A supervising professor must represent the research field (BIZ: major) of the doctoral student and is appointed by the Doctoral Programme Committee of the School. A supervising professor must be a tenure-track professor of the school, though for special reasons, the Dean of the School can decide that a non-tenure track professor with a doctor's degree may act as a supervising professor. A retired professor (e.g. Emeritus or Senior Advisor) cannot be appointed as supervising professor.

ELEC: If a non-tenure track professor is assigned as the supervising professor, also a deputy professor has to be assigned. The deputy professor has to be a tenure track professor of the research field, who takes over as the supervising professor, if the non-tenure track professor cannot continue the supervision until the doctoral student has graduated.

SCI: A deputy supervising professor has to be assigned always. The deputy professor has to be a tenure-track professor from the same department as the supervising professor.

In other Schools deputy professors can be assigned if necessary.

Who can act as thesis advisor?
A thesis advisor must hold a doctoral degree. However, in ARTS, it is possible to appoint a second thesis advisor, who does not hold a doctor’s degree, based on artistic merit or competence in the area of research.

For special reasons, such as multidisciplinarity of the doctoral thesis or cotutelle agreement with a foreign university, an Aalto University professor, or a professor of some other Finnish or foreign university can be appointed by the Doctoral Programme Committee to share, together with the supervising professor, overall responsibility for the degree of the doctoral student and for the related supervision arrangements. The co-supervisor may also be appointed act as a thesis advisor.

Co-supervisior will be included in the supervision plan of the doctoral student.

-> More information on co-supervision

The doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) is a tool for discussing your doctoral students' plans and agreeing on the framework for their thesis work and your supervisory relationship.

The DPSP consists of five parts:

1. Credit plan (Sisu)
   • A plan of the courses and individual studies to be included in the doctoral degree.
2. Research plan
   • Includes a written research plan (DPSP has ready made sections for guidance) and its schedule, and a data management plan.
3. Supervision plan
   • An agreement on the practicalities of the supervision and the division of responsibilities during the supervision process.
4. Financing plan
   • The student's current funding situation and plans on how to finance the doctoral studies until graduation.
5. Career plan
   • The student's career plans should be discussed throughout their studies. The DPSP tool offers helpful tips for the student.
      

Please also note the doctoral thesis quality requirements when guiding your student's DPSP preparations:

General quality requirements for doctoral theses at Aalto University

All doctoral students need to have a doctoral personal study plan and it should be updated as needed. The implementation of the plans is followed up yearly by the supervising professor (according to Degree Regulations on Doctoral Education), but it is highly recommended to discuss the student's plans more often.

Supervising professors are responsible for approving their student's DPSP at least at the beginning of the doctoral studies and always in the following instances:

• If the supervising professor, thesis advisor(s), research topic, or research field change.
• If the funding situation changes significantly.
• Before the start of pre-examination, the doctoral student must have a credit plan approved by the supervising professor that matches the contents of their study attainments in Sisu, that are to be included in the doctoral degree.

The DPSP tool is located on the Aalto Service Platform (Salesforce): https://salesforce.aalto.fi

Students prepare the DPSP on the MyStudies portal, while the staff interface is an application called Student Success Hub. Staff members that have view rights to a doctoral student's DPSP (supervising professor, thesis advisor(s), doctoral education services) cannot edit the student's plan, but always see the real-time contents.

Supervising professors are responsible for approving the DPSP as a whole. Thesis advisors only approve the supervision plan on their part. However, everyone participating in the supervision of the doctoral student should be aware of the student's plans and are recommended to discuss them with the student.

All doctoral students who have started in March 2026 or later will create their first doctoral personal study plan with the new DPSP tool. We recommend that all doctoral students start using the new DPSP tool, but as long as a previous version approved in the system stays valid content-wise, an old DPSP is enough to have. An old DPSP approved in the system means the following:

• A DPSP approved by the supervising professor that is found in the Notes section of Student Success Hub (from the 360 student view) in connection with a confirmation message by the supervising professor or doctoral education services. For students, the correct location is the Advisory Notes section of MyStudies.
• Those DPSP documents that the student has uploaded to the system but have not been approved according to the old instructions (not located in the Notes section), will be eventually deleted from the system. Once the deletion date is decided, there will be a separate announcement well in advance.

If a doctoral student does not have a DPSP approved in the system and located in the Advisory Notes section, they should make a doctoral personal study plan with the new tool. According to the degree regulations on doctoral education, each doctoral student should have a DPSP. The guideline is to discuss it with the supervising professor twice a year.

In Spring 2026, we require all doctoral students that have started from March 2026 onwards to make their DPSP with the new tool. In Autumn 2026, all doctoral students should have a DPSP made with the new tool or an old DPSP that is accepted in the system according to the old instructions as described above.

Accepting new doctoral students

New doctoral students are accepted to the Aalto Doctoral Programme in Arts, Design and Architecture only once a year, with the application period in March for studies starting in September. Application is competitive, typically only about 25%-30% of the applicants are selected.

Exception: If the Department receives external funding for doctoral candidate's position, it is possible to handle their applications to the doctoral programme in continuous application. In such cases the Head of the Department and the Planning Officer for the doctoral programme must be contacted well in advance before the Open position call is published. In such case the applicants first apply for the open position and only the selected applicant applies for the study right in the doctoral programme in the continuous application.

Applicant requests

All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to doctoral-arts@aalto.fi to be answered.

If the applicant is asking if a certain professor could act as their supervising professor, we cannot give promises outside the actual application, but professors can give their opinion about whether or not they would be suitable supervising professor for that particular research topic. It is recommended to let the Head of Research know about such applicants as well.

Link to instructions for the applicant

Studying from abroad

The Doctoral Programme is mostly structured so that is beneficial for the doctoral students to be present in the Helsinki region. We encourage doctoral students to spend as much of their study time as possible in the Helsinki region, to be able to connect to the Department's research community and complete the required courses.

Visiting students and researchers

Department can host a limited number of visiting researchers per semester, depending on the overall situation of the department. All visitors must have a confirmation from a host professor before applying. Visiting Researcher should have preferably secured funding for the duration of the visit before applying for this position. Visiting Researcher is expected to undertake research and publication in collaboration with Department's personnel and independent research.

More information at Workday

Applicant requests

All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to doctoralprogramme-biz@aalto.fi to be answered.

Link to instuctions for the applicant

Accepting new doctoral students

• Refer to the application schedule for the doctoral study right at CHEM Doctoral Programme.
• Sufficient language skills of the applicant are very essential part of the qualifications. See if your student needs to present language certificate.
• Full-time students are expected to complete their degree within four years.
• The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, study plan, supervision plan and funding resources. Signatures are required for the research plan, supervision plan (thesis advisor's signature also required) and funding plan.
• The supervising professor submits the recommendation letter directly to the doctoral programme.
• The admitted applicant must present their original master's degree certificate and the academic transcripts to the doctoral programme.

Applicant requests

All emails from applicants and prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or applying should be forwarded to doctoral-chem@aalto.fi for a response.

Link to instructions for the applicant

Visiting students and researchers

The doctoral program does not handle matters related to visitors; research visits are managed by the departments.

Admission of new doctoral students

• New doctoral students are accepted to the Aalto Doctoral Programme in Electrical Engineering once a month, except for in July (both for full-time and part-time applicants).
• Please check the guidelines on how to apply to the Doctoral Programme in Electrical Engineering
• Full-time students are expected to complete their degree in four years and part-time students in 4-8 years.
• The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, credit plan, supervision plan and funding plan.
• When signing the above-mentioned plans of the applicant, the supervising professor commits him/herself to supervise the doctoral studies. The thesis advisor commits by signing the supervision plan, where the duties are divided between the supervising professor and the thesis advisor.  Please read about the supervision of doctoral thesis and the duties of supervising professors and thesis advisors (please scroll down).
• The original master's degree certificate and transcript of the applicant are needed before admission. If the applicant has completed his/her Master's degree outside Aalto University, please make sure that the applicant brings along either certified copies or the original degree papers and translations of them (if they are not in Finnish, Swedish or English) when he/she comes to Finland. Regular copies/colored, scanned pdf versions are not sufficient!
• Sufficient language skills of the applicant makes your job easier! Please check the language test requirements

Questions from applicants

All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to doctoral-sci-elec@aalto.fi to be answered.

Visiting doctoral students at Aalto

A visiting international doctoral student might be eligible for an exchange student study right at Aalto. The study right can only be awarded if the student

• is nominated by their home university as an exchange student and the home university has an active exchange student agreement with Aalto School of Electrical Engineering.
• is enrolled at their home university
• takes courses at Aalto School of Electrical Engineering and the exchange period at Aalto is a part of their doctoral degree at the home university (e.g. research work for the doctoral thesis). 

The maximum duration of the exchange study right is one year. For more information and instructions, please contact incoming-elec@aalto.fi. 

Accepting new doctoral students

• The Doctoral Programme of the School of Engineering can be applied twice a year.
• The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, study plan, supervision plan and funding. Full-time doctoral students must be able to spend 80 % of their working hours on doctoral studies. Those applying for a full-time study mode must write a funding plan. Full-time students are expected to complete their degree within four years.
• By recommending an applicant as a doctoral student, the supervising professor will commit to act as the applicant’s supervising professor throughout the doctoral studies
• If you're recommending an applicant who has completed his/her Master's degree outside Finland, please make sure that the applicant brings along either certified copies or the original degree papers when he/she comes to Finland (if the papers are not sent via regular mail). Regular copies/colored, scanned pdf versions are not sufficient!

Applicant requests

All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to the Doctoral Program in Engineering to be answered.

Link to instuctions for the applicant

Temporal study right for visiting doctoral candidates at Aalto

• It is possible for a visiting international doctoral student, to get a temporal study right at Aalto to be able to take courses while here at Aalto. A general requirement is that the doctoral student is enrolled at his/her home university and the traineeship is part of his/her doctoral degree at the home university (e.g. research work for the doctoral thesis).
• If your doctoral student would need a temporal study right at Aalto, please ask your doctoral student to contact the Doctoral Program in Engineering.

Accepting new doctoral students

• New doctoral students are accepted to the Doctoral Program in Scicence once a month (except in July). Please, find the timetable and instructions for applicants here.
• Full-time doctoral students are expected to complete their degree within four years. They must be able to spend 80 % of their working hours on doctoral studies. For part-time doctoral students the study time is longer, up to 8 year.
• The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, study plan, supervision plan and funding plan. Please, find these forms here.
• The supervising professor commits by the above mentioned forms and the thesis advisor commits by signing the supervision plan. By signing the forms the supervising professor commits to act as the applicant’s supervising professor throughout the doctoral studies. Please read the supervision of doctoral students section below.
• The original master's degree certificate and transcript of the applicant are needed, if the applicant's degree is outside Aalto University. If the applicant has completed his/her Master's degree outside Finland, please make sure that the applicant brings along certified copies or the original degree papers when he/she comes to Finland. Regular copies/colored, scanned pdf versions are not sufficient!
• Sufficient language skills of the applicant make your job easier!

Applicant requests

All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to doctoral-sci-elec@aalto.fi to be answered.

Link to instuctions for the applicant

Visiting doctoral students at Aalto

• It is possible for a visiting international doctoral student to get an exchange student study right at Aalto to be able to take courses while here at Aalto if the student's home university has a partnership contract with Aalto. A general requirement is that the doctoral student is enrolled at his/her home university and the traineeship is part of his/her doctoral degree at the home university (e.g. research work for the doctoral thesis). The maximum duration of the exchange study right is one year. For more information and instructions, please contact exchanges-sci@aalto.fi.
• Please note, if the student's home university does not have a partnership contract with Aalto, visiting doctoral students can take courses at Aalto by applying for non-degree study right. More information can be found here.

A professor may become the only supervising professor of a doctoral student in the other school if:

• The professor has a double affiliation agreement with the other school (signed by the department heads of both schools)
• The professor has been assigned to a research field of the other school for the fixed term of the double affiliation. The professor can be assigned to the research field of the other school, only if the department head of the department where the research field is located supports this. The professor has to give reasons for this need (e.g. he/she has acquired funding to a project in the other school)
• The degree and the result of the degree in the funding model will go only to the other school (i.e. the school of the doctoral student).

Please note:

• The doctoral student and the supervising professor will follow the processes and requirements of the other school, i.e. the school that has granted the study right for the doctoral student.
• The matters regarding this doctoral student will be processed only in the other school (i.e. school of the doctoral student).
• The double affiliation professors assigned to a research field at the other school will not be listed on the research field list at the Into web-pages.
• In cases where a double affiliation professor (fixed term) takes a new doctoral student in the other school, the supervision plan needs to include the name of a second  professor from the other school (i.e. school of the doctoral student), who is willing to continue as the supervising professor of that doctoral student if he/she has not graduated before the double affiliation agreement has expired.

SCI Doctoral Programme Committee 13 June 2017, updated 20.3.2018

Research collaboration may include collaboration on supervising doctoral students. There are 3 different types of collaboration in supervision of doctoral students:

• one of the collaborators is the supervising professor of the doctoral student (the supervising professor and the doctoral student are in the same school) and the other collaborator is the thesis advisor (partner school). The degree and the result will go to the school of the supervising professor.
• both schools will invest money in the project of the doctoral student (e.g. salary for the student) and thus the result of this doctoral degree will be divided between the schools in the funding model. In this scenario, one professor becomes the supervising professor (same school as the student) and the other professor the co-supervisor (partner school).
• in special cases a professor may become the only supervising professor of a doctoral student in the partner school (school of the doctoral student). This is possible if the professor has a double affiliation agreement to the partner school (please see below).