Employment as a doctoral researcher

LUOVA offers salaried doctoral researcher positions from 1.1.2024.

Please note that there are also 10 strategically targeted positions with the theme "Multidisciplinary research on One Health including a global dimension". One Health is understood in its widest scope referring to an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals and the environment.

The global dimension may be evident in the research proposals in the spirit of global responsibility, with a special focus on Africa. Groundbreaking basic research, open-minded curiosity and cooperation that transcends boundaries are supported. The projects are expected to increase our knowledge towards building a sustainable future by finding solutions to both local and global issues and thereby benefiting the global community.

If your research fits into this theme, please indicate it in your application and describe the connection with this theme.

LUOVA is offering 1-4-year positions of full-time research. Applicants must apply for full years (one, two, three or four years), corresponding to the length of time required to complete the PhD. The minimum period is 12 months starting in 2024.

LUOVA welcomes applications from researchers whose doctoral thesis research focus and research questions are directly relevant to wildlife biology, ecology and evolutionary biology.

Applicants must have completed their Master's degree by the end of the application period AND either have active post-graduate study rights at the University of Helsinki OR are applying for post-graduate study rights in the September 2023 admissions call (alternatively in the November 2023 or February 2024 admissions call at the latest).

Applicants need to have at least one agreed supervisor. LUOVA highly recommends having two supervisors. Applicants also need to have a coordinating academic and thesis committee before applying.

Applications must be submitted in English.

In addition to The Confirmation of Supervision, the supervisor’s letter of recommendation regarding the applicant must be completed by the primary supervisor. Please share this link to your primary supervisor to complete the recommendation. The deadline for the recommendation letter is Sunday 17 September. Please inform your primary supervisor with these instructions.

Please note that before applying for a salaried doctoral reseacher position the applicant is required to find an appropriate research group and supervisor(s). The applicant is expected to contact prospective supervisor(s) independently and agree on the details of the thesis project well in advance and before applying for the salaried doctoral reseacher position. It is recommended that all applicants have two supervisors and two thesis committee members.

Please note that the application process may sound confusing given organisational structure. LUOVA is a doctoral programme. Doctoral programmes are responsible for offering the curriculum that doctoral researchers are bond to; the doctoral programmes offer a tight research support community. Doctoral programmes belong to doctoral schools, which offer some of the common training, set joint standards, and handle some of the doctoral programme funding, for example travel grants. Some of the requirements for a PhD (e.g. thesis requirements) are dictated by the faculties, not by the doctoral programmes. All LUOVA's members belong to either the Faculty of Biological and Environmental sciences or Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The connections with the faculties are supported through the coordinating academic: all doctoral researchers should agree with, and name in the application, one of the eligible coordinating academics of the faculty (Fac. Biol&Env. & Fac. Agr&For)

An excellent application should:

• Demonstrate that the applicant is motivated and driven with the potential to develop into an independent researcher in the field of wildlife biology
• Propose thesis supervisors that can provide adequate supervision, mentoring and scientific training of the doctoral researcher
• Contain a scientifically sound and well-planned thesis project which thematically fits in the scope of the doctoral programme
• Demonstrate that the research project can be completed within the intended timeframe (i.e. the results achieved are relative to the stage of the project)
• An overview of the project funding needs and how these will be secured
• Reflect how the applicant fits into LUOVA and how the applicant will contribute to LUOVA's community

In order to be eligible for evaluation, the application form and confirmation of supervision must be completed in English and submitted by the deadline for the application to be valid. Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Please indicate clearly all the necessary personal laboratory/field work/other research costs and how they will be covered in addition to salary costs.

Applications received in time and fulfilling the both the general and LUOVA application requirements are evaluated and scored by an evaluation panel. The evaluation panel consists of members of the LUOVA board and other experts in the field of wildlife biology. The evaluation of the applications is based on the following criteria:

• Motivation and qualifications for the PhD project
• Scientific quality, methodology and ambition of the research plan
• Feasibility of the thesis project
• Suitability for the doctoral programme

Applications for a salaried position are submitted via the University of Helsinki recruitment system. You will find the application form for Doctoral programme in Wildlife Biology Research during the open call period (29.08-14.09.2023)  from the University of Helsinki Open positions webpages (available during the call period).

You need to include the following attachments in this order to your application 

• Research plan 

  • To ensure the equal treatment of applicants, you must use research plan structure presented in the template and follow the maximum number of characters including spaces indicated in the template. The application may be rejected if the instructions are not followed. 

  • Research plan template (word document)

• CV  

  • To ensure the equal treatment of applicants, CV must follow the template of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK. The application may be rejected if the instructions are not followed. 

  • CV template

  • Layout: Font Arial / Calibri size 11 or similar if not using Word 

  • Row min 1,15 

  • Maximum length of CV: 2 pages 

• Approval of the supervisors and the coordinating academic (if you don’t have a doctoral study right yet) 

• Copies of your degree diploma and transcript of studies

• All attachments need to be combined as one pdf file and attached to the ‘CV/Ansioluettelo’ section of the application. The maximum size of the combined file is 5 MB. 

Language of the application: English

Please note that you may apply for a UH-funded doctoral researcher position from a maximum of two doctoral programmes. If an applicant has submitted more than two applications, the two most recently dated will be considered and reviewed. 

Please note that even though the application closes at midnight, we advise you to submit your application earlier. We will not answer your question about the application, or the application form, after 16.00 EEST on the day the application closes. 

Interviews for selected applicants will be held on 7 November 2023. Interview invitations will be sent via email approximately 10 days before the interviews. Final decisions will be announced in mid-November the latest.

The board of the doctoral programme makes a proposal regarding appointment of salaried doctoral researcher positions. The director of the relevant employment unit makes the final decision on the appointments.  

All applicants will be personally notified of the decisions by the end of November. The names of the applicants selected for the positions will be published on the doctoral programme’s web pages (if the applicant has given permission).  

Please note that applications for the right to pursue a doctoral degree are processed according to a different schedule by the responsible Faculty. The relevant faculty makes decisions regarding study rights and applicants are personally notified in a separate notification to salary positions. If you are applying also for the study right, please read carefully the instructions for doctoral study right applicants from your doctoral programme webpage.