Doctoral Programme of Humans and Technologies

Recognition of the studies and eligibility for doctoral studies is approved by the professor of the discipline or a teacher authorised by the professor.

 

All applicants must submit evidence on a good command of English for academic purposes. There are two ways of indicating English language proficiency: language tests and previous studies.

Additional information and how to submit the language test results.

The minimum English language test result requirements

Test name	Minimum test result
TOEFL iBT / TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition	92 overall, with no section below 20
IELTS (academic) / IELTS Indicator	6.5 overall, with no section below 5.5
PTE (academic)	62 overall, with no section below 54
C1 Advanced*	C
C2 Proficiency*	C1
Finnish National Certificate of Language Proficiency (English)	Proficiency level 5 (reading, writing, listening and speaking). The results of separate sittings of the language test can be combined.

*The previous CAE and CPE have been renamed as C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency

As Tampere University will confirm the official language scores through an online system of the language testing agency, test results must remain valid at least until the day when the application is submitted.

Exemptions to the language requirements

It is possible to be exempted from submitting a language test score if you have completed a higher education degree in English in certain countries. If you apply without a valid language test result, carefully examine the exemptions that your studies fulfil the requirements.

Admission requirements

The goal of our admissions policy is to attract talented, motivated and committed doctoral students.

Your academic aptitude will be assessed against the following criteria:

• the scientific level, clarity, relevance, feasibility and novelty value of your research plan and the fit of your proposed research topic within the scope of the doctoral programme;
• your motivation to complete a doctoral dissertation;
• your funding plan and whether it is found to realistically cover the duration of your studies;
• your study plan, previous degree, and the studies you have completed and how they fit in with your proposed dissertation topic;
• your previous academic performance and possible research and work experience in the field of the dissertation; 
• required language proficiency;
• the availability of competent supervision;
• the availability of the required research infrastructure.

Application procedure

Application deadlines and instructions

We accept applications on a rolling basis but review them four times a year: 1) September, 2) November, 3) February, and 4) May. For more detailed timetable please see "Admission results and appeals".

There are three options available in the doctoral programme:

• Human-Technology Interaction,
• Information Studies, and
• Games and Gamification. 

 

Electronic application form

Please apply for admission through the online application system of Finnish higher education institutions at the studyinfo.fi website. The link to the application form is available on the website when the call for applications is open.

 

Application form and the required attachments

Attachments:

• a research plan (max. 6 pages) where you present your research problem and research questions, the impact of your proposed research on science and the broader society, your research methods, possible data that you will collect, the results you expect to achieve, and your plan for publishing your findings (see below: Instructions for drawing up a research plan);
• a preliminary study and supervision plan; we recommend you fill out the study and supervisory form;
• a motivation letter (about 1 page) where you present your main reasons for wanting to earn a doctoral degree, describe your ability to persistently carry out independent research, outline your goals for your post-doc career, and bring up other matters to support your application; 
• CV;
• copies of both your bachelor’s degree certificate and master’s degree certificate (or equivalent) and transcripts that list that courses and units counted towards these degrees;
• copies of other certificates that demonstrate your completion of previous studies in a higher education institution;
• a certificate of language proficiency, if necessary (see the language requirements further down this page);
• you can also provide the contact details is no more than two referees
• a copy of the applicant’s passport ID page. This is not required if the applicant has previously studied at Tampere University.

 

Applicants who completed the master's degree outside of Finland must also provide the following attachments:

• A copy of a written work that is equivalent to a master’s thesis. An abstract written in English must also be included if your thesis is written in a language other than English.

Please see more instructions on how to apply on the page How to apply for doctoral programmes at Tampere University.

Officially certified educational documents

In addition to uploading electronic copies of your educational documents to your application, you must submit officially authenticated copies of your educational documents, if you have not completed your previous degrees in a Finnish university. If the documents are not in English, Finnish or Swedish, both the authenticated copies of the documents in their original language and an officially confirmed, complete and precise translation into one of the languages mentioned above are required.

In addition to the standard document requirements, educational documents issued in certain countries have more specific requirements for submission. Please go through the requirements carefully and check the country- specific requirements for your degree awarding country before applying. Please send your educational documents to Tampere University Admissions Office.

 

Supervisor(s)

Before applying for admission, you find a responsible supervisor. You can find potential supervisors on the responsible supervisors web page.  Applicants may be advised to look elsewhere if a suitable supervisor is not available.

 

Instructions for drawing up a research plan

Your research plan may not exceed 6 pages. The margins must be 2.5 throughout. The minimum font size is 12. Your research plan must include an appropriate list of references and a title page displaying your name and the title of your study. The title page and list of references are not included in the 6-page limit. The pages must be numbered.

Your research plan must demonstrate that you are sufficiently familiar with your research topic and the related existing body of knowledge. Your research plan must not only be logical and coherent but also concrete enough to enable a reviewer who is not a subject specialist to assess its feasibility.

Your research plan must include the following information:

1. An abstract summing up your research goals and research questions and a rationale explaining why your study is important

The purpose of the abstract is to introduce your reader to your research topic, the rationale and goals. You must present your proposed research topic and clearly explain why it is important. The rationale of your research can be, for example, that it fills a gap in the existing body of knowledge, the topic is important from a broader societal perspective or a practical perspective, etc. What kind of knowledge are you looking to generate? What is the starting point for your research?

 

2. Background and research questions

You must present the key scientific literature relating to your study so that is supports your research questions and introduces the reader to them. Your research problem and related research questions must be as specific as possible. What are the questions that you are looking to answer? When formulating your research questions, remember that they must be answerable.

 

3. Research methods

Your research plan must describe the kind of knowledge you are looking to generate and how you plan to address your research questions. Your research plan should describe your research data and research methods in as much detail as possible, even though you may have to specify your plans later. How will you access or collect data? How will you invite potential participants to take part in your study? How will data be analysed? If you are unable to describe all the data analysis methods that you will be using during your study, you must provide valid reasons for not including this information. You should at least provide a relatively in-depth description of the data and methods concerning your first sub-study and a preliminary description of the later stages.

You should also mention any ethical issues relating to your research and describe how you will address them.

 

4. Expected results and their novelty in relation to the existing body of knowledge

Although the research results cannot be known in advance, it is possible to describe the type of new knowledge that you expect your research to generate. How and where could your findings be utilised? Describe both the scientific and practical relevance of your research results. In addition, you should present a preliminary publication plan where you identify possible channels for publishing the research articles included in your dissertation.  

 

5. Research schedule, resources and funding plan

You must draw up a schedule that indicates how and when you plan to carry out your study and when you will publish your findings (conference proceedings, journals, software release). Please be aware that you must adhere to the open science guidelines (see https://www.avointiede.fi/en).

You must also describe the resources you need for your study and how you can access them (such as a description of the current state of the research, the required research infrastructure, funding plan, supervisors, a description of the research environment/group, and a description of other necessary or planned collaborative activities).

If there are risks associated with your research, identify the risks and describe alternative approaches for completing your work to mitigate the risks. 

If your dissertation is part of a larger whole (such as a consortium project funded by the Academy of Finland or an R&D project commissioned by a company), you must specify how your study depends on the results of different sub-projects and who is responsible for completing them. Your own contribution to the project must be clearly described in case the other participants are unable to complete a project deliverable (such as an application) that is a critical component of your dissertation.    

In addition, your research plan must briefly describe how you will fund your studies towards a doctoral degree and indicate whether you will study on a full-time or a part-time basis as well as include a list of the sources of funding, if applicable.

 

Admission

When considering applications, we may invite applicants for an interview to assess their aptitude and abilities.  The results of an assessment relating to an individual applicant are not public.

We reserve the right to refuse admission if we are unable to find a suitable supervisor for an applicant.

 

The Doctoral Programme of Humans and Technologies accept applications on a rolling basis but review them four times a year: 1) September, 2) November, 3) February, and 4) May.

If the application you submitted or its annexes are incomplete, the processing of the application may be postponed to the later reviewing round of the same semester. PLEASE NOTE that due to the “one study place per term provision”, autumn and spring term admissions are technically organised as separate admissions, so if your application cannot be evaluated in the last reviewing round of the semester (spring semester in May or autumn semester in November), you must save a new application into the Studyinfo system if you want your application to be evaluated.

The results of the admission will be announced to the applicants as the following:

Application round           Results           Study right starts

Nov 13-Feb 11               Feb 28             Mar 1

Feb 12-Apr 29                May 31            Aug 1

An applicant who is dissatisfied with the student selection may submit a written request for reconsideration. Such requests must be submitted within 14 days of the announcement date. The request, together with the reasons, shall be addressed to: Tampere University, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication, tau [at] tuni.fi.

One study place per term provision

A person accepted at a Finnish university or a polytechnic may accept only one study place in a degree programme leading to a higher education degree during one academic term.

Confirmation of the right to enrol

To maintain your right to enrol in the doctoral programme, you must accept the study place electronically through the link in your email notification. If you cannot accept the study place electronically, please contact Tampere University Admissions Office.

You must accept the study place by the deadline given in the acceptance letter before the study right starts.

Enrolment

New doctoral students must enrol as doctoral students through Studyinfofi as instructed in the letter of acceptance. If you cannot enrol electronically, please contact Student Affairs Office.

Doctoral students are required to re-enrol at the beginning of each academic year according to instructions given by the University. Only students enrolled as 'present' may pursue studies at the University.

Doctoral students who fail to enrol either as 'present' or 'absent' within the given deadline will lose their right to study and their right to use the computer services provided by the University. Should students later wish to continue their studies, they must make a written request to the Faculty requesting re-admission.