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
Open positions and their duration
4-year doctoral researcher positions are prioritized, but MATRENA can also fill 1-, 2- or 3-year positions.
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.
University of Helsinki Research Foundation also 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.
Eligibility
In MATRENA, MSc students are allowed to apply for salaried positions. Based on this, if an MSc student applies for a salaried position, a relevant academic degree (MSc or equivalent) in a field suitable for the doctoral thesis project must be completed and awarded before the starting date, but no later than mid-February 2024.
If you do not yet have the right to pursue a postgraduate doctoral degree, you must apply for a doctoral study right in the September 2023 application period or in January 2024 at the latest. In this case, please read carefully the instructions for doctoral study right applicants.
Application form
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 MATRENA:
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.
In MATRENA, the research plan is requested to be written in English. It is highly recommended that the full application form be completed in English, too.
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 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.
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.
Recommendation letter
MATRENA requires a recommendation letter from the supervisor(s). The recommendation letters need to be written in English and they are submitted via this e-form. The recommendation letters need to be submitted by September 18 2023 at 16.00. Recommendation letters should describe whether the suggested supervisor is willing to supervise the student.
Assessment of applications and decisions
The Board of MATRENA will evaluate the applicants on the basis of their written applications. The Board of MATRENA reserves the right to use external expert/s in the evaluation.
If necessary, the Board of MATRENA may also interview some of the applicants.
In MATRENA, the following criteria will be used when evaluating the applications:
Interview: MATRENA reserves the right to interview the top candidates. If an interview is organized, it will be conducted by a panel of 3 eligible board members, and the interview will be max. 30 minutes including a 10-minute research presentation by the applicant.
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.
MATRENA received 26 applications for the salaried positions. The applications were evaluated by the members of the board with no conflicts of interest towards the applicants.
The salaried positions were awarded to: