Academic year 2023-2024
Academic year 2024-2025
Each admission period opens at 8 AM local Finnish time, and closes at 3 PM local Finnish time. The application enclosures for each admission period must be submitted on the date given above, by 3 PM local Finnish time.
You must have completed a Finnish second-cycle (master’s) degree or a foreign degree that makes you eligible for doctoral education in the country where the degree was completed. You must also demonstrate that you have academic level language skills.
The University of Helsinki will verify your eligibility for doctoral education from the documents you have submitted.
If you have ever been granted a study right for a doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki, but your studies have been interrupted, find out whether you can be readmitted to the old study right or whether you need to apply for a new one.
Visit the doctoral programme websites to read their descriptions, teaching programmes and activities. Once you have found an interesting programme that matches your research topic and background, browse the research profiles of the programme’s supervisors.
If you already have a supervisor, you can also discuss your programme options with them.
Start looking for a supervisor well in advance, that is, months before the application round begins. When contacting a potential supervisor be professional and prepare carefully, as many supervisors receive up to hundreds of messages.
Check your programme's possible requirements for supervisors as they differ from programme to programme. Many doctoral programmes require that you have one or two supervisors at the time of submitting your application. Also note that some programmes require that you have a coordinating academic and a thesis committee already when applying.
The University of Helsinki’s Research Portal is a good starting point when looking for potential supervisors. The portal’s Research Units section contains faculty-specific lists of principal investigators.
Many research groups also have websites of their own where you can find out more about them.
A research proposal is the most important part of your application. Start preparing it in good time and, if possible, discuss it in advance with your planned supervisor(s).
The research proposal is written on the application form in specific fields with a limited number of characters. Free-form research proposals will not be accepted.
A study plan is a preliminary plan of the studies you will complete as part of your degree. The study plan must be drawn up in a way that makes it possible for you to complete the studies in four years of full-time study. Further information on the degree requirements of different doctoral programmes is available in the Studies service.
A right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Helsinki does not include funding.
You are requested to submit a funding plan as part of your application.
There are no tuition fees for PhD students.
You have to demonstrate your academic level language proficiency in either Finnish, Swedish or English. Sufficient language skills are part of the eligibility criteria.
To ensure you have the time to complete a language test, if necessary, familiarise yourself with the language requirements well in advance of applying.
You can demonstrate your language proficiency in any of the three languages regardless of the language in which you intend to write your doctoral thesis.
You must attach your educational documents to the application form in PDF format for academic evaluation. In addition, you may also need to separately submit officially certified documents, either in paper or electronic format.
Please carefully read and follow the more detailed instructions for attachments.
If you fail to submit the documents as instructed and by the deadline, your application will not go to academic evaluation and will be rejected.
If you submit your documents in paper format, check whether any country-specific requirements apply to your documents. Special requirements override general requirements.
Also check if your programme has any programme specific enclosures, such as supervisors' supporting statement.
Many doctoral programmes are multi- or cross-disciplinary, making it possible to pursue degrees awarded by a number of faculties. Check the admission instructions for your programme to see which degrees are available, and consider which one is suitable for your educational background and your chosen research topic.
You can only apply by filling in the online application form during the application period. The application can be written in Finnish, Swedish or English. Check the programme-specific requirements – some doctoral programmes require an English-language research proposal.
Reserve plenty of time for completing the application. The application cannot be saved as a draft, but you can edit it during the application period. To be able to save the application, there must be at least one character in every mandatory answer field.
We recommend preparing the application in a separate file and then copying the answers to the application form during the application period.
Submit the required certificates of your previous studies and language proficiency by the deadline for submitting attachments.If all the enclosures have not been submitted as required, your application will not proceed to academic evaluation and will be rejected.
Also remember to submit programme-specific attachments, if any.
After submitting your application in the Studyinfo service, you will receive a confirmation by email. The processing of applications and related decision-making takes a few months.
If your application is in order, we will not contact you before communicating on the admission decision.
If you have read all the instructions, and you still have questions on applying for doctoral studies, please contact admission services: phd-admissions@helsinki.fi
If you want to know more about the different doctoral programmes, the research plan, or supervisors, please contact the programme directly. Contact information can be found on the doctoral programmes’ web sites.