Apply for doctoral programmes

Contact the professor of your academic field already when planning to apply for doctoral studies. Discussion with the relevant professor on your research topic, research plan and studies will give you a better understanding of the doctoral path. Some faculties require that you have agreed on supervising already when applying and enclose a signed supervising agreement to your application. You can find this information in the admission criteria of the programme.

If you do not know who the professor you should contact at these early stages is, you can search for professors in our research portal. You can also get in touch with the head of study affairs in the relevant faculty to find potential supervisors. We need a preliminary research plan to be able to connect you with a professor, so please provide this information already when contacting us. It can be a good idea to read the professor’s most prominent research publications before discussion.

Contact persons (email firstname.lastname@ulapland.fi)

Faculty of Art and Design: Janette Tolppi, Head of Study Affairs
Faculty of Education: Anne Autti, Head of Study Affairs
Faculty of Law: Aleksanteri Rahkonen, Head of Study Affairs
Faculty of Social Sciences: Mikko Vehkaperä, Head of Study Affairs

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 your project. Please note: admission to doctoral studies does not automatically include any grant or right to research facilities. We have developed a research plan template based on the Academy of Finland’s research plan structure. You can find the template on the application enclosures page. If you wish, you can also use a different template.

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. It is advisable to read the supervisor’s scholarly work as well.

Research plans are requested primarily in English, as international experts can participate in the evaluation of applications. You may also submit your research plan in Finnish or Swedish.

Your application should also include personal study plan. When making your plan, comply with the requirements of the doctoral programme to which you are applying. In each programme, you can take courses from the Doctoral School’s offering.

If you have already agreed on supervising, you can also complete a supervising agreement. The supervising agreement is a mandatory application enclosure for Doctor of Arts and Doctor of Education applicants.

You can find the templates for the personal study plan and supervising agreement on the application enclosures page.

The application form is open only during the application period. 

• Prepare the required application enclosures well in advance and submit an application in the Studyinfo portal. Applications cannot be submitted after the deadline, so make sure you submit the application on time.
• Select the degree programmes to which you wish to apply on the application form. Fill in the application form carefully and completely.
• Remember to submit the application, as it is not possible to save a draft. After submitting the application you will receive a confirmation email. You will be able to return to your application and modify it and its enclosures until the end of the application period.

All enclosures must be uploaded to the application before the end of the application period. If you are required to provide verified educational documents, those must be delivered before the end of the application period as well.

If you do not submit the required enclosures by the deadline, your application will be rejected.

Please fill in only one application form per application round. If you submit multiple applications, only the newest one will be considered.

After the application period has ended, the applications are processed and evaluated in each faculty. The student selection results will be announced by email to all applicants. If you are offered a study place, you will receive information on how to proceed in your admission result email.

The results are announced in approximately 6–8 weeks time from the end of the application period.

If you are offered a study place, your study right begins either on 1 January or 1 August, depending on whether you applied in the autumn or spring.

An applicant who does not agree with an admission decision of the University of Lapland may submit a rectification request within fourteen (14) days of the publication of the results. The rectification request must be received by the University of Lapland before 15:00 (3 p.m.) local Finnish time on the day of deadline.

In the rectification request the applicant is to state which decision should be rectified, how the decision should be rectified, and on what grounds the decision should be rectified in the proposed way. In other words, the applicant must point out the mistake in the evaluation of the application.

Direct your rectification request to the Dean of the faculty in question and deliver it in one of the following ways:

• Send it as an encrypted email at https://securemail.ulapland.fi/, in which case the recipient is to be kirjaamo@ulapland.fi
• Send it as a regular email to kirjaamo@ulapland.fi
• Delivered as a hard copy to Lapin yliopiston kirjaamo, Yliopistonkatu 8, PL 122, 96101 Rovaniemi

An applicant may lodge an appeal against the rectification request decision to the administrative court. The outcome of the admission process shall not turn against the interests of the person requesting rectification thereto or anyone already admitted to the university.