The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies (DPBUSINESS) provides world-class business research expertise that transcends the traditional limits of the discipline.
Doctoral studies in business studies aim at familiarising the doctoral researchers with the research, theories and research methods in the field in a way which qualifies the doctoral researchers to prepare a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation. Furthermore, doctoral researchers strengthen their knowledge in their specific specialisation fields. The doctoral programme encourages doctoral researchers to take an international approach: to participate in researcher exchanges, study in foreign universities, make presentations in international conferences, publish in international journals and become members of international researcher networks.
The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies in the University of Eastern Finland operates at Joensuu and Kuopio campuses. In the doctoral programme, doctoral researchers work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).
The director of the doctoral programme is Professor Juho Pesonen.
Research areas in the doctoral programme
The mission of the Business School emphasizes cross-disciplinary and internationally acknowledged approaches to research and teaching. Research is also aiming to conrtibute to the development of local business life and to the wellbeing of society as a whole. The common dominator of the research is the development, growth and internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
One of our main objectives is to have more and better research articles published in prestigious journals. We encourage our personnel to build international networks through researcher exchange, conference participation and international research funding.
There are seven fields within Business Studies for doctoral students to choose from:
- Innovation Management (Kuopio Campus)
- Service Management (Joensuu Campus)
- Accounting and Finance (Kuopio Campus)
- Business and Law (Joensuu Campus)
- International Business and Sales Management (Kuopio Campus)
- Tourism Marketing and Management (Joensuu Campus)
- Digital Marketing and Analytics (Joensuu Campus and Kuopio Campus)
Research groups in UEF Business School
How to apply?
In the doctoral programme, doctoral researchers work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).
General instruction: info-yhkaphd@uef.fi
The fields of research, heads of the major (first on the list) and main supervisors:
International Business and Sales Management:
Service Management:
Business and Law::
Tourism Marketing and Management:
Juho Pesonen (head of the doctoral programme)
Innovation Management:
Accounting and Finance:
Digital Marketing and Analytics:
Admission requirements
The background requirement for eligibility for a doctoral study right is either a master degree in Business, other higher education level degree or an equivalent foreign degree that has been completed in an institute part of the official higher education of the country. The degree must also have included an advanced level thesis. The grade of the thesis or equivalent, as well as the overall grade of your advanced level studies must be at least “good” (GPA 3 on a scale of 0-4, Finnish grade 3/5 or equivalent). In addition, there are requirements for English language certification. Your research topic must fit into the focus areas of the main subject and all the other criteria must be met. These admission criteria have been described in the following sections.
Admission requirements concerning background education
Only the research plans of applicants who meet the application criteria will be evaluated.
The criteria for the eligibility of the study background has been described in the next applicant groups 1-4. The applicant’s study background must fill all the criteria mentioned in one of the groups to be eligible for doctoral studies. If the applicant is not eligible, they cannot be granted a doctoral study right.
If the major subject decides necessary, a qualified applicant must supplement their studies, for example, if they have graduated in other subject than the major subject that they are applying to or if the background degree is not in the field of business or if they do not possess sufficient competencies for completing a doctoral degree in the chosen major subject. The professor of the major determines whether supplementary studies are required or not and they must be completed before completing studies that are part of the doctoral degree. The maximum of supplementary studies is 30 ECTS. Supplementary studies must have an average grade of “good” (3/5 or equivalent).
Applicant groups
- Applicants with a Finnish Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration or other field who have mainly achieved the grade good (cum laude approbator, 3/5 or equivalent) or higher for their pro gradu thesis or equivalent and the grade good (3/5 or equivalent) or higher for their major subject studies. If the grade is lower than this, it is possible for the applicant to be accepted through other merits (excellent research plan and/or previous peer reviewed publication).
- Applicants with a degree in a Finnish university of applied sciences and the degree includes a thesis. The thesis must be completed with the overall grade good (3/5 or equivalent) or higher and the average of the major subject studies must be good (3/5 or equivalent). If the grade is lower than this, it is possible for the applicant to be accepted through other merits (excellent research plan and/or previous peer reviewed publication).
- Applicants with a Finnish licentiate or doctoral degree in Business or other field.
- Applicants who have acquired a relevant degree abroad which, in the country in question, provides eligibility for further university studies and for pursuing a doctorate. Applicants who have obtained their qualifications abroad must demonstrate their competence to pursue a research project by detailing their major studies (that include a Master’s thesis or other similar study project that corresponds to a pro gradu thesis) for which mainly at least the grade good (GPA of all studies must be at least 3 on a scale of 0-4) has been awarded and which have been completed before applying to the doctoral programme. If the Master’s thesis or other study project has been written in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, an English summary must be attached to the application. Applicants with a degree completed abroad must also attach their original thesis in PDF-form on the application form. Major subjects will also check the thesis with a plagiarism detection program.
Other admission requirements for doctoral study right
- The proposed research topic must be scientifically and practically relevant and connect to the research strategy and focus areas of the pursued major subject (the links to research groups can be found on our webpage). The applicant must select their major subject when applying and the applicant must have the competencies and readiness for doctoral studies and undertaking a dissertation. The major evaluates the competences during admission and the requirements vary between subjects.
Required competencies in major subjects:
- International Business and Sales Management: high scientific level of research plan and theoretical contribution in the field of International Business and Sales Management, high goal orientation of publication plan concerning international peer-reviewed journal publications.
- Accounting and Finance: The requirement is that the applicant has taken enough courses in Accounting and/or Finance. The applicant should also demonstrate knowledge relating to research methodologies relevant for the planned doctoral dissertation through previous thesis or equivalent.
- Service Management; Innovation Management, Business and Law; Tourism Marketing and Management: it must be apparent from the research plan that the applicant has familiarized themselves with previous research through which is able to indicate a justified research gap, the research problem must be well-justified and defined, the applicant must have good knowledge of a method that suits the research problem.
- There must be enough supervision resources to be allocated for the proposed thesis. The major subject which the applicant selects when applying to a doctoral study right will decide the availability of supervision resources.
- When applying for a doctoral study right through student admission, a maximum of 5 page long research plan is required (reference list is not included into the maximum). The plan must be of high quality and e.g. the following aspects will be evaluated: what is the scientific contribution of the proposed research topic, how realistic and coherent the research plan is and how it is executed, acknowledgement of the research ethical questions.
Contents of the plan:
- starting points and theoretical basis of the research, previous research
- aims of the research, research tasks and questions
- research methods and data, administration of data
- working plan, working plan for part of the tasks. Especially in article dissertations it is important to describe what kind of parts the research will be conducted in and published (when applying to positions, a more detail description is required but when applying to a doctoral study right, it is not required to have a comprehensive plan of all the articles)
- schedule and funding plan
- publication plan
evaluation of opportunities to exploit the results of the research, societal significance of the research results
- Proficiency in English.
The applicant can verify her/his English skills with an attachment to the application. These attachments must include a degree diploma, transcript of studies and a Diploma Supplement if the applicant has:
- English as foreign language included in at least a Bachelor-level degree conducted in a Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) or in an EU/EEA country;
- At least 20 ECTS university-level studies in the subject of English Studies completed in a Nordic or in an EU/EEA country.
- Master's thesis written in English when Master's degree is completed in a Nordic country or in an EU/EEA country;
- Bachelor's or Master's degree completed in English language in a Nordic country or in an EU/EEA country or Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States;
- Doctoral Degree completed in a Nordic country or in an EU/EEA country or Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States;
- Secondary education and final examination completed in English (for example International Baccalaureate) in a Nordic country or in an EU/EEA country or Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States.
In other case, the applicant is to prove her/his language skills in English with an English language test:
- TOEFL paper-based: Total score 600 and Writing 4.0;
- TOEFL Internet-based: Total Score 100 and Writing 22; The Special Home Edition of TOEFL iBT is also accepted.
- IELTS (Academic): on paper, on computer or online, overall Score 6.5 and Writing 5.5
- PTE Academic (Pearson Test of English), on paper, on computer or online, min. 59 points;
- C1 Advanced (CAE), pass levels A, B or C / C2 Proficiency (CPE), pass levels A, B, C or level C1 Certificate;
- National Certificate of Language Proficiency (YKI). Skills level 5 or 6 in the reading comprehension, writing and speaking subtests.
For more information on the tests, please contact the language testing organizations.
Please note that a written statement by the applicant, prospective supervisor, English teacher, etc., concerning the applicant's English skills is not an acceptable way to prove language skills.
The right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding or a contract of employment at the University. However, full-time doctoral researchers need to look for funding to cover their costs of living and potential research costs (travel costs, research material etc.).
Doctoral studies can be funded for example by external funding from a fund or by studying part-time while at work. Occasionally there are early stage researcher positions open for application at the UEF. Doctoral researchers apply for funding themselves and there are no automatic scholarships or positions received.
Read more about funding options of doctoral studies on Kamu Student handbook.
Application period
The application form for the Doctoral Programme on Studyinfo.fi is open during the spring semester from the beginning of January until the last weekday of May, and during the autumn semester from the beginning of August until the last weekday of November. Always check the exact application deadlines from Studyinfo.fi. Prepare the attachments required for the application carefully before submitting the application. Applications are processed as needed during the semester, and the granted study right begins in the same semester.
What is Studyinfo.fi?
Studyinfo.fi is the official national admissions portal with all the up-to-date information about study programmes leading to a degree in Finland.
Studies
The doctoral dissertation demonstrates the student’s in-depth knowledge of the field of research, related fields and the philosophy of science. Furthermore, the dissertation demonstrates his or her ability to apply the methods of scientific research in practice, both independently, and critically in his or her field of research as well as independently to generate new information.
One of the following can be accepted as a doctoral dissertation:
- A separate piece of research (monograph). A monograph is a work based on the research project by the doctoral student. It is a coherent and independent study and should contain the data and methodology used and the results as a whole.
- An article-based dissertation (a collection of research articles):
Please see the requirements for an article-based dissertation in Kamu:
Requirements of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Requirements of the Philosophical Faculty
In business an essay-based dissertation can also be approved. The essay-based dissertation comprises at least three published or unpublished independent entities dealing with the same set of research problems. Some of these entities may be scientific articles or other publications and unpublished essays.
The degree consists of a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation and 40 ECTS (from 1 August 2024 onwards, 30 ECTS) of studies supporting research and professional competence. The curriculum details are available in the Study Guide of student information system Peppi.
Courses for doctoral researchers are organized by doctoral programmes, faculties and the Doctoral School of UEF.
You can find information for different phases in the doctoral education on Kamu Student handbook:
- Doctoral education at the University of Eastern Finland
- Starting doctoral education
- Doctoral curriculum and study requirements
- Internationalisation in doctoral education
- Guidance and support in doctoral education
- Support for doctoral research
- Funding of doctoral education
- Wellbeing of doctoral researcher
- Permission for public examination and pre-examination of doctoral dissertation
- Publishing of doctoral dissertation
UEF Business School awards travel grants for study, seminar and conference trips for doctoral researchers upon application. These travel grants are intended for doctoral researchers who are not employed by the University of Eastern Finland (including part-time work for grant-funded researchers).
Applications must be accompanied by:
- a statement of completion of the studies foreseen in the postgraduate study plan and an individual plan for the timetable for the missing studies
- approval from the supervisor to attend the event(s) (e-mail is acceptable)
The travel grants are awarded by the head of department/school. The application period is continuous. Applications will be processed within 1-2 months of receipt (excluding the summer vacation period).
Applications are submitted using the digital application form. See the application form and further information.
News and events
Dissertations
Further information on the doctoral programme
If you have questions, please contact our applicant guidance services: info-yhkaphd@uef.fi.