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University of Oulu is now hiring highly motivated candidates for doctoral student positions in the doctoral programmes of the University of Oulu Graduate School (UniOGS). Successful candidates must commit to researcher training within Health and Biosciences Doctoral Programme (HBS-DP) with full-time work and to completing their degree within four years.
HBS-DP gathers clinical medicine, biomedicine, biochemistry, molecular medicine, dentistry, health sciences, medical technology and biology under the umbrella of a multidisciplinary training programme.
In the current call, there are multiple full-time short-term positions (3-6 months) available in HBS-DP for 2022 (starting at the earliest 1 March 2022 and ending 31.12.2022 at the latest) and multiple full-time two year positions available in HBS-DP for 2022-2023 (starting at the earliest 1 March 2022 and ending 31.12.2023 at the latest).
Please note that you can only apply for a long-term (2 year) or a short-term (3-6 months) position, but not both.
Eligibility and Requirements
An eligible candidate has a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in a field relevant to the applied field. The major subject of the doctoral student is expected to be in the Doctoral Degree Programme of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Health Sciences or Dentistry. The degree must have been completed before the selection with at least good grades. Selected candidates must meet all the requirements to receive doctoral study rights as defined in: https://www.oulu.fi/en/science-arctic-attitude/graduate-school/admissions.
In the short-term positions, the priority will be given to professionals in the field of Health and Biosciences and with a degree of Licentiate of Medicine, Licentiate of Dentistry or Master of Health Sciences.
In the two year positions, priority will be given to such doctoral students whose supervisor’s research group is not receiving strategic funding (via focus institutes, emerging projects, doctoral programmes etc.) related to doctoral training from the University of Oulu during the funding period.
The applicants are expected to be at least in the starting phase of their doctoral studies, but not past halfway point. Any applicant who has received doctoral study rights on or earlier than 31.12.2019 need to explain why they should still be considered as eligible applicants and to assure the motivation for graduating in two years.
Prior to submitting, applicants are expected to find a prospective main supervisor in an eligible research unit. Applicants are advised to seek potential supervisors in the faculty web pages (https://www.oulu.fi/university/node/35079). The proposed main supervisor must clearly be identified in the application form (full name, title, position, faculty and research unit at the University of Oulu). A letter from the proposed supervisor willing to commit for supervision must be attached into the applicant’s set of documents (see below).
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the commitment letter does not bind the proposed supervisor to any commitment, if the applicant is not selected into the doctoral student position applied here and for which the letter of support was provided.
Salary and key terms
The salary of selected doctoral students will be initially set on level 2, and later on levels 2 – 4 of the national salary scale for the teaching and research staff of Finnish universities. In addition, a supplementary remuneration is given for personal achievement and performance (max. 50 %). In practice, the salary is roughly 2200 – 2700 € per month for an early stage researcher, depending on the appointee’s qualifications and progress of the doctoral thesis.
The two-year positions are filled at its earliest March 1, 2022 and ending December 31, 2023. A six-month trial period is applied in the positions. The short-term positions are filled at its earliest March 1, 2022 and ending December 31, 2022. A trial period (max. length, half of the employment) is applied to these positions as well.
How to apply
Submit your application through the online system by 31 December 2021. Please include the following attachments as five separate pdf files (please note that the online system has a maximum size limit for attachments):
- CV: Including a list of all peer-reviewed scientific publications with full reference details.
- Motivation letter: Describing prior knowledge, research interests and career plan (max 1 page).
- Certificates/Diplomas: Scanned electronic copies of diplomas and transcripts of the records of relevant previous degrees. If the original documents are not in Finnish, Swedish or English, each document must be accompanied by an official certified translation into Finnish or English.
- Research plan approved by the supervisor: Please follow the structure given in the guidelines of the Academy of Finland (https://www.aka.fi/en/research-funding/apply-for-funding/how-to-apply-for-funding/az-index-of-application-guidelines2/research-plan-structure/2020/porst-doctoral-clinical/) However, for the current purpose, the texts under the given section headings need not cover all bullet points in the guidelines, and the maximum length of the (draft) plan’s body of text must not exceed 3 pages with 10-12 point font size and with at least 1,5 cm margins. A fourth page can be used for the list of references only. Thus, the max total length of the plan including the references is 4 pages. Exceeding the page limit will either result in disqualification or removal of the extra pages from the document.
- Letter of provisional commitment from the supervisor (the pre-formulated form that must be used): In this document the eligible supervisor (either a professor or a docent level researcher who is employed by the University of Oulu) states his/her willingness to act as the supervisor for the applicant. Commitment letter must include the provisional supervisor’s assurance that the research unit director is aware of and committed to the financial obligations related to these positions. The University will cover only part of the costs related to this position and the unit will cover the rest. Typically, 20-35% of the salary and sidecosts remain to be covered by research unit. All other other costs are to be covered by research unit.
Applications received after the deadline, incomplete applications, and/or applications with attachments that exceed the specified limits, will not be considered.
Application and evaluation process
Evaluation and ranking of the applications will take place in multiple stages. First, ineligible or incomplete applications are rejected. Second, eligible and complete applications are evaluated and ranked by the evaluation panel. Third, applications with highest scores from the second round will be further evaluated and ranked by the corresponding Doctoral Training Committee. All applicants will be informed of the selection by e-mail.
Further information
About eligibility and degree requirements, see the Graduate School website:
https://www.oulu.fi/en/science-arctic-attitude/graduate-school
About the evaluation process: HBS-DP coordinator Mirja Peltola (firstname.lastname@oulu.fi).
