Solutions for Green and Digital Transition (UTU-GreDiT) doctoral training programme at the University of Turku invites applications for employment contract-based fix-term doctoral researchers positions. Employment starts as agreed on 1 June 2024 at the earliest and 1 August 2024 at the latest. The duration of the position is four years.

UTU-GreDiT, led by University of Turku (UTU), Finland, is a unique COFUND doctoral training programme that trains 25 doctoral researchers to deliver transformative change towards sustainable societies, with skills and knowledge to operate across sectors, at regional, national and international level. UTU-GreDiT is co-funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action.

Prior to applying, read carefully the “Guide for applicants” and “How to fill the electronic application” guides on the UTU-GreDiT website: https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/how-to-apply/.

Job description

Doctoral researchers are committed to make the research and doctoral postgraduate studies according to rules of their Doctoral Programme and to complete the degree within a time equivalent to four years of full-time study. The UTU-GreDiT associated partners provide national or international 4-6 months secondments and other training activities to the doctoral researchers. The doctoral researcher position requires living in Finland for the duration of the employment contract.

Key Responsibilities of doctoral researchers:

The doctoral researcher is responsible for planning their studies and implementing the plan.
They commit to long term and challenging work, to follow the schedule as agreed, and to immediately notify the Supervisor, if the work is notably delayed.
They come well prepared to Supervisory Meetings, and in accordance with the schedule agreed upon.
The doctoral researcher will complete the agreed amount of studies to be included in the doctoral degree per year, and report on the progress of their research to Supervisors at regular intervals.
The doctoral researcher will participate in the UTU-GreDiT secondments and other activities.
The doctoral researcher is responsible for the progress of their own research, and takes initiative to seek advice, when facing problems.
The doctoral researcher must consider the suggestions given by the Supervisor based on their experience and knowledge, when it pertains to doctoral studies.
The doctoral researcher is entitled to Supervisory Meetings and to receive feedback from the Supervisors concerning their studies and research in accordance with the schedule agreed upon.
The doctoral researcher has ultimate responsibility for decisions concerning their research.

Who we are looking for

Eligibility Criteria for Applicants

Please read through the Eligibility Criteria carefully. All applicants must meet the MSCA and UTU Eligibility Criteria. No exceptions will be made.

Eligible applicants are early-stage researchers. At the time of recruitment by the host organisation, the applicant must not have been awarded a doctoral degree. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but who have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree are not eligible to apply.
Eligible applicants hold a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in a relevant discipline for UTU-GreDiT PhD research project in question (https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/research-projects/). The degree must have been completed when the application time ends. The total grade of the Master’s degree must be at least on the level good (i.e. the weighted average grade of all courses and a Master’s degree must be at least 60% of the maximum grade).
Mobility rule: An eligible applicant must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Finland for more than 12 months in 36 months immediately before the deadline of the application call. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not considered.
English language proficiency: The emphasis of postgraduate education is on research and the purpose of the courses included in the degree is to support the skills required of a researcher and expert. From the perspectives of both the progress of studies and research and integration into the academic community, the people selected for postgraduate education are required to possess fluent oral and written communication skills in English. The applicant must prove their English proficiency with an English Test accepted by the University of Turku Graduate School. Applicants are exempt from doing an English language test if they for example hold a Bachelor’s degree (or higher) completed in English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, the USA, Switzerland or in an EU/EEA country (this list is not exhaustive). Please carefully check the language requirements on the website of the University of Turku Graduate School: https://www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/how-to-apply/language. Please, note that the University of Turku Graduate School has updated language requirements in terms of the countries where a previous degree completed in English is sufficient to demonstrate the required language skills on 21 December 2023. Updated requirements apply to the UTU-GreDiT applicants.

Evaluation of the eligible applications

Read more about the selection process and evaluation criteria from the applicant guide on the UTU-GreDiT website: https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/how-to-apply/.

In brief:

Each eligible applicant’s application will be evaluated by three external evaluators. The applications will be evaluated by the external evaluators by three main criteria:

Quality of the applicant,
Applicant’s motivation, and
Quality of the research plan.

At most 50 of the shortlisted applicants will be invited to interviews. The gender balance is a key value of UTU-GreDiT and might be taken into consideration when applicants are selected.

Benefits

We offer you responsible and interesting tasks and the opportunity to develop your professional skills in a versatile operating environment. You get a professional and inspiring team to support your work. We take care of your well-being at work and the functionality of your everyday life, e.g. with the help of flexible working hours and our well-being services.

Please read more about University of Turku as an employee fomr Come work with us! pages.

The European Commission has awarded the University of Turku the right to use the HR Excellence in Research logo. The logo is a token of the University's commitment to continuous development of the position and working conditions of researchers according to the guidelines set forth in the European Charter for Researchers.

The university offers good support and orientation for international hires. Please learn more about the Finnish culture and relocation to Finland:

Salary and probationary period

The salary is based on the salary system of the University’s teaching and research staff. It consists of a task-specific salary component and a personal performance salary component. The task-specific salary component of a doctoral researcher is at level 2–4. The component based on personal performance is 6–50% of the task-specific salary. The gross salary of an entry-level doctoral researcher is around 2900 € per month. When the doctoral dissertation work is nearly completed the gross salary is typically around 3500 € per month. A probationary period of six months applies. A family allowance (100 € per month) will be paid to the researcher if eligibility according to the MSCA actions is fulfilled. UTU-GreDiT doctoral researchers benefit from the same extensive statutory rights (e.g. to equality, holiday, trade union membership, unemployment, and social security benefits) and obligations as all other employees in Finland.

The employment contract is based on the total working time of 1612 h per year, which gives the doctoral researchers freedom to plan their working hours. Duties other than those related to doctoral dissertation research, such as teaching duties, must be proportioned so as not to compromise the completion of the doctoral dissertation within the planned schedule. As a rule, up to 5% (a maximum of about 80 hrs per academic year) of the annual working time of the doctoral researcher can consist of departmental duties including teaching.

How to apply

Please submit your application through our online recruitment system (see instructions for how to fill in the electronic form on the UTU-GreDiT website: https://sites.utu.fi/utugredit/how-to-apply/). The closing date for applications is 22 January 2023 at 15:00 (local time in Finland).

Please write your application and accompanying documents in English and send all attachments in the form of a PDF file.

Applicants should enclose with their application:

A motivation (cover) letter (max. 2 pages) is a freeform document, in which an applicant is expected to describe their motivation for pursuing doctoral studies and for conducting research, as well as their research interests. Applicants should also describe their interests toward the research groups at UTU and/or Associated Partners. If the motivation letter exceeds the maximum length, only the first two pages will be considered.
Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 pages) of the applicant including the list of peer-reviewed scientific publications with full reference details. A recommended template for the curriculum vitae is available on the website of the Finnish National Board of Research integrity: https://tenk.fi/en/advice-and-materials/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae. If the CV exceeds the maximum length, only the first two pages will be considered.
List of publications. Link to list of publications template.
Degree certificates and study transcripts. Scanned original Master’s degree certificate and transcript of study records (in the language that the degree was completed in). If the original degree certificates or transcripts of study records are not written in English, Finnish, or Swedish, official translations to one of these languages must also be submitted. An official translation refers to a translation of the educational documents issued by the awarding institution, or a translation made by an authorised translator.
Certificate of the language proficiency. This is either a valid language proficiency test certificate or a degree certificate supplement which follows the requirements of the eligibility considering the language proficiency. See the language requirements for admission on the UTU’s Graduate School website: https://www.utu.fi/en/research/utugs/how-to-apply/language.
Research plan (maximum length of the research plan is three A4 pages, font Times New Roman, 12pt, margins 1,5cm and spacing 1). If the research plan exceeds the maximum length, only the first three pages will be considered. The research plan can be checked with the Turnitin Originality Check plagiarism detection software. The use of artificial intelligence to assist in the preparation of the research plan should be clearly indicated in the research plan. The research plan should include:
- The applicant’s name
- Title of the planned research project
- Introduction to the research topic
- Research objectives
- Methods and required infrastructure or other resources
- Potential research outcome
- Planned timetable of the research
- Publication plan for research articles
Ethics self-assessment form. An applicant must fill in and submit the ethics self-assessment form. The template is available in the UTU-GreDiT website. The form follows the ethics issues checklist and instructions of European Commission.
Reference letters. Applicants can submit the reference letters as attachment of the electronic application, or referees can send letters directly to the Programme Coordinator of UTU-GreDiT (utu-gredit@utu.fi). Reference letters are not compulsory attachments.
For those applying with their own PhD project: Signed letter of commitment from new partner(s) beyond the partners provided by UTU-GreDiT. Please request the formal template from the UTU-GreDiT Coordinator (utu-gredit@utu.fi). This document is not needed if the associated partner is listed on the UTU-GreDiT website.

Further information

For further information about the positions and UTU-GreDiT, please contact: utu-gredit@utu.fi.

Please see https://www.utu.fi/utugredit.

UTU-GreDiT and UTUGS graduate school

UTU-GreDiT trains 25 doctoral researchers required to deliver transformative change towards sustainable societies, with skills and knowledge to operate across sectors, at regional, national and international level. In order to reach this goal, UTU-GreDiT integrates 14 research groups, the well-established cutting-edge research infrastructures and experienced supervisors of UTU to UTU-GreDiT doctoral researchers. In addition, associated partners provide national or international 4-6 months’ secondments and other training activities to doctoral researchers. Besides enhancing the doctoral researchers’ academic skills and producing new interdisciplinary knowledge, UTU-GreDiT will provide transferable skills training for doctoral researchers including scientific writing, project management, the culture of open science and entrepreneurial skills that are essential for widening their career prospects.

The University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS) consists of doctoral programmes which cover all disciplines and the approximately 2,000 doctoral researchers of the University.

The aim of the Graduate School is to provide systematic and high quality doctoral training for the doctoral researchers of the University of Turku. Each doctoral researcher has a personal supervisor and the progress of the doctoral dissertation is followed regularly. The aim of doctoral training is to train highly qualified experts with the skills required for both professional career in research and other positions of expertise.

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Phone: +358 29 450 5000

Email: utu-gredit@utu.fi

Location: 20014 Turun yliopisto

Job details

Title

UTU-GreDiT 25 Doctoral researcher positions

Employer

University of Turku

Location

20014 Turun yliopisto Turku, Finland

Published

2023-11-01

Application deadline

2024-01-22 15:00 (Europe/Helsinki)
2024-01-22 14:00 (CET)

Job type

PhD

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