Doctoral programme committee (School of Electrical Engineering)

Members of the Doctoral Programme Committee

The doctoral programme committee comprises a chair and 4 professorial members merited in doctoral education and representing the central fields of research of the school. In addition, the committee has a doctoral student member representing the fields of research of the school. The committee elects a vice chair from among its members. The committee members have deputy members.

The term of the doctoral programme committee is three calendar years. The term of the current committee continues until the end of year 2025. Student representatives are appointed for one calendar year at a time, by the proposal of the Student Union AYY.

Chairperson, Prof. Vesa Välimäki

Planning officer: Emma Holmlund
Coordinator Suvi Katajamäki (secretary of the committee)
Coordinator Antti Susiluoto

Contact information

Meetings and deadlines

Doctoral students will be informed of the decisions concerning them after the meeting. No decisions will be made during holiday seasons.

Decisions made according to the regular meeting schedule only

• Application for pre-examination
• Applications to doctoral programme
• Changes to study right (e.g. thesis advisor)

These proposals have deadlines and decision dates according to the table 1. Please note that many other items will also be processed in the regular meetings, but they have different (shorter), decision specific deadlines presented below.

Decisions on permission for public defence and corrections to thesis

• Processed both in regular and email meetings

When both pre-examination statements have arrived, the first decision on permission will be made according to table 2 either in a regular or an email meeting. This is the first round of permission process, after which the student makes corrections to the manuscript. 

Decisions and other information on permission for public defence

The corrections of the doctoral thesis will typically be processed as follows (the second round of permission process):

• When decision B has been given: The Chair of the Doctoral Programme Committee will check the corrections within about one week. 
• When decision C has been given: When the corrections have been submitted, new decision will be made according to the table 2. Please follow the submission deadlines of the table. 

(When submitting corrections after a C decision, please note that you can submit the proposal of opponent(s) and details (date, time) of the defence at the same time. In case of regular meetings, both corrections and proposal can be processed in the same meeting. In email meetings, on the other hand, because of the nature of the decision process the items are processed successively in two different meetings. It is still worthwhile to submit the proposal along with the corrections, because typically the opponent and defence details can be confirmed on the next week following the permission. Of course, you can also submit the proposal separately later. Please read more below regarding confirmation of opponent and details of the defence.)

Confirming the opponent(s) and details of the defence

• Processed both in regular and email meetings

The proposals submitted by each Monday at noon (provided that no supplementary information is needed), are in most cases processed within a week either in an email meeting or in a regular meeting. In most cases, the decision day is therefore Friday. No decisions are made on national holiday weeks and seasons.

Approval of doctoral thesis

• Processed mainly in regular meetings, but occasionally also in email meetings

If the statement of the opponent has arrived early enough before the meeting (table 1), and the committee is convinced that the doctoral student will not make an official reply to the statement, the thesis can be approved in the meeting. If the defence date is close to the meeting date, the student should prepare to answer to the question of the doctoral education services regarding this matter in a short notice.

The request for graduation should be sent 4 working days before the meeting at the latest to ensure graduation on a date mentioned on the table 1.

Deadlines and decision dates, table 1

*Deadlines for applications for pre-examination, admission and changes for study right. 
** Only an email meeting to approve the theses defended during summer. The statements need to have arrived by the deadline.

Deadlines and decision dates, table 2

Tasks of the Committee

The Doctoral Programme Committee shall

1. develop the content of the doctoral programmes and the joint studies offered by the school;
2. put forth proposals to the school academic committee on the fields of research in the doctoral programme;
3. prepare proposals for the Dean on admission of doctoral students;
4. appoint the preliminary examiners of doctoral theses and decide on the permission for public defence of the doctoral theses;
5. appoint the opponent(s) for the doctoral theses;
6. evaluate the theses;
7. appoint the examiners of the licentiate theses;
8. evaluate the licentiate theses; and
9. perform other duties assigned to it by the Dean or in the degree regulations. 

The committee has assinged the following tasks to the Chair (June 2018):

1. to appoint a new supervising professor and advisor(s) for the doctoral student, if the supervising professor or thesis advisor(s) change after the start of studies but before the start of the preliminary examination;
2. to decide on the degree language of the doctoral student and on the topic and language of the licentiate or doctoral thesis, if these change after the start of the studies but before the start of the preliminary examination;
3. to decide on the time and language of the of public examination of the doctoral thesis and to appoint the custos for it if these if this information is changed;
4. to confirm the full-time/part-time status changes. The status is defined in admission.
5. to confirm research field changes after admission.