A record number of doctoral researcher positions open this autumn

The University of Turku and the University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) fund almost 200 doctoral researcher positions each year, a quarter of which will be open in the autumn. The positions are applied for through the University's 16 doctoral programmes and are open to current doctoral researchers as well as those applying for doctoral degree study right at the same time. The positions will start at the earliest on 1 January 2025 and will last for a maximum of four years.

In the autumn, more than 60 doctoral researcher positions for 3-year contracts will also be open for application in the doctoral education pilot projects. The doctoral education pilot projects, funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture for the period 2024-2027, aims to increase the number of doctors in Finland, pilot a more flexible doctoral education process, encourage doctoral researchers to pursue diverse careers and increase the employment of doctors in a wide range of areas of society.

The University of Turku is involved in eight projects in flagship fields and three projects in other fields. In most of the doctoral education pilot projects, calls for applications were launched last spring. Just over 70 doctoral researchers selected in the spring will take up in their positions in the autumn.

"Research and development and doctoral training are thriving throughout the nation. Interest in doctoral education is growing every year, and this year the number of applications to the University of Turku's doctoral programme was almost 50% higher than in the previous spring," says Pirjo Nuutila, Director of the University of Turku Graduate School.

"We will continue to boldly develop our doctoral education to meet the needs of the working life in a more versatile way, without compromising on high scientific quality and good supervision. To make a career in research attractive, funding must be available, and so it is great that we will be able to support 350 doctoral researchers at the University of Turku in the next few years through the Graduate School and the doctoral education pilot projects, instead of just under 200 in the past. I therefore encourage all those interested to apply to become a doctoral researcher with us," Nuutila concludes.

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