Doctoral Programme in Technology - For the Doctoral Researcher

Welcome to the Doctoral Programme in Technology (DPT) in the University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS)!
 

To help you get started, here are some useful links for further information:

• University of Turku Graduate School information for doctoral researcher
• Welcome to University of Turku
• For international staff and researchers
• Information for admitted doctoral researchers
• Tervetuloa uusi opiskelijamme!
• University of Turku Intranet

What will I need to do during my doctoral training?

At the beginning:

• Create a personal study plan in the Peppi system (see UGIS for further instructions, under "Personal study plan PSP (Peppi)").
• Start to earn study credits (see "Doctoral thesis and Postgraduate studies" section below).
• Start to carry out your research.
• Set intermediate goals for data acquisition and writing.

Every year:

• Fill in the electronic progress report in January.
• Have a career and review discussion with your supervisor in February-March.
• Have an advisory committee meeting in February-April (if you have an advisory committee
• Participate in the DPT annual meeting
• Register either as an attending or non-attending student for the upcoming academic year in June-August.

Near the end:

• Start to prepare for the last steps well in advance, as the process takes several months (more information in "Dissertation process and graduation" below).
• Make sure you have completed all the required studies.
• Check the originality of your thesis with Turnitin.
• Propose pre-examiners to the Faculty together with your supervisor.
• Deliver PDF of your thesis to the Faculty.
• Propose Opponent and Custos to the Faculty together with your supervisor.
• After you have been granted a printing license, publish your thesis.
• Deliver one copy of the printed thesis to the Faculty and one copy to the Rector.
• Fill in the announcement of the public defence of a doctoral dissertation to the University Communications.
• Prepare a press release of the dissertation in Finnish.

DPT Doctoral Researchers who have study right at Turku School of Economics

Doctoral researchers who have Information Systems Science as major subject, please read specific instructions here.

DPT Doctoral Researchers who have study right at Faculty of Technology

For the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or Doctor of Science in Technology (DSc-Tech) degree the doctoral researcher must:

1. Complete curriculum defined studies for 40 credits (ECTS).
2. Write and publish a doctoral thesis which is approved by the Faculty after a public inspection.

Doctoral dissertation and the public defence:

Please see requirements of a DPT Doctoral Dissertation here.

Postgraduate Studies, 40 credits (ECTS):

The 40 ECTS can include ECTS from two main categories: (1) Discipline-specific studies  and (2) General Studies Aiming for Expertise.

Each category has a minimum or a maximum number of credits that can be included in your 40 credits, e.g. you will need to have at least 25 ECTS from Discipline-specific studies, however a maximum of 36 ECTS from Discipline-specific studies can be included in your 40 ECTS. There may be similar maximum limits on specific subcategories (see below).

You are required to take 2 ECTS Research Ethics (in General Studies Aiming for Expertise).

Please discuss your 40 credit curriculum and what it might contain with your supervisor.

Summary of DPT curriculum 2024-2027:

PhD Degree

Discipline-specific studies 25-36 ECTS:

• Courses Related to Research Area 4-31 ECTS
• Literature Exam or Equivalent Literature Review 0-10 ECTS
• Seminars 0-10 ECTS
• Research Methods 0-15 ECTS
• Scientific Publication (not a part of the doctoral thesis) 0-8 ECTS
• Studies Supporting Mobility and Professional Career, at least 2 credits compulsory, 2-15 ECTS
  • Scientific Conferences 0-10 ECTS
  • Research Visits 0-10 ECTS
  • Professional Internship 0-8 ECTS
• Teaching Practice, at least 2 credits compulsory, 2-15 ECTS
• Annual Meeting, at least 1 credit compulsory, 1-4 ECTS

 General Studies Aiming for Expertise 4-15 credits:

• Ethics of Academic Research, compulsory 2 credits
• Public Outreach, 0-6 ECTS
• Language and Presentation Skills, 0-8 ECTS
• University Pedagogy, 0-10 ECTS
• Professional and Career Skills, 0-8 ECTS
• Project Design and Management, 0-8 ECTS
• Entrepreneurship and Leading Skills, 0-8 ECTS
• Departmental activities, 0-6 ECTS

The Peppi study guide includes more information about these categories and what they may entail.

There is an electronic form (also in Finnish) to apply for study credits for credits such as conference presentations. Please see UGIS for step by step instructions and the "How do I register study credits?" section below.

What courses can I take?

Please discuss with your supervisor about what courses may be relevant.

• UTUGS courses on transferable skills
• Advanced level courses on various topics
• Course information is also send by email

Credits from courses taken at the University of Turku are registered routinely by the course teacher.

For other credits such as conference presentations, teaching, research visits, etc. are registered via an electronic form:

• English: Apply for study credit
• Finnish: Yksittäisen opintosuorituksen hyväksyntä

Remember to add relevant file(s) to the application to support proposal: e.g. when applying for study credits from conference presentation, a document (acceptance email or program) proving the oral or poster presentation is needed. Please see the Peppi study guide for more information about what information should be provided depending on the type of credit.

Please see instructions in UGIS under "Personal Study Plan, Studies and Research" > Postgraduate studies > "Registering study credits".

Grants

The Doctoral Programme in Technology (DPT) awards grants for DPT doctoral researchers (calls posted on the intranet). 

Events

The Annual Meeting 2024 of the Doctoral Programme in Technology (DPT) will be 22 May 2024. More information has been sent to registered participants.

Annual Progress Report

The progress of doctoral research and doctoral training of the doctoral researchers is monitored by the Doctoral Programme in Technology (DPT) annually. You will be asked to fill in the electronic DPT progress report form about the previous year. A link to the reporting form will be sent to you by email and the report will be open in January. After finishing the progress report, please save the report as a pdf-file for the career and review discussion (see below), and for the Advisory Committee meeting (if you have an Advisory Committee).

Career and Review Discussion

University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) aims to enable an opportunity for annual career and review discussion to all doctoral researchers. The regular and systematic review discussions (development discussions) are normal practice in employment relationships. The possibility to career and review discussions is given to the doctoral researchers that are doing the doctoral research on research grant or other funding, too.

The career and review discussion between the doctoral researcher and the scientific supervisor (and administrative supervisor) are to be held during February – March.

The career and review discussion form partly contains the same questions as the progress report form (filled in January), but also differs from it. If the doctoral researcher has filled in the progress report form and saved the pdf-copy of the report, (s)he can copy those previous answers to this UTUform. In the future, the answers common to both forms, will rise up to the review and career discussion UTUForm automatically.

More information can be found on the career guidance and career paths for doctoral researchers website.

Advisory Committee

Doctoral researcher belonging to DPT may appoint an Advisory Committee. The purpose of the Advisory Committee is to support together with supervisor(s) the progress of doctoral researcher’s doctoral dissertation.

The task of the advisory committee is to:

•     support the doctoral researcher in both scientific and other issues
•     identify any potential problems
•     ensure that the personal study plan is being adhered to
•     if necessary, to help with the adjustment of study plan to enable the doctoral project to be completed within four years and to support career after doctoral dissertation

All interactions between the doctoral researcher and the advisory committee are to be considered confidential.
 
Two external members in addition to the doctoral researcher and supervisor(s) make up the Advisory Committee group. The external members should hold doctoral degree and come outside of doctoral researcher’s own research group. It is recommended that one of the members comes outside of University of Turku.

Advisory Committee meetings

The doctoral researcher organises an Advisory Committee meeting annually before the end of April. Doctoral researcher provides the Advisory Committee members with a DPT progress report well in advance of the meeting. In the meeting doctoral researcher gives an oral presentation of the progress on the doctoral dissertation followed by discussion.

In the meeting the following issues should be discussed:

•     Current phase of the doctoral research: what has been accomplished, what needs to be still done
•     Completed study work during the follow-up year and possible changes to the study plan
•     Did the doctoral dissertation proceed according to plan during the follow up year
•     Which factors promoted and which prevented the progress
•     Goals for the current year and how they can be achieved
•     International mobility during the follow up year
•     Career plans after doctoral dissertation

At the end of the meeting the supervisor(s) will leave the room and gives to the doctoral researcher a possibility to discuss with the other Advisory group members about potential problems. Mutually, the doctoral researcher leaves the room and gives to the supervisor(s) and Advisory group members a possibility to discuss without presence of the doctoral researcher.
 
The doctoral researcher together with the Advisory Committee writes a short summary of the meeting and returns the signed report to UGIS by the end of April. Also new doctoral researchers should organize an Advisory Committee meeting in the beginning of their studies and present and discuss about the research plan and study plan in the Advisory Committee meeting.

Please see the following links for more information about the dissertation process and graduation:

• Instructions of the Faculty of Technology for dissertation process
• DPT doctoral researchers who have Information Systems Science as major subject, please read specific instructions here.
• General guidelines for dissertation defence

1. Remember that you are not the only one feeling scared of the thesis defense! It’s a momentous occasion you have been preparing for many years so it's natural to feel apprehensive about it.
2. Use your time well and practice giving scientific presentations from the very beginning of your studies! First, start in a safe environment: give a talk related to your thesis work to your friends, family or a fellow doctoral researcher. If you want, you can tell them that you are asking for their support in this as you are not a big fan of giving presentations. Second, take part in an online conference and give a presentation there. Finally, when you feel ready, give a scientific presentation to a live audience in a conference or seminar series.
3. Get familiar with the defense process itself:
   • Go listen to the dissertation defenses of your own field. Here you can see how the different parts of the defense work.
   • Read the guidelines for the dissertation defense so that you know what to expect. Link to dissertation guidelines.
   • Take part in seminars, as it allows you not only to learn topics related to scientific research, but also to see how others present their work to see how you could present your own! If you want, you can also defend a trial defense of your own.
4. Remember that you can contact University of Turku Study Psychologist (opintopsykologi@utu.fi) or, if you are employed by UTU, use the services of Occupational Health Care Psychologist of Mehiläinen to get help.
5. Tell your supervisor that you are feeling nervous or scared. Together you can find solutions such as selecting an emphatic opponent.
6. Tips for the actual dissertation defense:
   • Before the dissertation defense: Practice keeping your lectio praecursoria and get feedback to it from your supervisor and friends. Visit the defense lecture hall beforehand to get to know the place, how the light function and so on.
   • Beginning of the event: While presenting the lectio praecursoria, focus on the friendly faces of your friends or family. Remember to breathe. Deep breathing calms the body’s stress reaction.
   • Examination of the dissertation: Remember to continue breathing. If you do not know what to answer your opponent right away, start by saying “What an excellent question, I have to think about the answer a bit.”
   • After the dissertation defense: Celebrate - it is over! A doctoral degree is a great achievement!

Director, Kati Hanhineva, Professor, Department of Life Technologies

Filip Ginter, Professor, Department of Computing
Maaria Kortesniemi, Assistant Professor, Department of Life Technologies
Jukka Heikkilä, Professor, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship
Anssi Malinen, University Lecturer, Department of Life Technologies
Miia Martinsuo, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Tapio Pahikkala, Professor, Department of Computing
Juha Plosila, Professor, Department of Computing
Antti Salminen, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Vipul Sharma, PostDoctoral Researcher, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Saara Wittfooth, Assistant Professor, Department of Life Technologies
Janne Heilala, Doctoral Researcher, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Pouya Jafar Zadeh, Doctoral Researcher, Department of Computing
Laura Laihonen, Doctoral Researcher, Department of Life Technologies

Vice members:
Jouni Smed, Department of Computing
Paula Mulo, Department of Life Technologies
Emilia Peltola, Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Matti Mäntymäki, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship