Profile & activities

Want to know what we're all about? On this page, we've gathered information on our research profile and the disciplines involved in the programme. Here, you will also find information on the studies and the type of activities and networks that await if you join the doctoral programme.

Key research areas

The PSRC includes multidisciplinary research units crossing various faculties in area and cultural studies in particular in Nordic, European and Russia, Eurasian and Eastern European studies, consumer economics, global development studies, economic and social history, human geography, political history and political science.

The programme’s research encompasses research in various topics such as but not limited to comparative politics and behavior, global and development politics, political economy and ecology, geopolitics and urban geography, civil society and resilience research.

The programme promotes interdisciplinary research.

Disciplines

The PSRC includes multidisciplinary research units crossing various faculties.

Faculty of Social Sciences:

Global Development Studies
Economic and Social History
Political History
Political Science, which has two specialisation options: a) Politics and Organisations and b) World Politics

Faculty of Arts:

Area and Cultural Studies, with six specialisation options: European Area and Cultural Studies, Latin American Studies, Nordic Studies, and North American Studies
Indigenous Studies
The Aleksanteri Institute: Russian and Eastern European Studies and East Central European, Balkan and Baltic Studies

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry:

Consumer Economics

Faculty of Science:

Human geography

The PSRC also includes and co-operates with the following multidisciplinary research units crossing various faculties and departments:

Centre for Nordic Studies (CENS)
Centre for European Studies (CES)

To learn more about the different disciplines brought together by the programme, please visit their websites.

Courses & studying

A doctoral degree in the programme comprises of a doctoral thesis and 30 or 40 credits of additional studies. The studies are divided into discipline-specific studies, aimed to support your research project, and transferable skills training.

Most of the studies are completed flexibly through means other than traditional coursework: conference presentations, essays, scientific and popular articles, editing work etc. Want to know more? Visit our study planning instructions for current doctoral students at the university's Instructions for Students.

Courses in research ethics and transferable skills are offered throughout the academic year by the Doctoral School in Humanities and Social Sciences.

Annual Conference

Once a year, the doctoral programme organises an interdisciplinary doctoral students’ conference with the Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences. The conference presents a great opportunity to present doctoral students' work in progress, attend keynotes and network with fellow researchers.