Development project PhD work

Working life cooperation in strategic doctoral training

The project Working life co-operation in strategic doctoral training – abbreviated PhD Work – responds to the nationally recognised need to develop doctoral training with a particular focus on doctoral candidates’ connections to working life. Through this project, the Graduate School of the University of Lapland aims to create and instil in the university’s doctoral training such modes of work that:

- contribute to the employment of doctoral degree holders
- build stronger interaction between academia and working life
- improve doctoral candidates’ connections to working life and their employment capacity.

The project will update the University of Lapland’s doctoral education, placing a greater focus on doctoral candidates’ connections to working life and doctoral training that is aligned with the university’s strategy. The University of Lapland’s strategic research profile focuses on arctic and northern change – a general framework informing the Regional Strategic Programme for Lapland and other actors in the region.

Key measures

The project will enhance doctoral candidates’ connections to working life through two key measures:

1. Improving employment capacity as part of the update of the strategic doctoral programme

By the end of the project, the university will have developed capacity to implement and support doctoral training that is aligned with the university’s strategic profile and will have established working life connections as an integral part of the activities of the Graduate School. During the project, we will design and implement content and prepare an implementation plan for the university’s strategic doctoral training.

2. Reinforcing cooperation between academia and working life through two-way visits

The project aims to create a mode of work for the Graduate School that further improves doctoral candidates’ connections to working life through promoting mobility between the Graduate School and working life. In order to attain this objective, we will extensively utilise the expertise of representatives of working life by enabling inter-sectoral mobility periods (e.g. professors of practice) in order to engage experts from working life in cooperation with the university as well.

In the measures, we will pilot and assess the most appropriate tools and practices to increase the working life cooperation of the university’s doctoral training, and update the university’s strategic doctoral programme to meet the challenges of working life cooperation. The result will consist of courses, practices and a workflow plan that will enable connections with working life to become a natural part of the university’s doctoral training.



Further information:
Principal investigator, Vice-Rector for Research Osmo Rätti, osmo.ratti(at)ulapland.fi

Project Manager Paula Tulppo, paula.tulppo(at)ulapland.fi

The project is funded by the European Social Fund.