Guidance in doctoral studies
In the accordion below you'll find the contact information of the coordinator of your doctoral programme:
- Doctoral Programme in Educational Studies: Kaisu Kortelainen
- Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters: Salli Anttonen
- Doctoral Programme in Welfare, Health and Management: Salla Lappalainen
- Doctoral Programme in Science, Technology and Computing: Noora Heikkilä
- Doctoral Programme in Environmental Physics, Health and Biology: Timo Kumlin
- Doctoral Programme in Forests and Bioresources: Marjoriitta Möttönen
- Doctoral Programme of Clinical Research: Saara Happo
- Doctoral Programme in Drug Research: Katja Savolainen
- Doctoral Programme in Molecular Medicine: Tiia Turunen
- Doctoral Programme in Health Sciences: Maria Lankinen
- Past, Space and Environment in Society Doctoral Programme: Ville Hamunen
- Doctoral Programme in Business: Jarmo Romppanen
- Doctoral Programme in Law: Outi Ratamäki and Hanna Partinen
You can also contact the officers at the faculties for guidance:
- Philosophical Faculty: Kaisu Kortelainen
- Faculty of Science and Forestry: Kaisa Laitinen
- Faculty of Health Sciences: Ella Koistinen
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies: Annikki Honkanen or Anne Korhonen
- Information concerning Doctoral School and the transferable skills studies: Merja Lyytikäinen
Supervision of doctoral research
Requirements
Each doctoral researcher must have at least two supervisors, both of which must hold a doctoral degree. In addition, there are faculty-specific requirements for the supervisors;
- In the Philosophical Faculty one of the supervisors must be a professor or associate professor (supervising professor) in the Faculty. Other supervisors must hold a doctoral degree.
- In the Faculty of Science and Forestry, one of the supervisors must be a professor, associate professor or assistant professor (Tenure Track) in the Faculty.
- In the Faculty of Health Sciences, one of the supervisors must be a professor or hold a title of docent or equivalent at the University of Eastern Finland. The principal supervisor must primarily hold the title of docent.
- In the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, principal supervisor must be a professor, associate professor, hold the title of docent or a person with equivalent qualifications in the Faculty.
It is possible to change the supervisor(s) during the doctoral studies. The change must be reported using the form below:
Roles of supervisor and supervisee
A supervisor has a crucial role in the progress of doctoral studies. According to scientific studies, satisfaction of the doctoral researcher increases in the case the supervisor and the doctoral researcher have a mutual understanding on the supervisor's duties, and the contents and frequency of supervision (Pyhältö et al. 2015). In addition, support from the supervisor and research community decreases the risk of drop-outs and burn-outs (Peltonen et al. 2017). It is recommended that you and your supervisor jointly prepare a written supervision guideline about the practices of supervision in detail, possibly including reporting and feedback in the document.
Below, you'll find the instructions of your Faculty on research supervision.
Each doctoral researcher has a supervising professor who is to be appointed already at the application stage and who agrees to support the application. The role of the supervising professor is administrative unless s/he acts as a primary supervisor. The tasks of the supervising professor include discussing the contents of the doctoral researcher’s personal study plan and overseeing the thesis submission and examination process. The thesis is supervised by the doctoral researcher’s primary supervisor, who must hold a doctoral degree. If the supervising professor is also the primary supervisor, a second supervisor is to be appointed.
Two or more persons are appointed on application as the supervisors for doctoral studies. Of these, all must hold a doctoral degree and at least one must be a professor, an associate professor, a senior researcher (Tenure Track) or a research director in the faculty. If a person other than a professor, an associate professor, a senior researcher (Tenure Track) or a research director in the faculty is proposed as the main supervisor of a doctoral dissertation, his or her up-to-date list of
publications must accompany the application.
In the Faculty of Health Sciences each doctoral researcher must have a minimum of two supervisors. All supervisors must have a doctoral degree and the main supervisor must hold, at the minimum, the qualification of a docent or have a corresponding scientific qualification. At least one of the supervisors must be employed by the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland.
The main supervisor shall hold a professor's, associate professor’s or a docent's title with the University of Eastern Finland or have a corresponding qualification and be a member of staff in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. The second supervisor must hold a doctoral degree.
Tips for supervisees
Produced in a workshop in Seminar for PhD students and their supervisors in 2018 (see Sway presentation How to improve PhD supervision).
- Tell about your working style and communication style to your supervisor (self-leadership, need for interaction etc).
- Talk, discuss, express your expectations and feelings to your supervisor.
- Make sure that you agree on the goals and norms. Establish mutual understanding.
- Prepare for meetings with the supervisor in advance. Define your goals and send information beforehand.
- Make memos during the supervisory meetings.
- Give (also positive and encouraging) feedback to your supervisor.
- Find your networks and meet your colleagues in informal settings. Social support from peers enhances your wellbeing.
- Balance work and free time and keep your working hours reasonable. Relaxation will not slow you down but, in fact, helps you to become more efficient.
- Take a break, sleep enough, exercise, get fresh air, break the routines.
- Positive thinking is important. Focusing on the problems is not efficient. Try to change the angle. If something in your relationship with your supervisor is not functional, you can take the initiative for making a change.
More information
- Shared rules vitally important in the doctoral researcher-supervisor relationship by Tieteentekijät
- Role perception rating scale (RPRS)- tool a for making mutual expectations visible.
- Research Supervision (1145010) - a course targeted for doctoral researchers
- Materials from the Seminar for PhD Students and Their Supervisors (2018)