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Doctoral Researcher positions, Doctoral Programme in Biology, Geography and Geology (BGG)

  • //applyindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/finland.png Finland
  • University/Institute Name University of Turku
  • Attendance Type On Campus (Full Time)
  • Position Funding Type Research Assistantship (RA)
  • Application deadlineSeptember 11, 2025
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Position Details (PhD Research Project)

The research areas covered by the Doctoral Programme in Biology, Geography and Geology (BGG) are traditionally strong fields at the University of Turku. The Doctoral Programme creates a multidisciplinary and internationally active framework for natural scientific research on humans, populations and the environment. The research at the doctoral programme covers ecology, evolutionary biology, physiology, genetics, environmental biology, environmental science, biodiversity, human geography, physical geography, geoinformatics, economic geography, geology and mineralogy and quaternary geology. The research fields are connected by the research and teaching activities (www.utu.fi/BGG).

Job description

The position of a doctoral researcher is set to begin on 1 January 2026 at the earliest and for the duration of a maximum of four years (up to until 31 December 2029). The positions are intended for full-time doctoral dissertation research and postgraduate studies. Duties other than those related to doctoral dissertation research, such as teaching duties, must be proportioned so as not to compromise the completion of the doctoral dissertation within the planned schedule. As a rule, up to 5% (a maximum of about 80 hrs per academic year) of the annual working time of the doctoral researcher can consist of departmental duties including teaching.

When determining the length of the employment contract, prior funding granted for pursuing a doctoral degree, planned schedule and current phase of the research are taken into account. The maximum length for a doctoral researcher position is four years. A person already awarded with a doctoral degree cannot be chosen as a doctoral researcher under an employment contract.

A doctoral researcher position requires working in Finland. The place of work is Turku. The University of Turku has flexible opportunities for remote work. The doctoral researcher works either at the Department of Biology, Department of Geography and Geology or Biodiversity Unit.

Who we are looking for

Persons who meet the eligibility criteria for pursuing a doctoral degree as stipulated in the Universities Act (558/2009, Section 37), may apply for the position. You are required to have completed a relevant Master’s degree awarded by a university or a university of applied sciences, or a relevant study programme abroad which in the awarding country gives eligibility for the corresponding level of higher education. The degree, which grants the applicant the eligibility for the study right for a doctoral degree must be completed before the closing of the application period (September 12, 2025).

You must demonstrate the ability to undertake doctoral studies and complete a doctoral degree in accordance with the research plan. In addition, you must fulfil the University of Turku language skill requirements (Link to language requirements in the web page of the university’s graduate school).

You are required to have an active right to study in the BGG doctoral programme. In addition, you must demonstrate the ability to undertake doctoral studies and complete a doctoral degree in accordance with the research plan (University of Turku Rules of Procedure). If you have not yet been granted a right to study, you must apply as well for the right to pursue a doctoral degree in the BGG doctoral programme by the dead-line of this call.  A right to study is a prerequisite for an applicant to be chosen for a fixed-term doctoral researcher position under an employment contract.

You are planning to pursue or pursuing your first doctoral degree.

You have not previously been granted a full-time four-year funding for pursuing a doctoral degree.

Evaluation of applications

Applications are reviewed by the steering committee of the doctoral programme. Applications may also be sent for evaluation to national and/or international reviewers. Shortlisted applicants for the fixed-term doctoral researcher position may be interviewed.

Fixed-term doctoral researcher positions are targeted to the first four years of doctoral studies. In addition to the eligibility criteria related to the right to pursue a doctoral degree, criteria used in the selection of doctoral researchers for fixed-term doctoral researcher positions include:

  • The quality of the research plan in terms of science and feasibility to produce a doctoral thesis within four years;
  • Applicant’s motivation for conducting the planned research;
  • Applicant’s competence evaluated on the basis of (when relevant) the grade of the MSc thesis (or equivalent), completed doctoral studies, work experience, capability to conduct the research planned, scientific publications, international activities and mobility e.g. in a form of the Cotutelle agreement;
  • Research environment evaluated on the basis of supervisor’s commitment and fit of the research planned to the profile and knowledge basis of BGG.

The evaluation is carried out as an overall assessment, but the career ladder step has an impact on the evaluation; e.g. completed doctoral studies or scientific publications are not expected of applicants who are at the beginning of their research career. For applicants who have already been granted the right to study for a doctoral degree, the progress of doctoral research and studies is assessed with respect the duration of their doctoral studies. The duration of doctoral studies is counted from the date the doctoral study right has started, excluding any absences for legal reasons, and periods of non-attendance.

Any other funding received by the applicant for doctoral studies may be taken into consideration when determining the duration of the doctoral researcher position. BGG is multidisciplinary and aims to promote all research fields, which may be taken into consideration when positions are filled.

Applications that arrive after the application period has ended will not be processed.

Decisions

The Heads of the Department of Biology, Department of Geography and Geology and Biodiversity Unit will decide on recruitment of the applicants for a fixed-term doctoral researcher positions, based on the proposals of the steering committee of the Doctoral Programme. All applicants will be personally informed about the decisions by 28 November 2025. The names of the persons who have been selected for the funded positions will be published on the website of Doctoral Programme. A selected applicant has to notify their acceptance of the position according to the instructions given in the offer notification.

Benefits

Please read more about University of Turku as an employee from our Come work with us! pages.

The European Commission has awarded the University of Turku the right to use the HR Excellence in Research quality label. The label is a token of the University’s commitment to continuous development of the position and working conditions of researchers according to the guidelines set forth in the European Charter for Researchers. 

Salary and trial period

The salaries are determined in accordance with the University salary system for teaching and research personnel. It consists of a task-specific salary component and a personal performance salary component. The task-specific salary component of a doctoral researcher is at level 2–4, depending the progress of the doctoral project. The personal performance component, added on top of the task-specific base salary is also paid. For a doctoral researcher, the salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and will be approximately 2600–3200 €/month, depending on the progress of the doctoral project. The position has a probationary period of six months.

How to apply

Please fill the electronic application form on TalentAdore and attach the required application documents (in pdf-format) into it, if not otherwise stated. Please make sure that all application documents are of good quality, are easy to read, full-colour scans or photographs of the complete required document. Application documents that do not meet these requirements may be rejected.

A. Curriculum vitae

Link to curriculum vitae template. You can choose to do a free-form resume, as well.

B. List of publications

Link to list of publications template.

C. Research plan

The research plan (maximum length of research plan is four A4 pages including references, font Times New Roman 12pt, margins 2,5cm and spacing 1) should include your name, title of the planned research project and description the research objectives, methods and required infrastructure or other resources, as well as the current status and planned timetable of the research. If the research plan exceeds the maximum length, the application will not be considered for evaluation.

The research plan should follow the guidelines for the responsible conduct of research (Link to the guidelines:  Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) | Finnish National Board on Research Integrity TENK). The research plan can be checked with the Turnitin OriginalityCheck plagiarism detection software. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in the preparation of the research plan wider role than checking grammar or generating short expressions should be clearly indicated in the research plan.

D. Motivation letter

A motivation letter is a one-page-long freeform document, in which you are expected to describe your motivation in pursuing doctoral studies and in conducting research. If you have a right to study for a doctoral degree at another university or in another doctoral programme at the University of Turku, you must provide reasons for changing over to BGG of the University of Turku in the motivation letter. A doctoral researcher may hold only one doctoral degree study right at the University of Turku at a time.

E. Degree certificates and transcripts of study records

a) If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution in Finland, you must attach following items to the electronic application form.

  • Scans of the original degree certificate or the original electronic degree certificate of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. Master’s degree certificate)
  • Scans of the original transcript of records or the original electronic transcript of records of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. transcript of records of the Master’s degree).
  • Other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection (e.g. studies you have completed outside the degree that are related to the right to study you are applying for).

b) If you have completed your former degree(s) that make you eligible for doctoral studies at a higher education institution abroad (i.e. outside of Finland), you must attach the following items to the electronic application form:

  • Scans of the original degree certificate or the original electronic degree certificate of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. Master’s degree certificate in the same language as the degree was completed in)
  • Scans of the original transcript of records or the original electronic transcript of records of the degree which make you eligible for doctoral studies (e.g. transcript of records of the Master’s degree in the same language as the degree was completed in).
  • Other original educational documents which may be of relevance in the student selection (e.g. studies you have completed outside the degree that are related to the right to study you are applying for).
  • If the original degree certificates and other educational documents are not written in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations to one of these languages must also be submitted. An official translation here refers to a translation of the educational documents issued by the awarding institution or a translation made by an authorized translator. A transcript of records or degree certificate in English can be replaced by a Diploma Supplement awarded by a European educational institution if it contains the information about completed courses and other study attainments.

F. Study transcript for the doctoral degree

If you already have a study right in the BGG doctoral programme, University of Turku, you must upload an up-to-date study transcript for the doctoral degree from Peppi study system and attach it to the application.

G. Supervisor’s assessment

The UTU supervisor’s assessment of the applicant is a free-form letter which should contain an assessment of the applicant, describe the commitment of the supervisor towards the completion of the thesis project, the duration of the supervisor’s employment at the University of Turku, project funding plan (both secured and planned funding), and an estimate of when the doctoral dissertation will be defended (autumn/spring of year 20xx). Supervisor sends the supervisor’s assessment to the University of Turku email [email protected] by the end of the application period.

If applicant already have a study right for a doctoral degree in another university, faculty or doctoral programme in the same research topic, the supervisor of applicant should in their evaluation additionally confirm that (1) authorship agreement and data management for all chapters planned to be part of the applicant’s doctoral dissertation as listed in the application have been agreed upon following TENK guidelines (Link to TENK guidelines: Agreeing on authorship) and (2) that the application of the doctoral researcher to enroll in BGG has been approved by all persons listed as author in this authorship agreement.

Further information

Link to BGG web pages (www.utu.fi/bgg)

BGG Coordinator Sari Järvi, sari.jarvi(at)utu.fi, p. +358 50 358 4596

Contact address of the Faculty: [email protected], Chief Academic Officer Sanna Ranto, University main building, University hill, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland.

Doctoral Programme in Biology, Geography and Geology (BGG)

The University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) consists of doctoral programmes which cover all disciplines and the approximately 2,000 doctoral researchers of the University. 

The aim of the Graduate School is to provide systematic and high quality doctoral training for the doctoral researchers of the University of Turku. Each doctoral researcher has a personal supervisor and the progress of the doctoral dissertation is followed regularly. The aim of doctoral training is to train highly qualified experts with the skills required for both professional career in research and other positions of expertise.

The Doctoral Programme in Biology, Geography and Geology (BGG) is a multidisciplinary doctoral programme that educates specialists with wide knowledge on natural science research.

The University of Turku is an inspiring and international academic community of 25,000 students and staff in Southwest Finland. We build a sustainable future with multidisciplinary research, education, and collaboration. With us, your work will have a significant impact and relevance in the changing world.

See our open vacancies

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Phone:
+358 29 450 5000
Email:
[email protected]

Location: 20014 Turun yliopisto

Information for the applicant

The application form cannot be saved as a draft. However, after submitting you can return to edit your application via the link you receive by email. The application can be edited until the application deadline.

You have 6 hours to complete your application before the timeout.

Instructions for submitting a job application

Research Areas & Fields of Study involved in the position

Position Start Date

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