Drug Research Doctoral Programme - Admission Criteria and Instructions for Applicants

Upcoming call (28.8.-13.9.2024): Call for applications DRDP autumn 2024 (pdf)

When applying for a right to study:

• You are required to have completed a relevant Master’s degree awarded by a university or a university of applied sciences, or a relevant study programme abroad which in the awarding country gives eligibility for the corresponding level of higher education (Universities Act 558/2009, 37§) as well as the eligibility criteria for the right to study for a doctoral degree at the Faculty of Medicine or at Faculty of Science or Faculty of Technology.
• You must fulfil the University of Turku language skill requirements.
• You are required to fulfil the prerequisites set by the doctoral programme and the Faculty of Medicine or Faculty of Science or Faculty of Technology for granting a right to study. Information on the webpages of the faculties:

> Faculty of Medicine

> Faculty of Science

>Faculty of Technology

When applying for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract:

• You are required to have an active right to study in the DRDP doctoral programme. In addition, you must demonstrate the ability to undertake doctoral studies and complete a doctoral degree in accordance with the research plan (University of Turku Rules of Procedure 16.1.2022). If you have not yet been granted a right to study, you must apply for a right to pursue a doctoral degree in the DRDP doctoral programme. A right to study is a prerequisite for an applicant to be chosen for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract;
• You are planning to pursue or pursuing your first doctoral degree;
• You have not previously been granted a full-time four-year funding for pursuing a doctoral degree.

Please read carefully the guidelines for applying

> Faculty of Medicine

> Faculty of Science 

>Faculty of Technology

Prepare also the documents mentioned in the section how to apply.

•     Check the application period
•     Read the instructions of the faculty in question and the doctoral programme carefully!
•     If you are going to verify your language skills with a language test, make sure that you book your test time well in advance. It is the applicant’s responsibility to make his/her own language test arrangements
•     Get the required signatures in time and prepare the appendices
•     Fill in the electric application form
•     Remember to apply in time
•     Keep your original certificates at hand and prepare to acquire officially certified copies if needed!

A link to the electronic application form, the list of required attachments and a guide for filling in the form will be available during the application period.

Application period and what can be applied for

During the application period 28 August–13 September 2024, you can apply for:

a) the right to study for a doctoral degree in the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Science or the Faculty of Technology at the University of Turku from 1 January 2025 onwards

b) a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract

The position of a Doctoral Researcher is set to begin on 1 January 2025 at the earliest and for the duration of a maximum of four years (up to until 31 December 2028). The positions are intended for full-time doctoral dissertation research and doctoral studies. Duties other than those related to doctoral dissertation research, such as teaching duties, must be proportioned so as not to compromise the completion of the doctoral dissertation within the planned schedule. As a rule, up to 5% (a maximum of about 80 hrs per academic year) of the annual working time of the Doctoral Researcher can consist of teaching.

When determining the length of the employment contract, prior funding granted for pursuing a doctoral degree is taken into account. The maximum length for a Doctoral Researcher position is four years. A person already awarded with a doctoral degree cannot be chosen as a Doctoral Researcher under an employment contract.

A doctoral researcher position requires working in Finland. The place of work is Turku. The University of Turku has flexible opportunities for remote work.

The salary is based on the salary system of university teaching and research staff. It consists of a task-specific salary component and personal performance salary component. The task-specific salary component of a Doctoral Researcher is at level 2–4. The salary of a doctoral researcher is approximately 2448,41- 3302,58€ per month at the beginning of the employment relationship. A probationary period of 6 months applies.

c) both of the above (a and b)

Doctoral researchers with immunology, immunology-based drug development and/or diagnostics as their field of study have the possibility of applying for the InFLAMES Doctoral Module and of including the studies offered within the module as part of their doctoral studies.

How to apply

Please note, that when applying for both the right to study and a fixed-term doctoral researcher position, you will need to fill in the application with the required attachments to the separate online systems (see more information below). The right to study for a doctoral degree is applied for by filling in an electronic form in the My Studyinfo service and the fixed-term doctoral researcher positions are applied for by filling in an electronic form in the University of Turku recruitment system (TalentAdore). For both applications you will need to attach the required additional documents (in pdf form). Application documents are specified at the end of this call for applications. It is recommended that application documents are written in English.

Eligible applicants with a research topic fitting the scope of DRDP can apply. The motivation to apply to DRDP is presented in the motivation letter. Each applicant should have two supervisors* with at least one supervisor affiliated with University of Turku and holding an UTU -account to use the UGIS system. To plan the theoretical studies, applicants should take into account the Learning outcomes of DRDP, their research project and individual career plans.

*At the Faculty of Medicine: When only one supervisor for doctoral training is proposed, the supervisor’s justified plea for approval of only one supervisor must be attached to the application. 

To plan the theoretical studies, applicants should take into account the Learning outcomes of DRDP, their research project and individual career plans.

DRDP doctoral researchers in the Faculty of Science or Technology of are required to include at least 5 credits of doctoral programme specific training by DRDP in their postgraduate studies. Same is recommended to the DRDP doctoral researchers in the Faculty of Medicine. It is strongly recommended that every doctoral researcher actively participates in the annual meetings of the DRDP and the annual meetings of FinPharmaNet and gives an oral presentation at least once during their doctoral studies at one of the events.

Follow-up committee is an important part of the PhD studies in DRDP. The role and tasks of the follow-up committee are listed in detail in the study guide. DRDP follow-up committee comprises of supervisors and 1-3 other researchers familiar with the research topic, one of whom must be from outside the doctoral researcher's own group. At least one of the external members should be affiliated with University of Turku and be familiar with the practicalities of doctoral training in the Faculty and in DRDP. The follow-up committee ensures progress of the doctoral researcher's thesis work and studies, provides an external perspective on the research, and supports both researcher and supervisor(s). The applicant negotiates with their supervisor(s) to assemble the follow-up committee and agrees with the members of the committee on annual monitoring practices.

*At Faculty of Medicine: When only one supervisor for doctoral training is proposed, the supervisor’s justified plea for approval of only one supervisor must be attached to the application. 

The applicants will be invited to interview after preliminary selection. The interview will contain a brief presentation by the Applicant and an interview by the Board of the DRDP. The invitation with detailed instructions will be sent by email.

Application and document preparation:

a) How to apply the right to study for a doctoral degree:

The right to study for a doctoral degree is applied for by filling in an electronic form in My Studyinfo service and attaching the required additional documents specified at the end of this call for applications. The form will be accessible as the application period begins on 28 August 2024 and closes at 4 pm (local time in Finland) on 13 September 2024. 

Apply here for a right to study: Link to the University of Turku Graduate School web page, where the application form can be found.

During one application round the applicant may apply to a maximum of two doctoral programmes at the University of Turku. You can only have one valid study right at a time for a doctoral degree at the University of Turku.

Applications that arrive after the application period has ended will not be processed. When the application period has ended, you cannot change the doctoral programme you are applying for, or any other information.

In My Studyinfo service, you can only apply for right to study a doctoral degree. If you also want to apply for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract, you must apply for that position separately (for details, please, see section “How to apply the fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract”).

b) How to apply the fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract

The fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract is applied for by filling in an electronic form in the University of Turku recruitment system (TalentAdore) and attaching the required additional documents specified at the end of this call for applications. The form will be accessible as the application period begins on 28 August 2024 and closes at 4 pm (local time in Finland) on 13 September 2024.

The positions are announced at the beginning of the application period in the Open Vacancies at the University of Turku website and on the website of the Graduate School.

Apply here for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position:   Link to the University of Turku Graduate School web page, where the application form can be found.

Applications that arrive after the application period has ended will not be processed. When the application period has ended, you cannot change the doctoral programme you are applying for, or any other information.

A person selected for the position is required to have an active right to study in the DRDP doctoral programme. If you have not yet been granted a right to study, you must apply for a right to pursue a doctoral degree in the DRDP doctoral programme by filling in an electronic form in My Studyinfo service (for details, please, see section “How to apply the right to study for a doctoral degree”).

The application should include the following attachments (The application documents will not be returned to the sender):

At Faculty of Medicine

The application should include the following:

1. Motivation letter (Max 1 page)
2. CV of the applicant (it is mandatory to use this attached CV model)
3. Structured research plan approved by the supervisor (max 5 pages).

The plan should consist of: abstract, background, aims and hypotheses, significance, how will the plan be carried out in practice, research environment, timetable and funding plan.

By attaching the research plan to the application form the applicant gives permission for checking the research plan with Turnitin Originality Check (system for electrical plagiarism detection).

The research plan should follow the guidelines for the responsible conduct of research (see Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) | Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK). The research plans can be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in the preparation of the research plan should be clearly indicated in the research plan.

If you are applying for the right to study for a doctoral degree, attach also:

4. Supervision and study plan – Supervision and study plan (Fill in electronically, print and sign together with the supervisor/-s and the head of subject)
See: Subjects in doctoral training and heads of doctoral subject

Applicants to the iPhD track select the iPhD track in their application. The applicants to the iPhD track add to Supervision plan to the place for item 4 “Other details / aspects” that they apply to iPhD track.

5. Degree certificates and transcripts of study records

a) If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution in Finland, you must attach your scanned original degree certificates, transcripts of study records and other educational documents which may be of relevance in the selection to the electronic application form.

b) If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution abroad (i.e., outside of Finland), you must attach the following items to the electronic application form:

a. scanned original degree certificates (in the language that the degree was completed in)

b. scanned original transcripts of study records (in the language that the degree was completed in)

c. scanned other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection and that you are applying based on.

If the original degree certificates or transcripts of study records are not written in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations to one of these languages must also be submitted. An official translation here refers to a translation of the educational documents issued by the awarding institution and a translation made by an authorised translator. A transcript in English can be replaced by a Diploma Supplement (DS) awarded by a European educational institution, provided that it contains the information about completed courses and other study attainments.

Please make sure that all attachments are good-quality, easy to read, full colour scans or photographs of the complete required document. Attachments that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.

6. Verification of language proficiency

The University of Turku follows the Rector’s decision (15 Aug 2019) on the means of verifying one’s language proficiency. See the language requirements on the webpage of the university’s graduate school.

If you are required to prove your language proficiency with a language test, a scanned certificate of a completed language test must be attached to the application.

7. Copy of valid passport

Attach a copy of your valid passport or official identification card with photo and information on citizenship. If you have a Finnish personal identity code and you have entered it on the application form, you do not need to attach a copy of your passport.

8. The supervisor’s justified plea for approval of only one supervisor

Only when one supervisor for doctoral training is proposed. See Before applying / Doctoral training at the Faculty of Medicine under section Supervision.

At Faculty of Science and Faculty of Technology

The application should include the following:

1. Motivation letter (why do you wish to perform doctoral studies in this doctoral programme)
2. CV of the applicant (it is mandatory to use attached CV model)
3. Structured research plan approved by the supervisor (max 5 pages).

The plan should consist of: abstract, background, aims and hypotheses, significance, how will the plan be carried out in practice, research environment, timetable and funding plan.

The research plan attached to the application may be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system.

The research plan should follow the guidelines for the responsible conduct of research (see Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) | Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK). The research plan can be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in the preparation of the research plan should be clearly indicated in the research plan.

4. Supervision plan – Postgraduate study plan

Use this Supervision plan at Faculty of Science and

this Supervision plan at Faculty of Technology

The applicants to the iPhD track add to Supervision plan to the place for “Other things agreed” that they apply to iPhD track.

5. Degree certificates and transcripts of study records

a. If you have completed the former degree(s), which make you eligible for doctoral studies at a university in Finland, the degree certificates, the transcripts of study records and other educational documents, which may be of relevance in the student selection must be attached to the electronic application form.

b. If you have completed the former degree(s), which make you eligible for doctoral studies at a university abroad (i.e. outside Finland), you must attach the following items to the electronic application form:

• scanned original degree certificates (in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• scanned original transcripts of study records (in the same language as the degree was completed in)
• scanned other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection and that you are applying based on.

If the original degree certificates and other educational documents are not written in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations to one of these languages must also be submitted. An official translation here refers to a translation of the educational documents issued by the awarding institution or a translation made by an authorized translator. A transcript in English can be replaced by a Diploma Supplement awarded by a European educational institution if it contains the information about completed courses and other study attainments.

• Please make sure that all attachments are good-quality, easy to read, full colour scans or photographs of the complete required document. Attachments that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.

6. Verification of language proficiency

The University of Turku follows the Rector’s decision (15 Aug 2019) on the means of verifying one’s language proficiency. See the language requirements on the webpage of the university’s graduate school.

• If the applicant is required to prove their language proficiency with a language test, a scanned certificate of a completed language test must be attached to the application

7. Copy of a valid passport

Attach a copy of your valid passport or official identification card with photo and information on citizenship. If you have a Finnish personal identity code and you have entered it on the application form, you do not need to attach a copy of your passport.

Assessment of applications

The Steering Committee of the doctoral programme will assess the applications with the help of outside experts, when needed. The applicant’s motivation, merits, previous studies, and the ability to complete a doctoral degree, as well as the quality and feasibility of the research plan (drug research) and supervisor and financial arrangements are taken into consideration when selecting doctoral researchers. Selection process is stepwise and applicants will be invited to interview after preliminary selection. The invitation will be sent by email. Interview will be evaluated together with the preliminary assessment of the application for final decision. Research proposals may be checked before the selection with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software in accordance with the University of Turku quality assurance system. 

Fixed-term doctoral researcher positions are targeted to the first four years of doctoral studies. Any other funding received by the applicant for doctoral studies may be taken into consideration when determining the duration of the doctoral researcher position. DRDP is multidisciplinary and aims to promote all research fields, which may be taken into consideration when positions are filled. In addition when applying for a study right the eligibility criteria of the applicant and the selection criteria of the Faculty (see section What is expected of you) are considered in addition to the criteria mentioned above. 

Assessment criteria

•    Research plan: Innovativeness and implementation (1-5)
•    CV and motivation letter: Progress of research training, content of formal postgraduate training (in the area of the research and growth as a drug research professional), merits (awards and own funding), completion plan of the dissertation, future career plans (1-5)
•    Supervision arrangements: Competence of supervisors in the field of the research, merits and activity as doctoral supervisor (including active participation in DRDP activities and organizing postgraduate courses) (1-3)
•    Field of research: Relevant research topic to the DRDP (both preclinical and clinical drug research and development or supporting diagnostics), supporting research environment for the implementation of the research plan and for the development of the drug research professional (1-3)                
•    Interview: Logical and realistic presentation of research and completion plan, language and presentation skills, expertise and proficiency in discussion, motivation and commitment (1-5)

Decisions

The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine or Faculty of Science or Faculty of Technology decides on granting the right to study for a doctoral degree (1 January 2025 onwards) based on the proposals of the steering committee of the Doctoral Programme. The Head of the department decides on recruitment of the applicant for the position of a Doctoral researcher based on the proposal of the steering committee of the doctoral programme. All applicants will be personally informed about the decisions by 1 November 2024 at the latest.

An admitted applicant has to notify the University of Turku of their acceptance of the study place by 3:00 pm (local time in Finland) on 13 December 2024 according to the instructions given in the admission notification. If the admitted applicant does not give the notification by the end of the allotted period of time mentioned above, they forfeit the study place. A person admitted to more than one university or polytechnic degree programme only notifies the one educational institution at which they accept the study place. Notification, i.e. accepting a study place, is binding and may not be cancelled or changed later.

According to Finnish university legislation, a student may accept only one study place leading to a higher education degree in Finland during one academic term (autumn term 1 Aug – 31 Dec or spring term 1 Jan – 31 Jul). This rule applies to all higher education, i.e. Bachelor and Master level degrees awarded by Finnish universities of applied sciences, Bachelor and Master degrees awarded by Finnish universities, and Licentiate and Doctoral degrees awarded by Finnish universities. This regulation is not applied to study rights received in transfer student selections, from the Åland University of Applied Sciences, from the Police University College, and from institutions of higher education outside Finland.

The applicants who have completed their prior degree in a country other than Finland and who are granted a study right in this call, need to deliver either the original degree certificates or certified copies of the original degree certificates and their translations to the University of Turku, as instructed in the admission notification, on 7 March 2025 at the latest. If the admitted applicant does not deliver the required certificates by the deadline, they forfeit the study right. Instructions on delivering certificates and country-specific requirements.

Appeal for rectification

If an applicant is dissatisfied with the result of the student selection (right to study for a doctoral degree), they have the right to submit an application for the rectification of the decision to the Faculty of Medicine or the Faculty of Science or Faculty of Technology within 14 days of the official publishing of the results.

Additional information

Faculty of Medicine:
Chief Academic Officer Outi Irjala
outi.irjala(at)utu.fi   

Faculty of Science:
Chief Academic Officer Sanna Ranto
sci-docstudies(at)utu.fi   

Faculty of Technology:
tech-doc(at)utu.fi

Additional DRDP information

DRDP director, professor Matti Poutanen, matti.poutanen(at)utu.fi (iPhD)

DRDP coordinator PhD Marja Peura, marja.peura(at)utu.fi

DRDP UTUGS 2024-2025 and InFLAMES 2024: Fixed term doctoral researcher positions 2024-2025