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Target Groups: Doctoral student

Support for difficult situations

Confidential support and advice from the Doctoral School

A doctoral researcher is supported by a vast network including e.g. your own doctoral programme (supervisors, the coordinator and leader of the programme), the head of your unit, HR and occupational/public healthcare.

If you want to talk confidentially about the challenges in your thesis work but you don’t know who to turn to, the employees of the doctoral school offer easy-access support and give advice on which actor could help you resolve the issues.

You may reach Kaisa Laitinen, Merja Lyytikäinen, Ira Virtanen and Katri Antin via doctoralschool@uef.fi and reserve a meeting with one of them.

Conflict situations

Conflict situations include, for example, interpersonal conflicts, issues related to different tasks or management, or issues related to supervision. For resolution, the so-called low threshold principle is primarily applied. If the conflict is not resolved, it will be transferred to the head of the department / the dean.

You can familiarize yourself with the university’s guidelines regarding harassment and inappropriate behavior in Kamu. If you are employed by the University of Eastern Finland, please also refer to the guidelines published in the intranet (requires UEF login).

Violations against the responsible conduct of research

Violations of the responsible conduct of research include research misconduct (fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, misappropriation) and disregard for the responsible conduct of research (e.g., denigrating the role of other researchers in publications, manipulating authorship, self-plagiarism, or careless reporting of research results).

If there is reason to suspect a violation of responsible conduct of research, the allegations of research misconduct must be investigated in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity (TENK). The investigation is a three-tier process:
1) a written notification,
2) a preliminary investigation, and
3) an actual investigation.
At the University of Eastern Finland, any allegations of misconduct are reported to the Rector, who is responsible for decision-making throughout the process.

If you need assistance or guidance, you can contact the UEF’s research ethics advisers (in intra, requires UEF login).

Indoor air problems

You can find instructions regarding indoor air and indoor environment in UEF intranet (requires UEF login).

Support for students and studying arrangements related to the war in Ukraine

Russia’s military attack on Ukraine is causing concern in the UEF community. At the same time, the international sanctions against Russia affect the studying arrangements of the university. This website contains information about support channels for students, arrangements related to studying and useful links to sources of information.

The university has set up a team to coordinate actions resulting from the situation in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Besides coordinating necessary actions, the team is preparing support measures for the students and staff. The team is led by Rector of the university.

Ministry of Education and Culture will distribute up-to-date information about the situation to the Finnish universities, and the University of Eastern Finland will follow national and EU policies in its actions and inform the UEF community about them.

The university will distribute relevant information to the students on uef.fi website, in the News section on Kamu and in the students’ Yammer group (signing in with UEF credentials required), and on Heimo website for university staff and students (UEF login required). Changes in the restrictions and sanctions may occur rapidly.

Support channels for students

If the war causes concern and students need help and support, the university offers its students a variety of support channels. We have compiled providers of help and support on the Kamu service. The students may utilise the services of FSHS, campus chaplains and educational psychologists.

In addition, providers of help include several national services such as crisis counselling by MIELI Mental Health Finland. Familiarise yourself also with the online material of Mielenterveysseurat.fi here and here Serenas materials.

Educational psychologist Katri Ruth has written about living with the feelings of concern and anxiety in the Puheenvuoroja blog of the university. The blog text mentions support channels and options for further reading.

The University of Eastern Finland emphasises that hate speech will not be tolerated in our international scientific community.

Questions about students and studies can be sent via email: studysupport@uef.fi. General questions relating to the situation in Ukraine and the security can be sent to email: ukraine@uef.fi.

In the current situation of war, student mobility programmes to and from Russia are suspended. For the present, no scholarships are available for student mobility to Russia and Belarus.

Due to the sanctions imposed on Russia and Belarus, the University of Eastern Finland will block access to its electronic services requiring authentication with the university’s username and password from the Russian and Belarusian territory, effective from 23 March 2022.

Travelling to Russia and Belarus is not recommended in the current time of crisis.

As for Ukrainian students studying in Finland, the studies will continue normally. Ukrainians studying in Finland will not be repatriated even if their residence permit is about to expire.

For the present, the EU sanctions against Russia will not affect student admissions of the degree programmes, and the decisions will be made normally according to existing legislation.

Guidance in doctoral studies

You will receive guidance in doctoral studies by several actors:

  • coordinator of your doctoral programme provides guidance on studies of the doctoral programme, personal study plan, and study administration
  • administrative staff of the faculty provides general guidance in the doctoral studies of the faculty, on study administration, and decisions
  • supervisors provide you supervision on your doctoral dissertation, and have conversations with you on Supervision Plan, Career Plan, and your Personal Study Plan (PSP).

Contact information on doctoral education

The officers at the faculties (doctoral education)

Coordinators of the doctoral programmes

Information concerning The Doctoral School and the transferable skills studies: Merja Lyytikäinen and Ira Virtanen.

Supervision of doctoral research

Doctoral Supervisors

In the beginning of doctoral studies, at least two supervisors will be appointed for every doctoral researcher. The supervisors are appointed by the Dean in the decision on admission to doctoral studies. The requirements for the supervisors vary among the faculties.

The roles and responsibilities of doctoral supervisors and doctoral researchers

The role of a supervisor is to

  • supervise the doctoral research, assist the doctoral researcher in structuring the various stages of their research work (see Supervision Plan), and engage in conversation about possible careers with the intended competencies and degree (Career Plan),
  • provide guidance in preparing a personal study plan for doctoral studies in such a way that the plan meets the objectives of the degree, the personal aims of the doctoral researcher, and the doctoral programme’s curriculum,
  • submit, without undue delay, the doctoral researcher’s study attainments for registration,
  • familiarise the doctoral researcher with the ethical issues of conducting research, good scientific practice, and the principles of managing research data,
  • commit to supervision: Discuss the elements of the doctoral research, provide the doctoral researcher with constructive feedback, and support the research inquiry and the progress of the doctoral studies,
  • facilitate the doctoral researcher’s integration into the national and international scientific community and encourage them to create a peer support network,
  • support the doctoral researcher in applying for funding, and write recommendation letters and statements in timely fashion,
  • ensure that the research meets the context- and form-based criteria required of a doctoral dissertation before it is submitted for review or pre-review,
  • go through and evaluate the comparative results provided by the plagiarism detection system on the manuscript of the doctoral dissertation.

The Supervision Plan, Career Plan, and the Personal Study Plan all aim to support the supervision teams (doctoral researcher and the supervisors). The courses that the doctoral researcher provide a great opportunity for the team to elaborate on research and field specific ethics, data management, safe and responsible use of AI, etc., and engage in mutual learning during supervision meetings.

The responsibility of a doctoral researcher is to

  • register each year as present or absent,
  • ensure that their research plan is updated and to commit to conducting research,
  • follow actively communication related to doctoral education (e.g., Viva Engage channels of Doctoral Programmes, Doctoral School and/or the Faculty) and Handbook of Doctoral Education in Kamu,
  • prepare a personal study plan for doctoral studies on the basis of the research topic, the scientific objectives of the degree and their personal aims, for example, career goals, and ensure that the plan is kept up-to-date,
  • submit to the supervisors, without undue delay, documentation concerning study attainments based on scientific activities,
  • familiarise themself with guidance on research ethics and data management principles, and comply with these in pursuing studies and conducting research for the doctoral dissertation,
  • utilise guidance and take into account feedback received from the supervisor (see Supervision Plan) as well as make use of the opportunities for guidance from and in the community at large (e.g., peer support),
  • participate during their studies in the activities of the scientific community and in scientific discussion and doctoral education,
  • bear responsibility for obtaining financing (e.g., foundations, funding by a company, and other supplementary financing) and request, when necessary, a reference/recommendation letter from the supervisor in good time, before the deadline of application,
  • submit the manuscript of the doctoral dissertation for scrutiny by the plagiarism detection system prior to pre-examination, request a public defence, publish the doctoral dissertation, and apply for the degree certificate.

Changing doctoral supervisors

The supervisor can be replaced for a justified reason or additional supervisors can be appointed. Examples of justified reasons are if the theme of the research project has been changed or readjusted or if the research project is not making satisfactory progress.

The proposal for replacing a supervisor may be made by the doctoral researcher or by the supervisor. Replacement of a supervisor is agreed on between the parties, and the final decision is made by the Dean. To start the process, fill out the form for changing supervisors. Have the form signed and deliver it to the faculty.

Please also see information on conflict situations in Kamu.

Support for supervisors

According to research, satisfaction of the doctoral researcher increases when 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). A supervisor has a crucial role in the progress of doctoral studies in many ways. Yet, formal supervision should not be the sole source of guidance in one’s doctoral journey. Support from the supervisors and the research community at large, for example, decreases the risk of attrition and professional exhaustion (Peltonen et al. 2017). Conferences, seminars, multidisciplinary courses, formal and informal peer support groups, and conversations with other professionals are all beneficial in shining light to the process.

The Doctoral School offers supervision training for all supervisors. Sign up to the self-learning material “Toolkit for Supervisors” on Moodle. You receive information on available trainings directly to your email from the Toolkit Moodle, from posts to Doctoral Education Viva channel, and by searching the UEF Training Calendar (keyword “supervision”).

Support for doctoral researchers to plan and lead your project

Have an annual conversation with your supervisors on the topics laid out in your Supervision Plan to agree and review, for example, the division of duties, guidance, and support as well as the practices and working methods of your supervision team.

See tips produced in a workshop “Seminar for PhD students and their supervisors” in 2018 by Professor Sanna Vehviläinen (see Sway presentation How to improve PhD supervision) edited by Dr. Ira Virtanen.

  • Reflect on and disclose your working habits and communication style to your supervisors (e.g., self-leadership, need for guidance, desired frequency of interaction, etc). Be open to negotiating and learning new practices.
  • Share, discuss, and express your expectations and feelings with your supervisors. Acknowledge that they have their own goals and work tasks.
  • Make sure that you agree on the mutual goals and practices. Furthermore, as time goes by and the research progresses, it is recommended and inspiring to review the practices, make editions, and celebrate the goals already achieved and verbalise the goals remaining before graduating.
  • Prepare for meetings with the supervisors in advance. Define the agenda and send the relevant information beforehand. Negotiate what “beforehand” means to each party and make sure everyone commits to the timeline. Deadlines bring clarity, predictability, and much needed support for time management and cognitive wellbeing.
  • Make memos during the supervision meetings. Decide together where the memos will be stored and how they will be used for the benefit of the collaboration.
  • Give (also positive and encouraging) feedback to your supervisors. Affirm what works and be assertive in making suggestions.
  • Find your own networks and meet your colleagues also in informal settings. Social support from peers enhances your wellbeing. We are pleased to offer you a course on “Peer Mentoring and Collegial Relationships” (see more from Peppi).
  • Balance work and free time, and keep your working hours reasonable. Relaxation and recovery will not slow you down. In fact, it helps you to be more productive. Creative work such as research benefits from idle time, walks in the nature, and conversations with others.
  • Take a break, sleep enough, exercise, get fresh air, eat healthy, break the routines. Get curious about the different ways researchers conduct their work – learning about what works for you builds self-leadership skills and extends the understanding of various perspectives and routines.
  • Most disagreements are a results of misunderstanding, poor listening, or expectations that were not communicated clearly. It is a normal part of human interaction. Sustain optimism and consider the other’s perspective. If something in your relationship with your supervisor is not functioning, take the initiative for improving it. It starts in communication.

More information

Peer support in doctoral education

Association of doctoral researchers (ItäVä)

Doctoral researchers at UEF have their own association called ItäVä, which operates on both campuses.

Peer mentoring training and supportive groups

In peer mentoring, doctoral researchers share their experiences and knowledge in a committed small group. Peer mentoring groups comprise of equal members: There is no experienced mentor and a novice actor but rather, colleagues supporting each other reciprocally.

You can participate in the peer mentoring activity at any phase of your doctoral journey. Peer mentoring has been found to be rewarding for everyone involved, and it supports well-being, sense of inclusion, and professional growth. The small groups meet regularly to discuss matters related to research and researcher competence development as a holistic experience, i.e., topics that participants find important. We support organising groups both in the campus cities and online in Finnish and in English.

Peer mentors are trained in the fall and the peer mentoring groups start in the spring. The training is offered as a course on the Doctoral School’s curriculum: “Peer Mentoring and Collegial Relationships” (course offered in the autumn semester). The course consists of three meetings conducted online (1 ECT). When you mentor your own peer group for five or more meetings, you receive 2 ECTS in total. Peer mentoring gives you valuable experience on collegial relationship-building, community wellbeing, personal benefits of being for others –you included!–, and study credits.

Call for peer group participants

During the autumn semester 2024, eight wonderful peer mentors have been trained. Call for participants ended February, 2025. When new groups are offered in January 2026, you can find the registration forms in advertisements on the Doctoral School’s newsletter and Viva Engage (channel UEF Doctoral Education). More information from University Lecturer Ira Virtanen (ira.virtanen@uef.fi).

Are open university courses free of charge for degree students?

The curriculum for degree students at the University of Eastern Finland and the open university students is usually the same. The methods of completing studies, however, may differ among different student groups: some method of completing studies may be limited to degree students only, whereas some method of completion may be designed specifically for open university students only. Study carefully the information of each course in Peppi so that you know which courses are suitable for you so that you know how to register for courses correctly! If the method of completion is not limited or allocated to a certain group of students, degree students can choose which courses they will take. In this case, participation in the open university courses is free of charge for degree students who have registered as being present.


If a student has registered as being absent in their degree studies, but during the absence they are studying at the open university, they pay the open university fees.


If degree students need to apply for a minor subject and participation is limited, degree students cannot register to open university studies to complete courses there, if they do not have the right to study obtained through the minor subject selection.

Additional information, please see: Instructions for the planning of teaching in the academic year 2022-2023 (in Heimo, log in with your UEF username and password, pdf).

Collections and information retrieval

The library acquires both electronic and print resources for its collections mainly in the disciplines researched and taught at the university. The collections hold research literature, course books, periodicals, academic theses, databases, reference books, electronic publications and selected open access resources. You can search for both print and electronic resources in the UEF Primo. More information on the library’s collections is available on the public webpages.

The library organises a course Research Information Retrieval and Management, targeted at doctoral researchers. It introduces the most important subject-specific scholarly information sources and gives basic skills in systematic information retrieval.

Scientific writing and publishing

Language Centre offers education for doctoral researchers on scientific writing: Proofreading Research Writing in English.

The Library offers access to various books on scientific writing. See, for example, Scientific Writing: Thinking in Words and Scientific Writing: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide.

The Library provides guidance e.g. on selecting publishing channels, applying for support for article processing charges granted by the university or publishers, and copyright matters.

The library maintains the UEF eRepository (eRepo), an open access materials repository, that contains theses and publications of the University of Eastern Finland, self-archived versions of articles and metadata of research data made available by our researchers.

The Library also records publication data in the UEF CRIS Current Research Information System, on which you’ll find more information on page Doctoral education information channels and systems.

Open science, data protection and data management

The objective of UEF publishing and data policy is to ensure that research data produced with public financing is broadly utilisable for the scientific community and the society at large. This requires the methods, results, data and publications of a research study to be opened. More information about open science and open publishing on Library’s webpages. The Library organises a course on Basics of Open and Responsible Science (2 ECTS) for the Doctoral School. It provides basic information on the topic.

One of the Finnish Open Science policy goals is, that all research projects create a data management plan (DMP), which ensures that the research data is treated in a manner that it can reliably verified and/or opened.

Data management plan

When a research project starts, it is recommended that a data management plan (DMP) is created for the project. The DMP describes the types of data that are produced, the ownership of data, the ethical aspects related to the data, data storage and back-ups, and storage of metadata (the “background” information related to the data). Documentation of the research data should follow the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reproducible) principles, so that the data can be later opened. Even if the data cannot be opened, i.e., because of GDPR, it must be documented so that it is verifiable. The DMP should be a dynamic document that is updated during the entire project. You can get support for creating a DMP from the Basics of Research Data Management (1 Cp) course that is organized by the UEF Library. The UEF Library also offers support for data management during all stages of research projects     

Processing of personal data and data protection

If your research data includes any personal data, the requirements of the GDPR are applied in processing it. Data protection is a fundamental right that safeguards the rights and freedoms of data subjects when personal data is processed. The purpose of data protection is to define when and on what conditions personal data can be processed. Processing of personal data and data protection should be described in data management plan.

More information:

UEF Staff must take and pass an online training module in information security and data protection every third year (requires UEF login).

Information security

Research data and other recorded information can be divided into three categories based on the document secrecy and the general right of access: high protection level, base protection level, and public information. For saving and storing research data, Digital Services provides disk space with backup (50 GB) and without backup (2 TB) as well as REDCap-data management services. Learn more about information security, information​ security instructions,​ and information security rules in Heimo (requires UEF login). ​​

Guidance on research ethics

Responsible conduct of research

Responsible conduct of research forms a basis for all research activities. Responsible conduct of research means practicing integrity, meticulousness and accuracy in all phases of research, using ethically sustainable methods that fulfill scientific criteria, as well as respectful and responsible conduct towards other researchers. Responsible data management as well as openness in sharing the results and conflicts of interest are in the core of responsible conduct of research.

Commitment to responsible conduct of research is primarily up to you, but also to your supervisor, the whole research team, the head of your research unit and the leadership of the University. In addition to good scientific practice, you must take into account up-to-date legislation. At the University of Eastern Finland, violations of good scientific practice are monitored by the leadership of the University (Rector and Academic Rector).

The National Advisory Board on Research Integrity (Tutkimuseettinen neuvottelukunta, TENK) appointed by the Ministry of Culture and Education has issued research ethics guidelines Responsible Conduct of Research and Procedures for Handling Allegations and Misconduct in Finland (pdf) and
Recommendation for Agreeing on Authorship for Research Publications (pdf).

Universities Finland (UNIFI) and The National Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK) have also compiled a recommendation Supervision of Doctoral Dissertations and Their Review Process in Finland with a Special Emphasis on Research Integrity (pdf).

You, just like all doctoral researchers, have to be aware of good scientific practices before starting the doctoral studies.

Ethical review and licenses

The ethical committees assess the ethicality of research project and, if necessary, give statements about them. Responsibility for adhering to the ethical guidelines remains with you despite of a statement issued by the ethical committee. Ethical review protects the subjects and ensures the researcher’s legal protection.

You may also need a permit for your research. The research permit practices vary depending on the discipline and research type.

If you use customer and register data generated in social and health care activities for a purpose other than the primary purpose for which they were originally saved, you must apply for statistical data with a data request and individual-level data with a data permit. More information about Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data.

It is good to reserve time for ethical review and research permit practices in your research plan, since processing occurs via established systems and time-frames.

Authenticity check of manuscripts

Turnitin is a tool for checking the authenticity of the text, which you can utilise when ever you write academic texts. You can, for example, check the manuscripts of the scientific articles before submitting them. The doctoral dissertation must be checked with Turnitin before submitting it to pre-examination. More information on the topic: Permission for public examination and pre-examination of doctoral dissertation.

Using artificial intelligence in research

When using AI, there are many questions related to, for example, research ethics, copyright and processing confidential information. Read carefully through The use of AI in teaching and research webpage in Kamu as well as Artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Eastern Finland  in UEF intranet (requires UEF login).

Learn more

Course on Research ethics

On the course Research ethics you will familiarise yourself with ethical thinking and ethical challenges related to different phases of research.

Responsible research

The website Responsible research collects timely information on the topic: good scientific practices, research ethics, responsible publishing and open science.