How to Apply

Call for applications has been closed 31 August 2026. RESDOC Project Management Office is carrying out the eligibility check. All applicants will receive information about the evaluation process and timeline for next steps directly.

RESDOC has specific eligibility criteria that all applicants must meet. Applications that do not fulfil all eligibility requirements will not be considered further.

Applications may also be rejected if they are submitted late, do not include all required attachments, use incorrect formats, provide oversized attachments, are not provided in English, do not provide necessary information about mobility or research-related information for eligibility check, or do not follow the provided templates. 

Applicants must fulfil all below-mentioned mandatory eligibility criteria set by MSCA COFUND programme at the call deadline by 31 August 2026. You can use the form below to check your general eligibility before applying.

• Hold a Master’s degree or equivalent qualifying for doctoral studies. The degree must be fully completed and dated in the certificate by the call deadline 31 August 2026. 
• Not hold a PhD degree
• Be an early‑stage researcher (less than 4 years of research experience. Early‑stage researcher shall, at the time of recruitment by the host organisation, be in the first four years (full-time equivalent research experience including part-time research work converted to full-time equivalent) of their research careers after master's degree and have not been awarded a doctoral degree. Full-time equivalent research experience is measured from the date when the applicant obtained the degree entitling him or her to embark on a doctorate.) Please make sure your research experience is clearly described with dates in your CV. In addition to research work experience, research-related work is counted to this criteria, for example work at a higher educational institution, research laboratory work, field work, academic coordination or management work, research-related positions in private industry sector.
• Fulfil English language requirements according to University of Helsinki’s . Applications must be submitted in English.
• Not be permanently employed by the University of Helsinki
• Comply with the MSCA mobility rule. Researchers may not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the recruiting beneficiary or implementing partner for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the co-funded programme's call deadline that is between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2026. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account. 
• Be willing to reside in Finland for the full 4‑year duration
• Propose a research topic fitting the RESDOC themes and available supervision

You will find the job announcement at the University of Helsinki’s . Click “apply for the post” on the page and start filling in your application. Read the online application before applying. Applications are accepted only via the online recruitment system in English, and they must be submitted by 31 August 2026 at  latest 11:59 PM (Finnish time EET). 

We highly recommend that you submit your application as early as possible. You may edit and re-edit your submitted application until the call deadline. University of Helsinki is not responsible, if you fail to submit your application on time due to technical challenges, misconceptions of time zones or any such complications. Note that in the recruitment system clicking "save" does not submit your application. You need to click "Apply" to actually submit your application.

The following templates are a mandatory part of your RESDOC application. They must be attached in the University of Helsinki’s online recruitment system. Download these templates and complete them. Convert them into a pdf-format that does not exceed the recommended maximum size (5 MB) in the recruitment system. Applications that do not contain all the documents below in the given formats will be disqualified.

Please do not include any other attachments in your application. To ensure fair and equal evaluation of all applicants, additional attachments will not be considered in the evaluation.

1. Europass CV 

You must use the predefined template for each required section of the application. Failure to follow the template in any part of the application will result in disqualification at the eligibility stage. Create your Europass CV on the in English. Name your document "CV_Lastname_Firstname". All file names must be written using the Latin alphabet (A–Z) and Arabic numerals (0–9). Please do not use Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, or other non-Latin characters in file names, as this may interfere with the processing of applications. Download a pdf-version and upload it in your application attachment in the online recruitment system. 

If you have prior research experience, please ensure that it is clearly described in your CV so that it is possible to verify that you meet the early-stage researcher requirement (less than four years of full-time research experience). Part-time research experience must also be visible and converted to full-time equivalent time in your CV.

Similarly, if you have resided in Finland during the past three years, please clearly indicate the duration of your stays (including months and, where possible, exact dates). This information is required to assess your eligibility in line with the MSCA mobility rule.

Your application can be disqualified, if RESDOC eligibility criteria cannot be assessed due to missing information, i.e. gaps in your work experience after master's degree or locations of your activities during the past three years.

2. Letter of Motivation and doctoral study plan

You must use the predefined template for each required section of the application. Failure to follow the template in English in any part of the application will result in disqualification at the eligibility stage. Download (docx) and follow the instructions therein. Name your document "Motivation_Lastname_Firstname". All file names must be written using the Latin alphabet (A–Z) and Arabic numerals (0–9). Please do not use Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, or other non-Latin characters in file names, as this may interfere with the processing of applications. Upload it in pdf-format in your application attachment in the online recruitment system. Read through the to support your study plan formation.

(docx). You need to attach this completed template in the "Cover Letter" space in the recruitment system. No additional cover letters are evaluated.

Use of AI in application: Please send us a motivation letter that you have crafted yourself, reflecting your own voice and thoughts. While AI tools may be used as support, application generated completely by AI do not meet our expectations. We value authentic, self-made applications over those generated by artificial intelligence. 

3. Scanned copy of your degree certificate and transcript of records 

The master's degree must be fully completed and dated in the certificate by the call deadline 31 August 2026. 

A foreign institution that confers a qualification must be recognised as an official higher education institution with degree-conferring authority by the official authorising body of the country in question. The degree certificate must include and clearly state:

• the name of the institution awarding the degree
• the date of graduation
• the name of the graduating person
• name of the title or degree awarded/conferred 

You will need to attach a scanned copy of your degree certificate and transcript of records for the degree that is used as a basis for eligibility. If the documents are not in Finnish, Swedish, or English, official translations need to be included. You must submit both translations and copies of the original documents in the original language as an attachment to your application. Translations will not be accepted without the original documents.

The University of Helsinki only accepts official translations. These are only translations made by an official translator or the issuing institution. Official translations must bear the official stamp and signature of the translator on each page.

Make sure to compress your pdf-file if it exceeds 5 MB. Name your document "Certificate_Lastname_Firstname". All file names must be written using the Latin alphabet (A–Z) and Arabic numerals (0–9). Please do not use Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, or other non-Latin characters in file names, as this may interfere with the processing of applications. Selected candidates must provide certified copies of degree certificate after selection.

4. Proof of English language skills 

This is an optional attachment in the application phase. But in case you proceed to the selection stage you will need to provide a valid proof of English language skills in one of the at the University of Helsinki by 31 December 2026. If you already possess a valid proof of English language skills, please attach it to your application as an attachment.

5. Research proposal, ethics self-assessment and intersectoral mobility plan

You must use the predefined template for each required section of the application. Failure to follow the template in English in any part of the application will result in disqualification at the eligibility stage. Download (docx) and follow the instructions therein. Name your document "Proposal_Lastname_Firstname". All file names must be written using the Latin alphabet (A–Z) and Arabic numerals (0–9). Please do not use Chinese, Arabic, Cyrillic, or other non-Latin characters in file names, as this may interfere with the processing of applications. Upload it in pdf-format in your application attachment in the online recruitment system. You are asked to suggest 2 to 3 supervisors. Kindly familiarize yourself with the supervision principles and as well as to answer the required sections on the research proposal.

(docx)

Use of AI in application: In preparing the research plan, the University of Helsinki's policies on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in and must be followed. The use of AI must be reported in the research plan.

All applications received will be checked by the RESDOC Project Management Office to see if they meet the eligibility criteria and its attachments meet the minimum requirements. If these requirements are met, the application will then proceed to the actual evaluation stage carried out by external evaluators. 

For steps 2 and 3 in the selection process, the applicants/applications will be given scores from 0 to 5. The threshold for each criterion is a grade of 3. Applications that receive a below-threshold grade on any of the assessment criteria will not be considered further. The weight for the evaluation of the written application is 70% and the weight for the evaluation of the interview is 30%.

The criteria used for evaluation of both the written application and interview is as follows:

0 Fails to address the criterion or cannot be assessed due to missing or incomplete information

1 Poor: the criterion is inadequately addressed or there are serious inherent weaknesses

2 Fair: broadly addresses the criterion but there are significant weaknesses

3 Good: addresses the criterion well but with a number of shortcomings

4 Very good: addresses the criterion very well but with a small number of shortcomings

5 Excellent: successfully addresses all relevant aspects of the criterion; any shortcomings are minor

Application evaluation criteria 

• The research plan is thematically suitable to RESDOC themes.
• Quality of the research plan: clarity and novelty of the research objectives, suitability of the methodology, impact of the research and the potential for scientific renewal, ethical aspect (if applicable).
• Feasibility of the research plan: realistic achievability of the objectives (including target time), quality of the workplan, risks and their mitigation plan.
• Study and intersectoral mobility plan: preliminary plan for studies and mobility which supports the dissertation and career development.
• Competence of the applicant: relevant experience, skills and competences of the applicants as demonstrated in the curriculum vitae and motivation letter. 

Interview evaluation criteria  

• Ability of the applicant to present the proposed project and answer questions pertaining to it.
• Academic and professional alignment of the applicant to the available research options and compatibility of supervision. 

We have closed the call August 31, 2026, and are currently processing applications. 

All applicants will receive information about the evaluation process and timeline for next steps directly. At this stage, we are unfortunately unable to respond to individual enquiries.