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Doctoral Programme of Education and Society

Tampere University

Our changing world requires multidisciplinary specialists in education and learning

Type

Postgraduate degree (University)

Degree earned

Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Planned duration

4 years

Extent of studies

240 ECTS

City

Tampere

Come to change the world as an education scientist!

Come and join us in the Doctoral Programme of Education and Society to build an ethically, societally, and ecologically sustainable future for education.
The field of education and training lives with the rapidly changing world and is building the future. Experts in this field need environments that support and encourage the innovative and sustainable development of the sector. As a researcher in the field of education, you will participate in the development of practices, policies and values that will shape future societies of the future. 

Aiming for a strong multifaceted expertise in education

“This is a doctoral programme where researchers learn to envision and contribute together to the making of a more equitable and sustainable world by the means of educational scholarship.” 
Annalisa Sannino, Head of Doctoral Programme (2018–2023)

Education and training are always accompanied by extensive and multifaceted social phenomena. That is why the faculty’s research groups explore educational phenomena from multiple perspectives, and aspects of sociology, philosophy, psychology, technology, learning sciences and arts are all represented. We also have a rich combination of methodological strands and much collaboration both within and without academia, offering a possibility to engage with interdisciplinary projects with strong societal impact.


Research within the research groups is clustered in three thematic areas, which are also the focus areas of the doctoral programme:

  • Education in society
  • Communities in education
  • Learning, pedagogy and learning cultures


Our doctoral curriculum builds on the following principles:

  1. connection between doctoral studies and the focus areas of educational research at the faculty,
  2. formation of a community of incoming doctoral students, other doctoral students, and all supervisors,
  3. distributed support along with focused supervision,
  4. flexibility and choice.
     

Join our supportive community!

 “Here, the successful doctoral path is about feeling fully included in the scientific community.” Doctoral Researcher.
We consider our doctoral researchers as young colleagues whose expertise and participation in the community is invaluable. Doctoral researchers also form an active peer community where the challenges of a researcher’s career are faced together. 

Our doctoral researchers are offered a wide range of activities that support their research. For example, doctoral researchers regularly organise meetings and workshops on topical issues and provide methodological support for the different stages of writing a doctoral dissertation. In our research culture, we are committed to openness and knowledge sharing. We also support our doctoral researchers to apply for funding.

Change the world!

“The programme opens up the possibility to look into what education can do to better the society, and vice versa, how society/societal processes influence educational processes.” Doctoral Researcher 

Doctoral education in our programme prepares you to plan and execute projects in an ethical manner by exploring complex processes as manageable steps. The ability to set goals, plan, organise and prioritise activities in multifaceted educational settings in a socially sustainable way is one core aspect of expertise we foster in our programme. 
As an educational scientist graduating from the programme, you can find a job in national and international education positions on various levels and, but also in human resources, as a policy adviser in the public sector and many other positions that require complex, innovative, and human-oriented expertise.

In the programme, we embrace the close relationship between theory and practice as a strength of educational research and strive for research skills that enable strong and profound scientific and societal impact.

Welcome to change the world with us!
 

Find a prospective supervisor!

Carefully read through the admissions requirements in Studyinfo.fi before applying. For additional questions on applying, application documents and application process, please contact our Admissions office. For questions regarding the content of the programme, please contact edu.doc.tau(a)tuni.fi.

To find a responsible supervisor, start by contacting one of our professors. Once you've found a responsible supervisor, consider together other possible supervisors or members of a follow-up group.