Doctoral programme on Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants

Spring 2025

Application period for spring 2025 has ended. Applicants will be informed about the admission decision 30 May 2025 at the latest.

Call for applications - Spring 2025 (pdf)

Link to the application form (to Studyinfo/MyStudyinfo)

Application form (not available at the moment) (In Studyinfo, choose: "Fill in application form")

The form is accessible only during the application period and closes at 4 pm (local time in Finland, Europe/Helsinki) on the last day.

Please familiarize yourself with the application form well before the end of the application period and allow sufficient time to obtain and/or draw up the necessary attachments.

Faculty of Social Sciences

The right to study for doctoral degree at the University of Turku can be applied for by persons who meet the eligibility criteria for pursuing a doctoral degree, as stipulated in the Universities Act (558/2009, Section 37), as well as the prerequisites for pursuing a doctoral degree at the Faculty Social Sciences or Faculty of Medicine.

Eligible for studies leading to an academic postgraduate degree is a person who has completed
1. an applicable higher university degree in Finland
2. an applicable higher polytechnic degree in Finland; or
3. an applicable education completed outside Finland which in the awarding country gives eligibility for corresponding higher education.

Faculty of Medicine

Instructions on the website:

> Who can apply for doctoral training at the Faculty of Medicine

> Before applying, section 'Degree giving the eligibility'

Research plan

The most significant part of an application is the research plan. A high-quality research plan is the most essential selection criteria and it demonstrates the applicant's capabilities for doctoral training. The research plan is done independently. Preparing your research plan carefully will help you stand out from other qualified applicants. Please note that the Doctoral programme on Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State will evaluate the suitability of your research topic in relation to the research profile of the discipline as well as in relation of the research themes of flagship project INVEST.

Structure of the research plan depends on the requirements of a faculty:

• Faculty of Social Sciences (psychology and sociology) research plan
• Faculty of Medicine (child psychiatry) research plan

By including the research plan to the application the applicant gives permission for checking the research plan with Turnitin OriginalityCheck (system for electrical plagiarism detection).

Study plan

• DPInvest Doctoral Programme's curriculum (Faculty of Medicine)

Those applying to the Faculty of Medicine attach a preliminary postgraduate study plan in pdf format to the application. The planned study attainments and the estimated credits they give must form min. 40 credits altogether. The study plan has to follow the curriculum of the DPInvest Doctoral Programme (above).

Links to available postgraduate courses at the Faculty of Medicine, for your help:
> Postgraduate Studies at the Faculty of Medicine, section ‘Available postgraduate courses’

There's a call for applications twice a year. The call for applications will be published before the application period begins. You can apply to the doctoral programme by filling in online application forms (in Studyinfo for the study right and in TalentAdore for a fixed-term funded doctoral researcher position), available only during the application period. Follow the instructions for applying carefully. 

You can apply:

• a right to pursue a doctoral degree at the University of Turku (both application periods, spring and autumn)
• funded doctoral candidate positions (only the autum application period)

Faculty of Social Sciences

The objective of the selection process of doctoral researchers is to have students suitable for a research career track who are skilled, motivated, and committed to research and doctoral studies.

A general prerequisite for the right to pursue postgraduate studies is an applicable higher academic degree, or a relevant degree from abroad which in the country in question provides eligibility for corresponding postgraduate studies.

The selection criteria are as follows:

• a sufficient grade in the advanced studies stage of a master’s degree - usually at least a good evaluation is required
• a sufficient grade for the master’s thesis – usually at least cum laude approbatur
• the level and feasibility of the applicant’s research plan
• availability of resources for supervision

Also sufficient English language skills are required (remember for instance language test, when needed).

Evaluation process:
- The applicants’ formal eligibility for doctoral training will be checked by the doctoral programme
- The applications selected for the next stage will be delivered to the disciplines for evaluation
- The person responsible for doctoral training in the discipline will prepare a proposal for selections
- After this, the applications are processed in the steering committee of the doctoral programme
- The steering committee of doctoral programme prepares a decision proposal for the Faculty
- Dean of the Faculty makes a decision, which will be published by the end of November

Faculty of Medicine

Descriptions of the assessment of the applications for the right to study and of the decision process are behind the links below.

The application consists of an electronic form and attached documents in pdf format, which the applicant has prepared according to the instructions.

The required enclosures of the application of the DPInvest doctoral programme are listed in the call for applications (a link on the bottom of this web page).

> Assessment of applications

> The decision process and the confirming of the study place

• Socioeconomic and intergenerational inequalities (professor Elina Kilpi-Jakonen, elina.kilpi-jakonen(a)utu.fi)
• Demographic changes and family dynamics (professor Marika Jalovaara, marika.jalovaara(a)utu.fi)
• Education, skills and learning (professor Johanna Kaakinen, johanna.kaakinen(a)utu.fi)
• Child and adolescent psychosocial well-being and mental health (professor Kirsi Peltonen, kirsi.peltonen(a)utu.fi)
• Public health and health equity (professor André Sourander, andre.sourander(a)utu.fi)

Major subjects in DPInvest are: sociology, psychology and child psychiatry.