Doctoral Programme in Geosciences

The Doctoral Programme in Geosciences (GeoDoc) is a multidisciplinary postgraduate research training programme for students interested in Earth's crust, its dynamics, phenomena and social dimensions. Geosciences have a significant role in solving global problems and challenges, such as energy and raw material sufficiency, climate change, and chemicalization of the environment which has led to an increased demand of geoscientists in all sectors nationally and internationally. Finland is located on the edge of the Arctic region which has significant natural resources but is also highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. In addition, Finland's bedrock has exceptional discovery potential for many hi-tech metals and critical minerals which provide excellent circumstances for geoscientific research and innovations. Disciplines represented in GeoDoc also make a decisive contribution to the understanding of and anticipation to natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic activities and extreme climatic events. International scientific collaboration networks, high-class infrastructure, multidisciplinary and high quality supervision practice of GeoDoc will support postgraduate research and help develop the researcher identity of doctoral students, and develop their competence for demanding international expert positions in geosciences.

GeoDoc offers high quality postgraduate degree studies, research infrastructure, facilities, and supervision in Geology, Physical Geography, Solid Earth Geophysics, and parts of Archaeology. Research focal areas are Biogeography, Economic Geology, Geochemistry, Geomorphology, Global Change, Hydrogeography, Hydrogeology, Isotope Geology, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, Petrology, Quaternary Geology, Raw materials of Earth's crust, Remote Sensing, Sedimentology, Seismology, and Spatial Modelling. GeoDoc is a joint programme of the Department of Geosciences and Geography, the Department of Physics, and the Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies.

News

Application and enrolment

Activities

Funding

Supervision

Contact

News

31.5.2017 GeoDoc call for Letters of Intent for doctoral studies is closed

Details on the call can be found here:

The call was open during in May 2017. The call was intended for those, who are interested in doctoral studies at the Doctoral Programme in Geosciences, but do not yet have a contact to a professor or a possible supervisor within GeoDoc. Potential candidates who submitted their Letter of Intent will be contacted in June.

15.5.2017 GeoDoc Supervision workshop for the supervisors and doctoral students

GeoDoc Supervision 2017 workshop was successfully organized in Sofia Cultural Center in Vuosaari, Helsinki. Best supervision practices were shared among supervisors and a constructive discussion carried out with doctoral students.

Application and enrolment

For general instructions on applying a right to pursue a doctoral degree in GeoDoc, please visit the web page of the Doctoral School in Natural Sciences

The application is first evaluated by the Board of the GeoDoc programme, after which the Dean of the Faculty of Science makes a decision on admission. The applicant will be informed of the Dean's decision in writing.

Currently, there are no deadlines for submitting the applications. However, starting in Autumn 2017, the GeoDoc programme has annually four admission periods. During the academic year 2017-2018, the admission periods are as follows:

September 1-14, 2017,

November 1-14 , 2017,

February 1-14, 2018, and

April 3-16, 2018.

Activities

The Doctoral Programme in Geosciences

organizes in-depth scientific courses and seminars to support doctoral students' research work
provides travel grants for scientific visits and international conferences
promotes best practices in research supervision

Funding

Funded PhD positions

There are currently no open funded positions. The next call for positions will open in September 2017.

Financial support for research training events

The doctoral programme provides financial support for research training events (guest lectures, intensive courses, workshops, etc) that are within the research areas of the programme and benefit its students.

The application time is continuous. A free-form application should be submitted to the GeoDoc coordinator preferrably two months before the start of the event. The application should include a description of the event as well as an approximation of the total costs of the event.

Travel support for doctoral students

The doctoral programme provides travel support for its doctoral students to participate in conferences, intensive courses, summer/winter schools and research visits in Finland and abroad. Funds can be applied for to cover travel, accommodation and visa costs as well as participation fees and per diem allowances. To apply for travel funding, fill out the application form preferably two months prior to the trip (the board decides on funding approximately once a month).

When applying a travel grant for a conference, the doctoral student is supposed to have submitted an abstract for a paper or poster presentation which is approved to the event. The available travel grants are only meant for visits which are essential for completing the applicant’s doctoral thesis. Travel grants will not be provided for field work or analytical costs of PhD research. The maximum travel grant you may apply is 1500 EUR. If the GeoDoc grant does not cover all the identified travel expenses, the doctoral student should seek additional funding from external sources, such as research projects.

Supervision

The programme has supervisors from different Faculties and Departments of the University of Helsinki as well as from other research organizations. The list of current supervisors of the doctoral students is below:

Professors and associate professors

Fortelius, Mikael, professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; palaeontology)

Gibbard, Phil, professor (Department of Geography, Cambridge University; clastic sedimentology)

Hjulhammar, Marcus, PhD, assistant professor (Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies; Baltic maritime archaeology)

Kahma, Kimmo, research professor (Finnish Meteorological Institute; oceanography)

Karhu, Juha, professor, Head of Department (Department of Geosciences and Geography; geochemistry and hydrogeology)

Kotilainen, Aarno, research professor (Geological Survey of Finland; marine geology)

Kukkonen, Ilmo, professor (Department of Physics; solid earth geophysics)

Lahtinen, Raimo, research professor (Geological Survey of Finland; bedrock geology)

Lavento, Mika, professor (Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies; archaeology)

Luoto, Miska, professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; physical geography)

Moore, John, research professor (Arctic Centre, University of Lapland; cryosphere, glaciology)

Pellikka, Petri, professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; geoinformatics)

Poutanen, Markku, professor, Director (Finnish Geospatial Research Institute; geodesy)

Rämö, Tapani, professor, Director of GeoDoc Program (Department of Geosciences and Geography; petrology, physical geology)

Salonen, Veli-Pekka, professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; quaternary geology, environmental geology)

Seppä, Heikki, professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; palaeoecology, climatology)

Soininen, Janne, PhD, associate professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; aquatic ecosystems)

Wagner, Thomas, professor (School of Geosciences, RWTH Aachen University, Germany; economic geology)

Whipp, David, PhD, associate professor (Department of Geosciences and Geography; geodynamics)

Principal Investigators and other supervisors

Arppe, Laura, PhD, curator (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Natural Sciences Unit; stable isotope geochemistry, palaeoecology, palaeoclimatology)

Eronen, Jussi, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; paleoenvironments)

Halkoaho, Tapio, PhD, docent (Geological Survey of Finland; magmatic petrology, mineralization)

Halla, Jaana, PhD, docent (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Natural Sciences Unit; bedrock geology)

Heikkinen, Pekka, PhD, Research Director (Department of Geosciences and Geography; seismology)

Heikkinen Risto K., PhD (Finnish Environment Institute; climate change impact modelling, biogeography)

Heinonen, Aku, PhD, postdoctoral researcher (Department of Geosciences and Geography; petrology, isotope geology)

Heiskanen, Janne, PhD, (Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki; remote sensing)

Helama, Samuli, PhD, docent (Natural Resources Institute Finland; dendrochronology)

Hölttä, Pentti, PhD, docent (Geological Survey of Finland; metamorphic petrology)

Kaakinen, Anu, PhD, academy research fellow (Department of Geosciences and Geography; sedimentology)

Kohonen, Jarmo, PhD, docent (Geological Survey of Finland; sedimentary petrology)

Koivisto, Emilia, PhD, lecturer (Department of Geosciences and Geography; applied geophysics)

Korja, Annakaisa, Head of Institute of Seismology (Department of Geosciences and Geography; seismology, tectonics, lithospheric research)

Korkka-Niemi, Kirsti, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; hydrogeology, environmental geology)

Kultti, Seija, PhD, university lecturer (Department of Geosciences and Geography; environmental geology, paleoclimatology)

Lahelma, Antti, PhD, docent (Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies; history, archaeology)

Lindroos, Antti-Jussi, PhD, docent (Natural Resources Institute Finland; pedology)

Luoto, Tomi, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; paleolimnology, arctic environments)

Luttinen, Arto, Head Curator, PhD, docent (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Natural Sciences Unit; geochemistry, petrology)

Maeda, Eduardo, PhD, postdoctoral researcher (Department of Environmental Sciences; remote sensing, environmental change)

Miettinen, Arto, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; paleoceanography)

Muukkonen, Petteri, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; geoinformatics, remote sensing)

Mõttus, Matti, PhD, academy research fellow, docent (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland; remote sensing)

Mänttäri, Irmeli, PhD, senior research scientist (Geological Survey of Finland; isotope geology)

Mäntyniemi, Päivi, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; seismology)

Nevalainen, Liisa, PhD, docent (Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Jyväskylä; paleolimnology, aquatic ecosystems)

O’Brien, Hugh, PhD, senior research scientist (Geological Survey of Finland; isotope geology)

Oinonen, Markku, PhD, docent, laboratory director (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Natural Sciences Unit; dating methods)

Ojala, Antti, PhD, docent (Geological Survey of Finland; limnology, paleoenvironments)

Okkonen, Jarkko, PhD (Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu; ground water modelling)

Poutiainen, Matti, PhD, docent (Department of Geosciences and Geography; metamorphic petrology)

Ruth, Olli, PhD, university lecturer (Department of Geosciences and Geography; physical geography)

Sirén, Anders, PhD, senior lecturer (Department of Geosciences and Geography; spatial bioeconomic modeling, land use dynamics)

Sorjonen-Ward, Peter, PhD, docent (Geological Survey of Finland; structural geology)

Viranta-Kovanen, Suvi, PhD, docent (Institute of Biomedicine, evolution biology)

Väliranta, Minna, PhD, docent (Department of Environmental Sciences, Environmental Change Research Unit; palaeoecology, plant macrofossil analysis)

Väre Henry, PhD, docent (Finnish Museum of Natural History, Natural Sciences Unit; tundra vegetation)

Zwinger, Thomas, PhD (Finnish Center for Scientific Computing, glaciology)

Contact

The Board of the GeoDoc Programme in 2017

Professor Tapani Rämö (director) (Geology)

Professor Miska Luoto (Physical Geography)

Professor Ilmo Kukkonen (Geophysics)

University lecturer Seija Kultti (Environmental Geology)

Doctoral student Henrik Kalliomäki

Doctoral student Niina Junno (deputy member)

Research coordinator Tino Johansson (coordinator)

For more information contact the coordinator of GeoDoc:

Email: tino.johansson (at) helsinki.fi

Telephone: +358 (0)50 4489425 or (0)2941 50825

Department of Geosciences and Geography
P.O.Box 68 (Gustaf Hällstömin katu 2b)
FI-00014 University of Helsinki, FINLAND