The University of Helsinki (UH) annually allocates funding to doctoral programmes for salaried positions (employment contract).
The next application period for salaried positions will be on 29.08.-14.09.2023.
Salaried doctoral researcher positions are aimed at enabling full-time work on doctoral dissertations and doctoral studies, with the goal of completing a doctoral degree in four years. The exact duration of employment, its’ start and end dates are determined in the employment contract.
The salary and other further details concerning the employment relationship are available in the call for applications (available when the call is open).
You can apply for a salaried position in a doctoral programme if you are currently a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki or are planning to pursue a doctoral degree.
If you already have a doctoral study right at the University of Helsinki, you can apply for a salaried position, if you have not yet spent a total of four years with a UH funded doctoral researcher salary.
Please read your doctoral programme’s instructions below.
Applications for a salaried position in a doctoral programme are submitted by completing the application form and enclosing the required attachments.
If you do not yet have the right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki, you can apply for the right in the September study right call or in the spring at the latest. Please note that this may result in your employment beginning later than 1 January 2024.
If you are offered a salaried position, you must apply and be awarded the right to pursue a doctoral degree in your doctoral programme within the six-month trial period.
Please note that you may apply for a UH-funded doctoral candidate 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.
If you already have the right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki, you may also apply for a salaried position from another doctoral programme that suits your research profile.
If you receive a salaried position from another doctoral programme, you will need to change your doctoral programme. This means that you may need to reapply for study right if your faculty or target degree changes. This application should be made in the spring at the latest. Please note that this may affect the start date of your potential employment. If you are applying for a salaried position in more than one doctoral programme, please complete a separate application form for each one.
You will find more instructions on applying from the doctoral programme specific instructions below.
On these pages you will find information on how to use the recruitment system.
Further information can be requested by writing to phd-positions(at)helsinki.fi
The Doctoral Programme in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Helsinki invites applications for two (2) funded doctoral researcher positions starting from 1.1.2024. The duration of the employment contract depends on the phase of the appointee’s thesis. Preference will be given to those applicants who are in the early stages of their doctoral degree and can be granted a full 4-year period.
In addition to doctoral programme-specific positions, University of Helsinki Doctoral School allocates 10 strategically targeted doctoral researcher positions for the four-year period 2024-2027 in a thematic call. Theme of the call is Multidisciplinary research on One Health including a global dimension and the appointees in this call are selected among the high-scoring 4-year applicants in all doctoral programmes by a separate multidisciplinary thematic evaluation panel. If you want to apply for these positions, please fill out the ‘Thematic call’ section in the application form.
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.
In addition, University of Helsinki Research Foundation allocates 10 positions to high-scoring 4-year applicants in all doctoral programmes. The Foundation emphasizes multidisciplinarity and the applicant's ability to explain which societal problems or questions the research aims to answer.
When selecting the doctoral researchers, the steering committee of the doctoral programme will take into consideration the quality of the research proposal, the topic of research and its impact, previous academic performance of the applicants during their earlier studies and time in which the studies were completed, and feasibility of the study plan. Other requirements include the ability and motivation, as demonstrated through previous degree studies or otherwise, to pursue the doctoral degree according to the research proposal and the study plan. A successful applicant must have the language skills required for the completion of the dissertation research as well as good command of English, Finnish, or Swedish.
If you do not yet have the right to pursue a postgraduate doctoral degree, please read carefully the instructions for doctoral study right applicants.
The topic of the research plan must suit the profile of the doctoral programme.
Applications for a salaried position are submitted via the University of Helsinki recruitment system. You need to include the following attachments in this order to your application for the Doctoral Programme in Theology and Religious Studies.
Research plan
CV
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: Applicants may submit their applications in Finnish, Swedish and English. If you wish to write your research plan and CV in Swedish, please contact citycentre-dp@helsinki.fi.
The application form is open during the application period. You will find the application form for each doctoral programme during the open call period (29.08.‒ 14.09.2023) from the University of Helsinki Open positions webpages (available during the call period).
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 questions about the application, or the application form, after 16.00 EEST on the day the application closes.
The applicant must obtain a recommendation from possible primary supervisor from the Doctoral Programme in Theology and Religious Studies at University of Helsinki by 18.9.2023 at 16.00.
The steering committee of the programme evaluates the applications. Short-listed applicants will be interviewed before selections. The date for the interviews will be announced later.
The steering committee 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 webpage (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.
In the autumn 2023 call, a salaried position was granted to the following doctoral researchers:
The programme congratulates the successful candidates and wishes to thank all applicants.