Doctoral Experience Week

The Doctoral Education Pilot and the Doctoral School will be hosting the Doctoral Experience Week (DEW) 2025 in June. DEW2025 offers a platform to showcase the research conducted within the Doctoral Education Pilot consortia and in the Doctoral Programmes at the University of Helsinki while fostering connections with industries and the broader society.
What is DEW?

The Doctoral Education Pilot and the Doctoral Schools will be hosting the Doctoral Experience Week (DEW) 2025. Taking place on 2.–5.6. at the University of Helsinki, DEW2025 offers a platform to showcase the research conducted within the Doctoral Education Pilot consortia and in the Doctoral Programmes at the University of Helsinki while fostering connections with industries and the broader society. 

The program will include a mix of different events for all pilot researchers, including an opening ceremony and a closing session with inspiring keynote speakers, various forums, and Three Minute Thesis competition. In addition, the University of Helsinki Doctoral School is excited to host PhD Summerfest, the largest PhD celebration in the Nordic countries, on June 3rd. This event welcomes all doctoral researchers, and the party will be held in the Main Building.

Please see a more detailed schedule below. The program will be updated during the spring.

Program

We will kick-off the week with an opening ceremony in the afternoon organized in the Main Building (Fabianinkatu 33).

Program for all pilot researchers

13-15 Opening ceremony (Great Hall, Main Building)

  • Welcome speech, the Rector Sari Lindblom
  • Meet our doctoral researchers, Inka Palimo (Educa-doc) and Uladzislau Vadadokhau (iCANDOC)
  • Meet our supervisors, Vincenzo Cerullo (iCANDOC)
  • Musical performance, Duo Viena

15-17 Networking and refreshments (Agora Hall, Main Building)

Tuesday is packed with different activities organized for all doctoral pilot researchers. In addition to these, there are a lot thing happening on campuses!

Program for all pilot researchers

13-15 Industry-Academia Innovation Partnerships. Elements of Successful Co-Operation, Pekka Pellinen (Hall 1, Metsätalo, Unioninkatu 40)

15-17 Preliminary round of Three Minute Thesis -competition (Kino Engel, Sofiankatu 4)

18-23 PhD Summerfest (Main Building, Fabianinkatu 33)

Campus-specific activities

Wednesday highlights include the final of Three Minute Thesis -competition and Foresight Forum.

Program for all pilot researchers

12-17 Pilot Pathways and Foresight Forum: how to prepare myself for (working) life after graduation? (Unioninkadun Juhlahuoneistot, Unioninkatu 33)

  • 12-14 Presentations and discussion about career opportunities and career planning
    • What is Helsinki Incubators? Mikael Malmivaara and Ari Huczkowski
    • How to start career planning? Jarkko Immonen
    • Can learning Finnish help me to find a job? Taina Udd

17-19 Final round of Three Minute Thesis -competition, host Anu Partanen (Think Corner, Yliopistonkatu 4)

Campus-specific activities

 

We will end the week on Thursday with a common closing session with inspiring key note speeches, not to forgot networking!

Program for pilot all researchers

17-21 Closing session (Sonckin Sali, Sofiankatu 4)

  • Transferable skills and how to carve a versatile career path post-graduation, Tommi Tenkanen
  • Winners of the Three Minute Thesis competion

Campus-specific activities

Kumpula

12-16 Doctoral Researcher Talk Marathon (Exactum B123)

Meet our speakers and presenters

Anu Partanen is a journalist who has worked extensively in Finland and the United States. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic, and her book “The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life” compares everyday life in the United States with life in the Nordic region. In Finland she has held many positions ranging from managing editor to columnist, features writer to news reporter, lecturer to on-air commentator. Currently she works as a journalist at a Finnish digital journalism start-up Uusi Juttu.

Pekka Pellinen has extensive work experience in senior roles in international technology companies, Finnish innovation ecosystem stakeholder organizations, and governmental assignments. His current involvement with the Corporate Partnership Group of the University of Helsinki includes consortium building with industrial partners, as well as liaising with key funding organizations such as Business Finland.

Tommi Tenkanen is a theoretical physicist, author, management consultant, and a University of Helsinki alumnus. After his PhD, he has worked as a researcher in top universities in the UK and USA and as a strategy consultant across the globe. He has written three popular science books and was awarded with a State Award for Public Information by the Finnish government in 2022. In his inspiring presentation at DEW 2025, Tommi will talk about the importance of transferable skills and how to carve a versatile career path post-graduation.

How to get ETCS from DEW?

Doctoral researcher can get 1 ECTS by completing the following: 

  • Nature Masterclasses: Networking for researchers The course Networking for Researchers covers the key elements needed to acquire or perfect effective professional networking skills for scientific researchers. In this course you will discover how building a professional network will benefit your research and career, and learn the skills to build and maintain networking connections in a variety of settings, both in-person and online.
  • Participation in the following DEW events: 
    • Monday opening ceremony 
    • Tuesday afternoon lecture 
    • Wednesday career forum 
    • Thursday closing session

This can be registered under transferable skills under the code PHD-352 Optional studies in professional development 2.

If you want these to be registered as a discipline-specific studies course code, please check from your doctoral programme. 

In addition to this, doctoral researchers participating in the campus-specific activities and/or Three Minute Thesis competition, can get an additional 1 ECTS (for example under PHD-251 Optional studies in scientific communication and societal impact 1).