Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters (SCE)

The SCE is a joint doctoral programme of the Philosophical Faculty and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. At the SCE, you can complete the following doctoral degrees: Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Theology, Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology, Doctor of Philosophy in Education or Doctor of Social Sciences. The choice of the target degree and the major subject depends on your academic background and the topic of your dissertation.

Major subjects and degrees in the Humanities

• Finnish language, English Language and Culture, English Language and Translation, Swedish, German Language and Culture, German Language and Translation, Russian Language and Culture, Russian Language and Translation, Karelian Language and Culture, Linguistics, Translation Studies, Literature, Folklore Studies, Cultural Studies (specialisation in Etnomusicology, Cultural Anthropology, Media Culture and Communication, Gender Studies, Sociology of Arts)
• 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

• Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology or Doctor of Philosophy

Logopedics

• Doctor of Philosophy

Career Counselling

• Doctor of Philosophy in Education or Doctor of Philosophy

Major subjects and degrees in the Social Sciences

• Sociology, Social and Public Policy, Social Psychology, Social Pedagogy, Social Work
• Doctor of Social Sciences or Doctor of Philosophy

Major subjects and degrees in Geographical and Historical Studies

• Environmental Policy, History, Geography, Human Geography
• Doctor of Social Sciences or Doctor of Philosophy

The selection of the doctoral students is based on the admission criteria of the SCE:

1. Eligible applicants for doctoral studies leading to a doctoral degree must have successfully completed a relevant Master’s degree awarded by a Finnish university or a Finnish university of applied sciences or a relevant applicable study programme abroad. The applicant must have completed at least 60 ECTS credits in the major subject or other applicable subject of the doctoral degree.

2. Eligible applicants for doctoral studies must have been awarded a grade corresponding to "good" (cum laude approbatur, 3/5, or 60% of maximum grade) or higher for their Master’s thesis or a corresponding scientific final paper.
If the applicant’s grade is lower than required or if their earlier degree does not include a scientific thesis, the applicant must present additional academic merits in support of their admission.

3. Eligible applicants for doctoral studies must have completed advanced studies, achieving a grade of "good" (3/5, or 60% of maximum grade) or higher in the major subject of their Master's or other previous degree.

4. Eligible applicants for doctoral studies must produce a high-quality research plan, that is suitable for the research profile of the doctoral programme. The research plan is drawn up in accordance with the guidelines of the doctoral programme and in collaboration with the applicant’s prospective supervisors.

5. An eligible applicant for doctoral studies must have two supervisors, both of which must hold a doctoral degree, who have committed to oversee the doctoral dissertation of the applicant.
The prospective supervisors must work at the University of Eastern Finland, either in the Philosophical Faculty or in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. For persons applying for the right to pursue doctoral studies in the Philosophical Faculty, one of the supervisors has to be a professor or an associate professor. For persons applying for the right to pursue doctoral studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, one of the supervisors has to be a professor, associate professor, docent or a person with equivalent qualifications.

6. Eligible applicants for doctoral studies must have sufficient English skills in order to complete the doctoral studies.
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 of university-level studies in the subject of English Studies in a Nordic or 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 and TOEFL iBT® Home Edition: Total Score 100 and Writing 22;
• IELTS (Academic) on paper, on computer or online: Overall Score 6.5 and Writing 5.5;
• PTE Academic (Pearson Test of English), 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 admission criteria and the application guidelines are described in detail in the StudyInfo admissions portal. Please read all the instructions on applying carefully; neglecting the instructions may lead to your application being rejected.

If you have questions, please contact the coordinator of SCE in good time before submitting your application.

The research plan is the most important component of the postgraduate application. Start preparing it in good time.

The purpose of the research plan is in its part to demonstrate that you have sufficient skills to prepare a dissertation. The research plan is an independent piece of work, but the people who are committed to being supervisors will guide you in drawing up it. Please contact supervisors well in advance for them to have time to give feedback on your research plan. Write a plan in such a way that it can be evaluated also by experts outside of your discipline or field of science.

In the evaluation of the research plan, the following elements are considered: the research setting, the proper treatment of research ethics, the realism and feasibility of the research plan, the scientific level and innovativeness, and the scientific relevance of the research topic. Your topic must also be related to a discipline and subject included in the SCE Doctoral Programme.

Write the research plan following this guidance and its headings. Each header is marked with the maximum recommended number of characters with spaces — often less is sufficient. If necessary, you can edit the title to suit your research.

1. Name of author, subject or preliminary title of dissertation, and field of study Please inform also if your research is part of a research group.
2. Research Plan Abstract (800 characters) Please describe what your research problem or research task is. Why is solving it important to one's discipline and society? What data are you researching and by which method(s)?
3. Study background (2,000 characters) Please describe how your dissertation relates to previous research and introduce other necessary details that clarify the subject or context of the study. In this section, it is relevant to talk about the positioning of your study in theoretical debates and to open up key concepts.
4. Scientific objectives of research and effectiveness of results (2,000 characters) Please describe what kind of information you are pursuing. Introduce research questions or research assignments and possible hypotheses. What kind of results are to be expected and what new information do they bring to the scientific debate in this particular field of study or topic? You can also consider how your results might be of interest and applicable outside the scientific community.
5. Research data and methods (4,000 characters) Please describe your potential research data.   Present how you plan to acquire it and handle it. Are there any data protection or ownership and access issues related to the material? Is it possible to open the dataset for use by other researchers as well by archiving it? For example, see https://www.uef.fi/en/library/research-data-management Describe the analytical methods you use in a way that shows how they contribute to the research questions and respond to a research task or the verification of hypotheses. If necessary, describe the methodological framework of the research.
6. Ethical questions (1,000 characters) Please describe ethical questions related to the research topic, methodology, or data, such as procedures, information and informed consent of subjects, and protection of the anonymity of subjects. Disclose specific ethical dilemmas involved in the study, if any. Is the opinion of the Research Ethical Commission or a research permit required for the study? Justify if there are no ethical issues related to your research or the handling of its material. Please note these Code of Ethics https://tenk.fi/en/ethical-review/ethical-review-human-sciences and https://www.uef.fi/en/research-ethics 
7. Work plan (2,500 characters) Plan the preliminary schedule of the dissertation and doctoral degree with steps and give a rough timeline for these steps with the help of the following questions. Will you compile a monograph or an article-based dissertation? What is the publication plan and schedule of articles or the preliminary disposition of a monograph dissertation? It's a good idea to give the articles working names and tell which journals you offer them for publication in. What plans do you have when it comes to conferences or exchange studies?
8. Planned funding including significant funding received and sought to date (1,000 characters)
9. Main Literature of the Research Plan (2,500 characters) Here you can also cite key sources that you do not refer to in your plan.

We also offer open-access self-study materials for making a research plan: Writing a research plan (open materials for PhD studies) (digicampus.fi)

The right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding or a contract of employment or teaching tasks at the University. However, full-time doctoral students need funding to cover their costs of living and potential research costs (travel costs, research material etc.). Funding options should be discussed with the supervisor already when planning to apply for a doctoral study right and creating a research plan.

Doctoral studies can be funded for example by a scholarship, by working as a researcher in a research project, by working as a doctoral candidate at the University of Eastern Finland (doctoral student position), or by studying part-time while at work. Doctoral students apply for funding themselves.

Read more about funding options of doctoral studies on Kamu Student handbook.