Apply for doctoral studies

Make your study plan

Your application should be appended with a personal study plan (see resources). When making your plan, comply with the requirements of the doctoral programme under consideration (Law Faculty’s own programme or the Graduate School’s The Arctic in a Changing World programme). In each programme, you can take courses from the Graduate School’s offer and from other programmes.

If you have already agreed on supervising, complete the supervising agreement.

Structure of a doctoral degree

The doctoral degree contains 180 study credits (ECTS). This considerable amount of work is divided into sections: the doctoral dissertation constitutes 150 credits, and studies constitute altogether 30 credits.

Write your research plan

To apply for the right to pursue doctoral studies, you need a research plan. The research plan must include a schedule and information on funding. We have developed a research plan template based on the Academy of Finland’s research plan structure. If you wish, you can also use a different template, but please make sure that your research plan contains all relevant information.

In your application, much value is placed on the quality of your research plan. Therefore, it is wise to discuss your plan – and refine it based on feedback – beforehand with a potential supervisor. 

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Autumn application time

September 30th – October 21st, 2025 by 3.00 pm