicant is included in the statement.
The dean either accepts or rejects the application based on the recommendations of the above-mentioned instances. At the same time, the dean will also accept or reject the preliminary doctoral study plan attached to the application.
The faculty will inform all applicants about the decision.
The doctoral school of the Faculty of Information Technology evaluates your prerequisites for doctoral studies and the faculty's possibilities for organizing appropriate supervision. Applications are first processed by research field and then by the management team of the doctoral school. The actual decision on student selection is made by the faculty's vice dean responsible for research. You will receive information about the decision by e-mail to the e-mail address you provided in the application.
After the application period ends the disciplines are informed about the applications in their field, so that they can evaluate the availability of supervision.
The JSBE Research Committee acts as the evaluation group for the applications. After the application period ends, the eligibility requirements of each applicant are checked. Only eligible applications are evaluated. Applications are assessed according to the admission criteria.
The fulfilment of the admission criteria is assessed based on the application and the submitted educational documents and attachments. Therefore, the applicant must ensure that all required documents are submitted according to the instructions. Even if the applicant otherwise meets the eligibility requirements, but has not submitted the required attachments in the required manner, they do not meet the admission criteria and thus cannot be selected.
In all doctoral programmes of the Faculty, a conditional admission decision can be made for an applicant who is otherwise eligible and meets the admission criteria, based on the fact that the degree granting eligibility is incomplete at the end of the application period or the applicant has not submitted the officially certified educational documents and their possible translations. To be accepted, the applicant must demonstrate by the given deadline that the basis for the conditional admission decision has been removed. More information and schedules can be found on the Conditional admission decision page.
The JSBE Research Committee prepares the selection proposal, and the Dean of the Faculty decides on the granting of the right to postgraduate studies based on this proposal. Applicants are informed of the selection decisions by email according to the schedules announced on the Apply to Doctoral Studies page.
After the expiration of the application period, the Faculty will seek recommendation for the application from the doctoral programme. The steering group assesses the applications in accordance with their own requirements. The groups are:
- Doctoral programme in Education: Education steering board
- Doctoral programme in Psychology: Psychology steering board
- Doctoral programme in Cognitive Neuroscience: Cognitive Neuroscience steering board
The Faculty sends the applications to the aforementioned steering groups.
The steering group records the endorsements into a statement and submits the statement to the faculty.
- If the application is not endorsed, the justification is recorded as a part of the statement.
- If the application is endorsed, a proposal for the appointment of the supervisor-in-charge and at least one additional supervisor and the follow-up group for the applicant is included in the statement.
The dean either accepts or rejects the application based on the recommendations of the above-mentioned instances. At the same time, the dean will also accept or reject the preliminary doctoral study plan attached to the application.
The faculty will inform all applicants about the decision.
The postgraduate working group acts as the evaluation group for the applications. After the application period ends, the eligibility requirements of each applicant are checked. Only eligible applications are evaluated. Applications are assessed according to the admission criteria.
The fulfilment of the admission criteria is assessed based on the application and the submitted educational documents and attachments. Therefore, the applicant must ensure that all required documents are submitted according to the instructions. Even if the applicant otherwise meets the eligibility requirements, but has not submitted the required attachments in the required manner, they do not meet the admission criteria and thus cannot be selected.
The postgraduate working group decides for each evaluated applicant whether the application is accepted, rejected, or if supplementing the application is requested. An application is accepted if it fully meets all the admission criteria as it is. Supplementing is requested if the application partially meets the admission criteria, but the evaluation group requires further clarifications or improvements to the research plan or postgraduate study plan. An application is rejected if it does not meet all the admission criteria.
Applicants who receive a supplement request are given 7 days to modify their application’s research and/or postgraduate study plan based on the provided feedback. The final submission date for the revised plan is specified in the message informing applicant of the supplement request. The final decision on the acceptance or rejection of the application is made based on the revised plan after the submission deadline.
In all doctoral programmes of the Faculty, a conditional admission decision can be made for an applicant who is otherwise eligible and meets the admission criteria, based on the fact that the degree granting eligibility is incomplete at the end of the application period or the applicant has not submitted the officially certified educational documents and their possible translations. To be accepted, the applicant must demonstrate by the given deadline that the basis for the conditional admission decision has been removed. More information and schedules can be found on the Conditional admission decision page.
The postgraduate working group prepares the selection proposal, and the Dean of the Faculty decides on the granting of the right to postgraduate studies based on this proposal. Applicants are informed of the selection decisions by email according to the schedules announced on the Apply to Doctoral Studies page.
The applications are assessed by the board of the doctoral programme you are applying to, and by the Faculty Doctoral School. Applicants’ eligibility to apply, the fulfillment of language skill requirements and the authenticity of application documents are checked, in addition to evaluating the potential of the applicant to succeed in their studies and the possibility of the doctoral programme to organize supervision.
Applicants may be interviewed and/or asked to provide a video. Applicants will be contacted if they are invited for an interview. Instructions for a video, if needed, will be given in the application instructions or in person after the the application period has ended.
Applicants will be informed of the selection decision by e-mail to the address provided on the application form.
- Ensure that you have everything needed for the application, including your research plan and doctoral study plan, and other necessary attachments.
- Using the electronic application form, submit your application with attachments by the end of the application period.
- Make sure that application documents sent by postal mail reach the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ by the end of the application period.
When you have submitted your application, you will receive a confirmation message from the Studyinfo.fi service to the email address you provided in your application. You can edit your application until the end of the application period. If you receive a request to send further information, submit the missing documents as soon as possible.