At the beginning of next year, there will already be some 60 doctoral researchers working in UEF’s shared doctoral researcher position system.
The joint experiment in doctoral education between the University of Eastern Finland and state research institutes sparked the interest of dozens of people interested doctoral researcher positions. The university’s and the state research institutes’ first call for applications was open this summer, attracting a total of 77 applications to the shared doctoral researcher positions.
The call opened in June and applications were invited until 14 August. There were a total of 28 doctoral researcher positions available in seven research institutes. The most popular positions were those shared by UEF and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (22 applicants), UEF and the Natural Resources Institute Finland (18 applicants), and UEF and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (17 applicants). The Finnish Environment Institute, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health, and the Geological Survey of Finland also participated in the cooperation experiment. Appointment decisions will be made between the university and the research institutes by the end of September 2023.
In the shared doctoral researcher positions, full-time work on a doctoral dissertation and related supervision takes place at UEF, whilst the research institute enhances the researchers’ research skills in addition to their doctoral dissertation. The doctoral researcher will sign an employment contract with both parties. The first doctoral researchers involved in the collaboration experiment will start in November 2023.
“At the University of Eastern Finland, we have been developing a new model for doctoral education in order to promote doctoral careers. At the beginning of next year, there will already be some 60 doctoral researchers working in our shared doctoral researcher position system,” Academic Rector Tapio Määttä says.
According to Määttä, experiences of doctoral researcher positions shared with other organisations have been positive, and the university is prepared to further increase the number of shared positions.
“We have had two open calls to our shared doctoral researcher position system in the past, and this time we opened a targeted call together with the research institutes. In addition, we are in the process of building a strategic partnership in doctoral education with several organisations. The university is willing to discuss shared doctoral researcher positions with all organisations interested in the model,” Määttä says.
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