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Major subjects and degrees in the Humanities

• Finnish Language, English Language and Culture, English Language and Translation, Swedish Language, Russian Language and Culture, Russian Language and Translation, Karelian Language and Culture, Linguistics, Translation Studies, Literature, Folklore Studies, Cultural Studies (specialization in Ethnomusicology, Cultural Anthropology, Media Culture and Communication, Gender Studies, Sociology of Arts), Logopedics
  • Doctor of Philosophy

Major subjects and degrees in Theology

• Biblical Studies, Church History, Practical Theology, Systematic Theology, Religious Education, Church Music, Systematic Theology and Patristics, Comparative Religion
  • Doctor of Theology or Doctor of Philosophy

Psychology

• Psychology
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology or Doctor of Philosophy

Major subjects and degrees in Educational Sciences

• Adult Education; Education; Education, Councelling; Home Economics; Craft Science
  • Doctor of Philosophy, or Doctor of Philosophy (Education)
• Special Education; Education, Early Childhood Education
  • Doctor of Philosophy (Education)

From this list, you can check whether you meet the eligibility requirements for the FILOTO doctoral programme.

Eligibility and admission criteria

Eligible for studies leading to a doctoral degree shall be:

• a person who has completed an applicable higher university or polytechnic degree
• a person who has completed an applicable education abroad which in the awarding country gives eligibility for corresponding higher education

Admission criteria

1. The fields of study for the PhD programme of the Philosophical Faculty include humanities, theology, psychology, speech therapy, education, home economics and crafts. In certain exceptional cases, the Steering Committee of the doctoral programme may, on the basis of the applicant's studies and research plan, assess the suitability of another field of study. 

To be selected, the applicant must have completed studies relevant to the subject of the doctoral thesis, which may be part of the qualifying degree or not. Applicants must have completed 30 credits of studies (undergraduate, postgraduate or equivalent) in the major field of the doctoral degree or in an appropriate related field by the time they submit their application. Pedagogical studies for teachers are suitable for studies in the field of education. 

Applicants for a doctorate in psychology must have obtained a Master's degree in psychology from a Finnish university or an equivalent foreign degree. 

The disciplines, majors and degrees covered by the doctoral programme are described above under "Degrees and subjects".

2. The applicant must have at least two supervisors committed to the dissertation work, one of whom is the main supervisor and must be employed by the Philosophical Faculty. All supervisors must hold a doctoral degree. The main supervisor must be a docent or have equivalent scientific qualifications. At the application stage, the applicant must have written consent from the individuals committed to being supervisors.

3. The applicant's research plan must be of high quality and prepared in accordance with the guidelines of the doctoral programme. The research plan is an independent work, but supervisors will guide you in its preparation.

4. Applicants must demonstrate sufficient academic language skills in either Finnish or English. Language proficiency must be demonstrated in connection with the application for a postgraduate place. A previous degree done in Finnish is proof that the applicant has sufficient knowledge of Finnish. For guidance on the requirements for academic English, see below. Dissertations may also be written in a language other than that indicated in the application.
To prove their English language skills when applying, the applicant must either (a) meet the language proficiency criteria (see below), or (b) reach the minimum required language test results to be considered eligible to the 91����. No exceptions will be made and no waivers regarding the language proficiency requirements are given.

(a) Applicants who hold one of the following do not have to take an English language test:

• English as foreign language included in at least a Bachelor-level degree conducted in 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; 
• Secondary education completed in English language in EU/EEA -countries, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand or in Switzerland. 
• A Bachelor’s, Master’s or higher degree in English language completed in EU/EEA -countries, or in one of the following countries: Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Ruanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South-Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Zambia, Zimbabwe. 

The degree/programme must be taught and assessed entirely in English. If you verify your language skills with your education degree, the language of instruction must be clearly indicated on the educational documents. 

Online studies or studies completed on offshore campuses outside the accepted countries/area cannot be used to indicate language skills, even if the degree-awarding institution is in one of the accepted countries. Please attach to the application an applicable degree certificate, Diploma Supplement, and the transcript of the academic record. 

(b) All other applicants have to take one of the following language tests: 

• TOEFL iBT, overall score 92, minimum 22 in writing 
• IELTS (academic) overall score 6.5, minimum 6.0 in writing 
• PTE (academic), overall score 62, minimum 54 in writing 
• C1 Advanced overall score C or 180, with minimum 162 in writing 
• C2 Proficiency overall score level C1 or 180, with minimum 162 in writing 
• National Certificate of Language Proficiency YKI-test: level 5 in all different subtests (reading comprehension, writing, and speaking). 

It is possible to combine different examinations. 

TOEFL, IELTS and PTE certificates are valid for two years from the day they are issued. The language test need to be in effect when submitting the application during the application period. 

The language test results must be verifiable from the online verification service of the organizer. 

No other degrees or statements of language proficiency will be accepted. Please note that a written statement by the applicant, prospective supervisor, English teacher, etc., is not an adequate proof of the applicant's sufficient English skills.
 

Supplementary studies

The board of the doctoral programme may require the applicant to complete supplementary studies if it considers that the applicant has not acquired the knowledge and skills required for doctoral studies through their previous studies. Supplementary studies may be required for students whose undergraduate education is in a field other than the major field of study applied for, or when it is appropriate for the implementation of the research plan. The content and scope of the complementary studies will be assessed for each applicant individually by the board of the doctoral programme in consultation with the persons approved as supervisors. Supplementary studies will be defined in the selection decision and will not exceed 30 credits. They are carried out as part of the studies leading to the degree and cannot be included in the doctoral degree.

The research plan is the most crucial part of your doctoral studies application. Start preparing it well in advance. The purpose of the research plan is to demonstrate that you have sufficient capabilities to complete a doctoral dissertation. 

The research plan is an independent work, but the persons who have agreed to be your supervisors will guide you in its preparation. Contact the supervisors well in advance so they have time to provide feedback on your research plan. Write the plan so that it can be evaluated by people other than experts in your field or subject area. Include references for the sources you use. 

Prepare the research plan so that the research can be completed full-time in 3–4 years. Your topic must be related to a discipline and subject included in the Doctoral Programme of the Philosophical Faculty.

Write the research plan according to these guidelines and headings. The doctoral programme's steering committee will not evaluate research plans that do not follow these guidelines. Even if your doctoral dissertation is an integrated part of a larger, collective research project, you should compose your research plan in such a way that you describe all its components from the perspective of your own research. Each heading has a maximum character count including spaces – often less is sufficient. 

1. Author's name, dissertation topic or preliminary title, and field of research.
2. Research plan abstract (maximum 800 characters) Briefly describe your research problem or research task. Why is solving it important for your field and society? What is your research data, research method, and possible theoretical framework?
3. Research background (maximum 2,000 characters) Describe how your dissertation relates to previous research and explain other necessary aspects that clarify the research subject or context. This section is suitable for explaining the placement of the research in theoretical discussions and defining key concepts.
4. Scientific objectives and impact of results (maximum 2,000 characters) Explain what kind of knowledge you are pursuing. Present your research questions or tasks and possible hypotheses. What kind of results are expected and what new knowledge will they bring to the scientific discussion concerning your field or topic? You can also consider how your results might interest and be applicable outside the scientific community.
5. Research data and methods (maximum 4,000 characters) Describe your potential research data. Explain how you plan to acquire it and how you will process it. Is it possible to make the data available to other researchers through archiving? See for example /en/library/research-data-management. Describe your analysis methods to show how they contribute to answering research questions and tasks or verifying hypotheses. Explain the methodological framework if necessary.
6. Ethical considerations (maximum 1,000 characters) Describe ethical issues related to the research topic, methods, or data, such as procedures, informing participants, informed consent, and protecting participant anonymity. Mention if the research involves special ethical concerns. Does the research require approval from the research ethics committee or a research permit? Are there any data protection or ownership and usage rights issues? If data is collected abroad, how have you considered special issues and cooperation partners regarding research permits and ethical guidelines for data collection abroad? Has your research considered questions related to equality, open science, and sustainable development? Answer all the questions that are relevant to your research. Justify if your research does not involve ethical issues or considerations. Consider these ethical guidelines  and /en/research-ethics
7. Work plan (maximum 2,500 characters) Plan the preliminary schedule and phases of the dissertation and doctoral degree. Are you writing a monograph or article-based dissertation? Describe the writing process and schedule for a monograph dissertation. Describe the publication plan and schedule for an article-based dissertation. It's good to provide working titles for articles and mention which journals you plan to submit them to. What plans do you have regarding conferences or exchange studies? Is the dissertation part of a research project?
8. Planned funding (maximum 1,000 characters) Explain how you plan to fund your research. Also, describe any funding applied for or received for the research so far.
9. Main literature for the research plan (maximum 2,500 characters) List the sources you have used and referenced in the research plan. You can also mention other key sources not referenced in your plan.

Complete the final research plan using (save the form to your computer so you can edit it). The research plan must be included in the doctoral application using the FILOTO's form template.

The supervisor approvals needed for the application must be collected using .

We also offer open-access self-study materials for making a research plan: 

The selection of doctoral students is based on the admission criteria of the doctoral programme.  The Steering Group of the Doctoral Programme assesses each eligible application against the admission criteria. The dean of the Philosophical faculty will decide on a doctoral study place based on a proposal from the head of the doctoral programme. The dean grants the study places to doctoral researchers and confirms the supervisors for the doctoral dissertation with their decision. If the study right is not granted, the decision will include the reason for rejecting the application. 

The following aspects of the research plan are evaluated on a scale of sufficient to insufficient: 

• The research problem or task is motivated and clearly described. 
• The background of the research, such as previous research on the topic, theoretical framework, and key concepts are clearly described. 
• The scientific objectives of the research and the impact of the results are clearly described. 
• The acquisition, processing, and analysis methods of the research data are concretely described. 
• Ethical issues of the research are appropriately considered and described. 
• The research is realistic and feasible: the schedule, as well as the publication and funding plan, are clearly described. 
• The scientific level and innovativeness of the research plan are sufficient for a doctoral dissertation. 

The right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding. It is recommended to discuss funding opportunities with your supervisor as early as when you are planning to undertake doctoral studies. Funding opportunities include scholarships, paid doctoral researcher positions in doctoral programmes, paid project researcher positions or combining doctoral studies with other paid work. The Philosophical Faculty awards grants for starting (start-up grant) and finishing (finalization grant) doctoral dissertation work. Find out more about funding opportunities for doctoral studies in the .

Start-up grant of the Philosophical Faculty can be applied for by doctoral researchers who have been granted the right to pursue a doctoral degree in the Philosophical Faculty after January 1, 2025, and are registered as present in the student register. The grant is awarded for 2 two months. The grant is €1500/month. The grant must be utilized within six months of receiving the grant decision. The grant period (2 months) must be continuous. The faculty's start-up grant can only be awarded once.

Purpose of the Start-Up Grant:
The start-up grant enables full-time work for beginning doctoral researchers. It supports the acquisition of funding needed for doctoral dissertation work and the creation and implementation of a plan for it. Additionally, the grant helps to initiate research work according to the research plan.

The Grant Period is Full-Time: 

• For working grants awarded by the university, an absolute requirement is that the person is not in full-time paid employment during the grant period.
• A requirement for awarding the grant is that the recipient has not been employed by the 91���� in a position where the job task was doctoral dissertation work (e.g., project researcher) during the calendar year in question.
• If the grant recipient is employed by the 91���� in a different position than the one for which the grant is awarded, they must be released from this work during the grant period.
• The start-up grant cannot be used simultaneously with other working grants. If the recipient of the start-up grant receives funding for their doctoral research from another funder, the faculty's start-up grant will be canceled.

Application and Application Process:
The application period is from April 7 to July 31, 2025. The grant is applied for using . The application must include:

• A short research plan (the same one used to obtain the doctoral study right), and
• A work and study plan.

The application must also include a statement from the main supervisor of the doctoral dissertation. The statement should evaluate the scientific significance of the applicant's doctoral dissertation and their ability to complete the dissertation project. Additionally, it describes why this applicant should receive the start-up grant. The statement should also address the applicant's funding situation and future needs. The doctoral researcher must contact their supervisor themselves and request a statement. The supervisor's statement is made using . Incomplete applications will not be processed.

In the evaluation of applications, the following are considered:

1. The scientific significance and innovativeness of the research,
2. The funding plan for the doctoral dissertation process,
3. The realism and feasibility of the work and study plan, and
4. The main supervisor's statement.

Affiliation with a research group operating in the department is considered an advantage for the applicant.

Applications are evaluated once a month (excluding the summer holiday period). Applicants are notified of the decision by email.

The doctoral researcher who has received the grant commits to providing a report to the faculty on the use of the start-up grant at the end of the grant period. The main supervisor is also requested to provide a report detailing how the start-up grant has benefited the applicant's research progress.

Additional Information: info-filoto@uef.fi

Starting from August 1, 2025, the start-up grant can be applied for simultaneously with the application for doctoral study right in Studyinfo.