PhD study with me as a coordinating academic

You can also do PhD studies with an outside supervisor and me (or my colleague) as a coordinating academic.

This document is about me as a coordinating academic with no actual supervision responsibilities. If you want me to supervise you, please read this page instead! This document explains the information my colleague or I need to become your coordinating academic.

It is possible that your PhD supervisor is from outside the university, e.g., in a company or a research institute. The supervisor should minimally have a doctoral degree, and at least one of your supervisors should preferably have a title of docent in a relevant discipline. In that case, I can be the coordinating academic without actual supervision responsibilities. The coordinating academic oversees the PhD process and is responsible for the University's part. 

Suppose you want me to be such a coordinating academic. In that case, you should find a supervisor (you can also have several supervisors, e.g., from different disciplines); the supervisors' responsibilities are described here (they should also suggest candidates for the pre-examiners and opponents when the time comes). You should discuss with the supervisor whether I am suitable for your coordinating academic.  As a rule of thumb, I may be a good choice for a coordinating academic if (i) your primary research question is methods development in computer science, especially machine learning (it is, of course, okay also to have application-specific research questions additionally), (ii) you would expect to publish at least part of the main results in the computer science venues, and (iii) you have at least one supervisor (not me!) with expertise in computer science (if you plan to publish in computer science venues, then you need a supervisor with expertise in that discipline as demonstrated, e.g., by prior publications in relevant venues!).  

If you think I would be a good choice, then your supervisor and you should contact me. Please include in your email (i) a brief letter that includes the following: a description of supervision and work arrangements and responsibilities, the primary research questions and the topic of the planned thesis, and examples of journals or conferences where you expect to publish your research (this helps me to check if I am a suitable coordinating academics for you - at least some of these venues should typically be similar to the venues I publish in); (ii) your CV; and (iii) your study transcript that displays the grades in Finnish, Swedish, or English and clearly explains the grading scale, minimum passing grades, and the maximums; an unofficial copy is okay. The purpose is to ensure that your supervision and work arrangements are sufficient (I can trust that the supervisors can handle any situations typically occurring during the PhD process) and that I am the correct choice for a coordinating academic (your thesis is in my scientific expertise area as demonstrated, e.g., by planned publication venues), and that you are qualified to do the thesis (e.g., your grades and prior studies in computer science, machine learning, and other relevant disciplines are sufficient to execute the research plan).

After everything is settled, you can apply for the applicable doctoral programme. Clearing everything may take time, so please contact me well before any application deadlines.