Being a supervising professor or thesis advisor at Aalto University
Good supervision allows the doctoral students to complete their studies and the associated research within the time specified in the doctoral personal study plan. Defining a shared set of university-level principles for the supervision of doctoral students furthers the equal treatment of all students.
The doctoral programme committees monitor and develop the school-level practices of supervising doctoral students in line with the university policy. The supervision principles are defined in a manner that does not regulate supervision in too much detail but allows individual needs to be considered in each guidance case.
Supervisory roles and duties
Supervising professor
Aalto University professor who holds overall responsibility for the degree of the doctoral student and the related supervision arrangements. This includes the courses chosen for the doctoral personal study plan. The supervising professor may also be appointed to act as a thesis advisor.
Who can act as supervising professor?
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.
Co-supervising professor
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-supervising professor may also be appointed act as a thesis advisor.
Thesis advisor
The doctoral student is appointed one or more thesis advisors, who have expertise in the subject area of the doctoral thesis. The duties of the thesis advisor are defined in the supervision plan of the doctoral student prepared jointly by the supervising professor, thesis advisor(s) and the doctoral student.
Who can act as thesis advisor?
A thesis advisor must hold a doctoral degree. However, in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, 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.
Degree regulations on doctoral education (DRDE), item 3, obliges schools to nominate supervising professors to every student who is pursuing her/his studies.
The duties and rights of the supervising professors, thesis advisors and doctoral students have been agreed on in the Academic Affairs Committee on 20 December 2011.
The supervising professor is in charge of the supervision arrangements for the doctoral student. The supervising professor is obligated to supervise those doctoral students who have enrolled as attending students, who have progressed in their studies according to their doctoral personal study plans, and who report on the progress of their studies on a regular basis. The supervising professor may either propose to assign some of the duties mentioned below to the thesis advisor(s) or also propose to act as the thesis advisor him/herself. The supervising professor agrees upon the division of responsibilities between him/herself and the thesis advisor(s), and the duties of each party are stated in the supervision agreement. What is said below of the duties of the supervising professor shall apply, as appropriate, also to the thesis advisor(s), where compliant with the division of responsibilities specified in the agreement.
The supervising professor is responsible for the supervision of the doctoral student and supports the implementation of the financing plan. The supervising professor provides guidance in the execution of the research and instructsthe doctoral student in critical and independent thinking in research and artistic activities. The supervising professor encourages the doctoral student to actively publish his/her research results in the publication for a of the field of research/art in question, and guides him/her in publication writing. The supervising professor supports and encourages the doctoral student. The supervising professor is also responsible for ensuring that full-time doctoral students are not burdened excessively with duties other than doctoral research work. Participation in teaching is, however, part of doctoral education and as such obligatory for the doctoral student (max 5%).
The supervising professor goes through and approves the doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) of the doctoral student.
In addition, the supervising professor follows up on the progress of the studies and that of the research work on a regular basis: the supervising professor and the student discuss the progress of the studies on a regular basis, and the doctoral personal study plan is updated accordingly as necessary. At minimum, the plan is checked once a year. This follow-up requirement concerns full-time and part-time doctoral students in doctoral programmes.
The supervising professor is responsible for ensuring that the doctoral student is aware of good scientific practice and the ethical principles followed in his/her field of research as well as of the regulations concerningimmaterial property rights, and monitors that the student adheres to such principles. To this end, the supervising professor and the doctoral student have a discussion at the start of their supervision relationship in order to look into the questions of research ethics and related practices relevant to the work of the student.
The supervising professor is responsible for ensuring that the doctoral student is aware of the requirements for a doctoral thesis and of the stages included in the preliminary examination and the public examination of the thesis. When the manuscript of the doctoral thesis is complete, it may only be submitted for preliminary examination after the supervising professor has issued a statement confirming that the manuscript is ready for preliminary examination. The supervising professor makes sure that the doctoral student makes the necessary corrections proposed to the doctoral thesis manuscript by the preliminary examiner(s). The preliminary examination can only start when course requirements are fulfilled.
The supervising professor assists the doctoral student in career planning, and ensures that the doctoral studies and research process equip the doctoral student with not only research skills but also transferable skills.
When starting doctoral studies, the doctoral student commits to long-term and goal-oriented study and research. The doctoral student has a right to study in accordance with the doctoral personal study plan and to receive knowledgeable guidance in his/her studies on a regular basis. In return for such guidance, the doctoral student commits to studying in accordance with the doctoral personal study plan. Eligibility for supervision also requires enrolling as an attending student at the university. In addition, the doctoral student commits to acting in compliance with the guidelines of the National Advisory Board on Research Ethics on good scientific practice.
The responsibilities of the doctoral student are:
- preparing, in collaboration with the supervising professor, a doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) for doctoral studies at the start of the doctoral studies and updating it as necessary;
- negotiating with the supervising professor on the choice of research topic and preparing a thorough research proposal under the supervision of the supervising professor; giving an account of the objectives, contents, methods and schedule of the research;
- familiarising him/herself with the ethical principles of scientific research and acting in compliance with good scientific practice in his/her research;
- carrying out research independently and in a self-directed manner in accordance with the research proposal and within the limits of the research project, and actively publishing results in the publication fora of the field;
- providing teaching related to the research field and communicating the results of his/her research to others;
- aiming at, together with the supervising professor, securing funding for the doctoral studies;
- reporting on the progress of the research to the supervising professor on a regular basis;
- notifying the supervising professor of any changes necessary to the study plan, or of any problems with following the plan and annually enrolling at the university.
If changes need to be made to the supervisory arrangements of the doctoral student (e.g. if the topic of the doctoral thesis changes or the supervising professor retires or another advisor needs to be appointed), the change must be officially confirmed. The supervising professor should contact the doctoral education services of the doctoral programme for more instructions.
If you have a double role as both the supervisor and the supervising professor / thesis advisor of a doctoral student, please see the information below.
- Onboarding guide for new employee
- Researcher onboarding
- Information on well-being at work (e.g. occupational health care)
UNIPS (University Pedagogical Support) “Being a thesis supervisor” module (external link)
Aalto Pedagogical training Doctoral supervision (3 ECTS)
More information on UNIPS online courses
Findocnet.fi (Transferable skills study opportunities, external link)
Recommendations for doctoral thesis supervision by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK) and Universities Finland UNIFI (external link)
Co-supervision within Aalto - division of doctoral education results
Under the Aalto funding model, the schools receive result-based funding based on the number of doctoral degrees awarded. Aalto University has agreed to enable the division of doctoral education results between its schools for the purposes of resource allocation under the Aalto funding model, in cases where the degree is produced jointly by two schools. The change is designed to boost doctoral-level collaboration between the Aalto schools and further the Aalto strategic goal of promoting multidisciplinary research.
It should be noted that the division of degrees is only a statistical tool developed for the purposes of the funding model. For the funding model the degree is divided so that both schools earn 0.5 degrees. The division of degrees does not have any other effects on the school-level statistics on doctoral degrees.
The division of doctoral degrees for funding purposes between the Aalto schools requires clear evidence of collaboration. Dividing a degree follows uniform principles in the university:
- The doctoral student and the supervising professor are from the same school. In addition to the supervising professor, the doctoral student must have a co-supervising professor at the partner school.
- A person who can act as a supervising professor in his/her own school can also act as a co-supervising professor.
- The supervising professor and the co-supervising professor draft a joint proposal for dividing the degree between the schools in which the research work is done (evidence of collaboration). The freely formulated signed proposal and the supervision plan is sent to the doctoral programme of the school of the doctoral student.
- The proposal must be made as early in the studies as possible (preferably with the application for doctoral studies).
- The decision on dividing the doctoral degree with the partner school rests with the dean of the school of the doctoral student (since this school “gives up” 50% of the result-based funding for this degree). The decision of the dean is communicated to the doctoral programme of the partner school.
- The doctoral student carries out the doctoral studies according to the process of his/her school and the degree will be awarded to the doctoral student only from his/her own school.
- Only the name of the school of the doctoral student is mentioned on the doctoral thesis cover, but on the reverse of the title page the name of the co-supervising professor should be mentioned. The collaboration of the two schools can be mentioned e.g. in the preface or in the introduction part of the doctoral thesis.
Dividing doctoral degrees is an option for doctoral degrees earned at the beginning of 2015 or later. Thus the degree cannot be divided retrospectively.
SCI Doctoral Programme Committee 15.9.2015
To boost doctoral level research collaboration between the departments of the School of Science the doctoral degree can be split between two departments in the funding model of the School. The division is only observed in the funding model, the degree still goes to the department of the supervising professor and the doctoral student.
- The doctoral student and the supervising professor are from the same department. In addition to the supervising professor, the doctoral student must have a co-supervisor at the partner department.
- The co-supervisor must be a professor in charge of a research field of his/her department.
- The supervising professor and the co-supervisor draft a joint proposal for dividing the degree between the departments in which the research work is done (evidence of collaboration). The freely formulated signed proposal and the supervision plan is sent to the Student Services of the Doctoral Programme.
- The proposal must be made as early in the studies as possible (preferably with the application for doctoral studies).
- The decision on dividing the doctoral degree with the partner department rests with the Head of the department of the doctoral student (since this department “gives up” 50% of the result-based funding for this degree). The decision of the Head of department is sent to the doctoral programme. The Head of the department can e.g. sign the joint proposal made by the supervising professor and the co-supervisor.
- The doctoral student carries out the doctoral studies according to the process of his/her department and the degree will be awarded to the student only from his/her own department.
Only the name of the department of the doctoral student is mentioned on the cover of the doctoral thesis, but on the reverse of the title page the name of the co-supervisor should be mentioned. The collaboration of the two departments can be mentioned e.g. in the preface or in the introduction part of the thesis.
Double affiliation
It is possible for professors to get a fixed term double affiliation in a partner school at Aalto. The purpose of the double affiliation is to establish research collaboration between schools and to have a double affiliation when applying for funding.
When a professor has acquired the double affiliation agreement with a partner school from Aalto, the research collaboration can also include supervision of doctoral students in the partner school.
A professor may become the only supervising professor of a doctoral student in the partner school if:
- The professor has a double affiliation agreement with the partner school (signed by the department heads of both schools)
- The professor has been assigned to a research field of the partner school for the fixed term of the double affiliation. The professor can be assigned to the research field of the partner 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 partner school)
- The degree and the result of the degree in the funding model will go only to the partner 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 partner 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 partner school (i.e. school of the doctoral student).
- The double affiliation professors assigned to a research field at the partner 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 partner school, the supervision plan needs to include the name of a second professor from the partner 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).
Resources for challenging situations
Well-functioning relationships between supervising professor, thesis advisor and the doctoral student are of utmost importance during the doctoral studies. Doctoral students and their thesis advisors and supervising professors may face challenges stemming from the different national, cultural and organisational backgrounds of all participants. You can always turn to the Aalto University Code of Conduct for the ‘fair play rules’ of our university community.
Often doctoral students encounter some kind of challenging situations during their studies, and we hope to be able to support them through those situations. Please see the links below for information on what kind of support is available for you and doctoral students at Aalto.
You can also consult the Recommendations for doctoral thesis supervision by the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity (TENK) and Universities Finland UNIFI (external link).
Support for challenges during your doctoral studies
Doctoral students can encounter different kind of challenging situations during their studies. This page presents the support network of doctoral students and instructions for how to proceed if doctoral students experience any type of harrasment, bullying or misconduct, or have issues with supervision.

Doctoral student well-being
Aalto University offers varied support services accessible to all doctoral students. There is a lot of help available for you at Aalto. Check also the community health care services. The health, safety and wellbeing of our student community is essential and is indeed one of our strategic initiatives.

Code of Conduct - Values into practice
The Aalto University Code of Conduct is one way of putting our values and way of working — the foundation of our community culture — into practice

Accepting new doctoral students & inviting visitors
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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] to be answered.
Accepting new doctoral students
- There are application calls two times a year for doctoral study right at our Doctoral Programme.
- Sufficient language skills of the applicant are very essential part of the qualifications. See if your student needs to present language certificate!
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Full-time students are expected to complete their degree within four years.
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The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, study plan, supervision plan and funding resources.
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The supervising professor submits the recommendation letter and together with the thesis advisor their sign the form for supervision plan.
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The original master's degree certificate of the applicant is needed for the registering the new student and the granted study right'
Applicant requests
All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to [email protected] to be answered.
Admission of new doctoral students
- Application period to doctoral studies is once a month, except for in July (both for full-time and part-time applicants).
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Full-time students are expected to complete their degree within four years.
Read more
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The supervising professor and the applicant shall go through the applicant’s research plan, study plan, supervision plan and funding plan.
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When signing the research proposal of the applicant, the supervising professor commits him/herself to supervising the thesis. Please read the supervision of doctoral candidates section below.
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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!
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Sufficient language skills of the applicant makes your job easier! Please check the language test requirements
Applicant requests
All emails from applicants / prospective applicants with questions related to eligibility or instructions for applying should be forwarded to [email protected] to be answered.
Link to instuctions for the applicant
Visiting doctoral candidates at Aalto
If you have a visiting doctoral student coming to your research group, please check our guidelines here.
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 Learning Services of the Doctoral Programme in Engineering to be answered.
Link to instuctions for the applicant
Temporal study right for visiting doctoral candidates at Aalto
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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).
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If your doctoral student would need a temporal study right at Aalto, please ask your doctoral student to contact the doctoral programme learning services
Accepting new doctoral students
- There are application times once a month (except in July).
- Information about applying to Doctoral Programme in Science
- 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 (incl. in the research plan).
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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.
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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 [email protected] 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 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 Student Services of the Doctoral Programme.
Doctoral personal study plan (DPSP)
The doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) is a tool for discussing the plans and schedule related to the activities and resourses of your doctoral students in order to complete their studies and reseach, and to guide them towards a career. It is also a tool for agreeing about the supervision and advising that they need.
DPSP consists of the following documents
- Sisu credit plan (a plan concerning the content, scope and duration of studies with credits, prepared in Sisu)
- Research plan (according to School's instructions)
- Supervision plan (Aalto template)
- Financing plan (free format, separate instructions)
- Career plan (free format, separate instructions)
+ Supervising professor's confirmation form (the form is replaced by confirmation in the Student Success Hub during the autumn 2022)
Doctoral students must update their DPSP when necessary. We recommend supervising professors to discuss with their doctoral students their DPSPs at least once a year.
Students need an official confirmation for their DSPS at least twice during their studies: at the beginning and before pre-examination. In between, they should confirm the DPSP e.g. if:
- Supervising professor, advisor(s), research topic or research field changes
- Funding situation changes significantly
- They are taking courses in other universities
From the autumn 2022 onwards, the DPSP will be collected and stored in the Student Success Hub (interface for faculty) / MyStudies (interface for students).
Student Success Hub for Aalto faculty is used online at https://aalto.my.salesforce.com
Student Success Hub instructions for faculty DPSP instructions for doctoral students
Aalto University General Regulations on Teaching and Studying (hereafter referred to as OOS) item 17 obliges every doctoral student to make a doctoral personal study plan (DPSP). OOS section 17 obliges our schools to provide guidance to prepare and update the doctoral personal study plan.
An Aalto University professor whom an Aalto school has appointed to hold overall responsibility for the degree of the doctoral student and the related supervision arrangements as well as for preparing the supervision plan with the doctoral student is called a supervising professor (DRDE item 1). The supervising professor may also act as the thesis advisor. The implementation of the doctoral personal study plan including all this is followed up yearly by the supervising professor (DRDE item 4). The supervising professor is also responsible for the supervision arrangements of the doctoral student. (DRDE item 5). The supervision arrangements must be agreed upon at the start of the doctoral studies. The supervising professor, thesis advisor(s) and the doctoral student make a written supervision plan (agreement) (as part of the DPSP) where they agree on the responsibilities, rights and obligations of each party involved in the doctoral education process. The supervision plan shall be updated as necessary.
AAC has decided (20 December 2011) that the supervision of a doctoral student means that a supervising professor meets and discusses with the doctoral student regularly and ensures that the DPSP is updated when needed.
FinDocNet online courses (external link)
Finnish Doctoral Training Network offers Moodle-based online courses for doctoral students in Finnish universities.
JobTeaser replaced Aalto CareerWeb
Aalto JobTeaser is now the channel to promote jobs, internships, career events and advices for Aalto students.
Degree structure and curriculum
The doctoral degree at Aalto University consists of 3 modules:
- General research studies
- Research field studies
- Doctoral thesis
The study modules 'General research studies' and 'Research field studies' comprise altogether 40 or 60 ECTS (40 ECTS in the fields of art and design & technology, 60 ECTS in the field of business). The scope and content of each of the study modules are described in the curriculum of the doctoral programme. Credit points are not awarded for the doctoral thesis.
Please check curriculum requirements of your doctoral programme before confirming any DPSPs.
You can advise your doctoral student to find courses from
1.Compulsory courses of the doctoral programme
2.Other courses offered by the programme / School for doctoral students
3.Language and communication courses for doctoral students & Finnish/Swedish courses by Aalto Language Centre
4.Courses on transferable skills and competences offered at Aalto
5.Courses from other Finnish universities, or from our networks like N5T, Cluster, Unite! etc.
6.Aalto University Pedagogical training
Teaching doctoral students follow the same principles as all other teaching leading towards a degree offered by Aalto University: it is planned and offered in the 2-year curriculum planning cycle, following the University's guidelines and schedules.
Each doctoral programme has it's own curriculum, which consists of the degree requirements and course descriptions approved by the Academic Committee of the School, and which follows the degree structure presented above.
Courses aimed for doctoral students bear the letter 'L' in their course code.
If you are interested in offering a course for doctoral students in your School, contact the planning officer of your School and note the 2-year planning cycle.
Doctoral thesis, pre-examination and defence
Before pre-examination
It is responsibility of the supervising professor to
- ensure that the doctoral student is aware of the requirements for a doctoral thesis and of the stages included in the preliminary examination and the public examination of the thesis
- confirm that the manuscript is ready for pre-examination
- confirm that the authors contribution description written by the doctoral student in the doctoral thesis is correct and also, if applicable, that the clarification of subcontracting is correct.
- strong recommendation: use the Turnitin originality report in their evaluation of the unpublished parts of the thesis in order to notice possible plagiarism (see below)
- agree with the doctoral student about the language revision of the thesis, following School's guidelines.
- find two independent pre-examiners for the doctoral thesis and ensure their impartiality, see below more information on Proposing pre-examiners and opponents
During pre-examination
After the pre-examiners have been appointed in Doctoral Programme Committee meeting, the Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services (in BIZ, Department's secretary) will send them further instructions and the manuscript.
When the statements have arrived the Doctoral Programme sends them to the doctoral student and the supervising professor.
After pre-examination
It is responsibility of the supervising professor to make sure that the doctoral student makes all the necessary corrections to the thesis manuscript that have come up as a result of the pre-examination process.
The Doctoral Programme Committee grants the permission for public defence (i.e. permission for publishing the dissertation and to proceed to the defence). The opponent can be appointed directly after the pre-examination stage, if all the needed details are available.
It is recommended to utilize Turnitin to get a similarity report of the text in the doctoral thesis in order to help doctoral students learn scientific writing and avoid unintentional or intentional plagiarism.
Turnitin is available in MyCourses, where each professor can have a ready-made workspace for thesis supervision (referred as “MyCourses” later on): How to order and use the MyCourses workspace for dissertation supervision
A doctoral student can submit all the versions of their journal articles / conference papers and thesis drafts to the supervising professor through the workspace in MyCourses. The Turnitin similarity reports are generated automatically on every submission. If the professor is responsible for several doctoral thesis, all submissions of all doctoral students can be viewed in the same workspace.
Inclusive usage of Turnitin in the supervision of doctoral theses is one way to ensure ethical scientific writing in Aalto University.
1. Draft versions of the doctoral thesis
The purpose of using Turnitin for draft versions is to improve the scientific writing of the doctoral student and to prevent unpleasant surprises later in the process.
- The doctoral student submits a draft version in a "Draft" activity in MyCourses.
- The supervising professor can utilize the Turnitin report for assessing the draft. At the same time, they can also give feedback to the doctoral student with the Turnitin feedback tools or with some other preferred tool.
- The doctoral student revises the draft with help of the Turnitin report and the feedback from the supervising professor.
2. Final version of the doctoral thesis to be sent for pre-examination
The purpose of using Turnitin on the final version of the thesis manuscript to be sent for pre-examination is to check that it does not contain plagiarism.
- The doctoral student submits the final version again in the "Draft" activity in MyCourses
- The supervising professor interprets the Turnitin similarity report at the same time as they assess other aspects of the content.
- If the interpretation of the Turnitin report indicates plagiarism, a procedure of handling plagiarism is started (this unfortunate step is unlikely if Turnitin has been used with the earlier versions of the doctoral thesis)
- If requested by the School, the professor fills in the Turnitin report ID on the pre-examination form.
3. The final version of the doctoral thesis to be published (permission for public defense has been granted)
The purpose of Turnitin usage for the final version of a thesis is twofold:
- to make sure again that there is no plagiarism in the final version (if the previous steps are done with Turnitin this is highly unlikely and barely needed).
- to secure that the doctoral thesis is protected against plagiarism by others in future. Technically, the aim is to make sure that the final version of the thesis will be indexed in the Turnitin repositories one way or another:
- a doctoral thesis published in Aaltodoc will automatically be indexed into the Turnitin repositories (most cases).
- if the doctoral thesis is not published in the Aaltodoc (e.g. in cotutelle cases) the doctoral student should submit the final published version of the thesis in the "Version for grading" activity in MyCourses. In this activity the submission is archived in Turnitin student papers repository.
Guidelines
- How to order and use the MyCourses workspace for dissertation supervision
- The order form for the work space can also be found at mycourses.aalto.fi > Service links > Workspace for thesis supervision
- Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity and Turnitin usage includes the handling procedure in the case of suspected plagiarism
After the pre-examiners have been appointed in Doctoral Programme Committee meeting, the Doctoral programme's Doctoral education services (in BIZ, Department's secretary) will send them the manuscript with further instructions. The instructions linked below can also be used to explain the responsibilities of a pre-examiner to potential examiners.
ARTS instructions
BIZ instructions
CHEM instructions
ELEC instructions
ENG instructions
SCI instructions
Proposing pre-examiners and opponents
The supervising professor is responsible for proposing two independent preliminary examiners (pre-examiners) for the pre-examination and at a later stage one or two opponents for the defence. The supervising professor makes the proposal but may ask the thesis advisor(s) for suggestions for pre-examiners and opponent(s). The doctoral student cannot take part in making the proposal for the pre-examiners and opponent(s), but if they disagree (e.g. in case of bias), they can submit an official written response for the Doctoral programme committee before the pre-examiners / opponet(s) are appointed.
Note: Before making the proposal to the Doctoral Programme Committee, the supervising professor must contact the examiners and check that they are willing to examine the thesis within the given time.
The qualifications and suitability should be shown by presenting the pre-examiners’ and opponents’ CVs and lists of publications or an equivalent clarification (e.g. web links to the examiners’ home pages).
In addition to the CVs and publication lists, the supervising professor may use the Grounds for proposed pre-examiners available at the page Doctoral student forms.
Requirements for pre-examiners and opponents
- The examiners have to hold a doctor’s degree.
- They have to possess sufficient scientific competence and authority in the thesis’ research field or fields and have a sufficient amount of scientific publications. Pre-examiners should actively publish in the field of the thesis.
- They should be among the best experts within the field from Finland or abroad. They need to be independent experts in the field, external to the School. The recommendation is to use international experts external to Aalto University.
- A pre-examiner may serve as an opponent. CHEM & ELEC: In this case, also a second opponent must also be appointed.
- ELEC & SCI: The pre-examiners and opponents cannot be from the school of the doctoral student, the school of the supervising professor, the co-supervisor or the thesis advisor or the research group in which the doctoral thesis is done. Only for very special reasons the examiner can be appointed from another school of Aalto (written motivation why nobody outside Aalto could be appointed).
- Field of arts and design: It is possible to appoint a third pre-examiner on the basis of artistic merit only (without a doctor’s degree).
Objectivity and impartiality in choosing examiners
The pre-examiners and opponents are to present their own, independent, expert and impartial evaluation of the doctoral thesis and thus they cannot:
- be a close relative of the student
- be the student's immediate superior
- have a too close relation to the author of the thesis, its supervising professor or thesis advisor
Please also see Aalto University's general guidance on objectivity and impartiality (aalto.fi).
School-specific guidelines regarding collaborations and more detailed requirements
The pre-examinerscannot
- have had significant collaboration, such as co-authored publications, with the doctoral student.
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have had significant collaboration, such as co-authored publications with the supervising professor or advisor of the student, especially during the previous five years.
The pre-examiners cannot
- have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student or supervising professor or thesis instructor or collaborated with in research in the past five years
- have close collaboration with the department of the supervising professor - such as postdoc position at the department within the past five years
For more questions, please contact the CHEM Doctoral Programme Committee.
The pre-examiners cannot
- have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student, supervising professor nor advisor or collaborated with in research in the past five years
- currently be working on one with either of them.
- work in the same school or in the research group for which the doctoral thesis is produced.
As an exception to persons employed by the department are persons within FiDiPro-programme. FiDiPro-professors and FiDiPro-fellows can act as pre-examiners if above-mentioned provisions on the disqualification is taken into account. (Decision of the ELEC Doctoral Programme Committee March 5, 2015).
At least one of the preliminary examiners must be from abroad. If it is reasonable to propose examiner who has complited their degree from the same department as the doctoral student, the proposal must be justified thoroughly and degree has been granted more than five years ago. If supervising professor sets forth a proposal with a examiner from the other Aalto school or same department, there has to be reasonsing included.
The pre-examiners cannot have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student or collaborated with in research in the past five years.
- At least one of pre-examiners should have substantial experience on supervising doctoral students. This should be shown by presenting the pre-examiners’ and opponents’ CV (including a timeline of academic appointments and doctoral student supervision experience) and a separate list of publications (Google scholar or equivalent is satisfactory).
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When selecting examiners, we wish to remind you how important it is to give full consideration to all genders and members of underrepresented minority groups.
- The pre-examiners / opponent(s) cannot have co-authored research papers with the doctoral student or collaborated with in research in the last five years
- Any joint research papers between the pre-examiners / opponent(s) and supervising professor or thesis advisor in the last five years must be unrelated to the doctoral thesis. A short clarification must be given in case joint papers exist.
Best practices from schools
This selection of supervision practices at Aalto University is meant to serve as a tool for peer-learning, providing practical tips and illustrating experiences on doctoral supervision from the ground.
Majakka – Doctoral Education Project
Operating within the Water & Development Group, Majakka focuses on co-creating doctoral
education and water research. Its aim is to make doctoral education increasingly systematic and better supervised, and thus to enhance its role in and for the society. The main goals of Majakka was to create a systematic model to support practices and supervision on doctoral education and research collaboration.
Key factors:
- Academic freedom combined with academic responsibilities
- Subsidiarity & co-creation
- Clear roles, goals, and feedback
- T-shaped competence profile and linkages to industry
Key benefits:
- Diverse research activities and continuous development, excellence reputation
- Work-life skills, including teamwork, communication and networking
- Early actions to meet the rising needs, self-organizing culture and activities without professors facilitating and coordinating everything
- Supervising professors and thesis advisors have active collaboration networks and innovative, proactive team to work with
- Highly engaged team to apply for external funding
- Holistic wellbeing and resilience to sudden changes
- Respect and appreciation of all
Interaction | Transparency | Diversity | Peer Support | Mindset | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Students and Supervising professors & Thesis Advisors |
Actively search and engage with key beneficiaries and practitioners to increase the value and impact of your research and to support decision-making (student). Be aware of interdependency risks when researchers closely collaborate with others using data or method development (student, supervisor). |
Agree on expectations and structures for continuous two-way feedback focusing on encouragement and support (student, supervisor). |
Acknowledge that individuals with different backgrounds have different expectations and needs (supervisor). Organize supervision in diverse teams of advisors and mentors (supervisor). |
Acknowledge that risk-taking and the associated failure is intrinsic to academic work in order to prepare students for journal and grant rejection, or sudden unreliable sample results (supervisor). |
Actively communicate your ideas, make bold decisions, and enjoy life-long learning (student). Recruit individuals with a curious and proactive attitude to learn (supervisor). |
Research Group |
Organize regular events to bring all staff together. Create structures to match similarities and diversity: people with a common denominator, e.g., method or stage of the thesis; Rookies or Synthesis writing clubs. Use co-creation and feedback tools, e.g., journey mapping, for systematic reflection on ways of working. |
Plan and share responsibilities to support development of leadership and management skills of all team members, including doctoral students and postdocs. |
Make use of group members’ diverse networks and integrate doctoral students into them. Build cohesiveness in diverse teams by identifying shared interests and organizing joint activities. |
Create a sense of belongingness via virtual and physical spaces for working and collaboration, e.g., shared offices. Establish peer groups for sharing experiences, increasing accountability, and developing together. |
Lead by example and promote multi- and interdisciplinary collaboration to make use of diverse skills sets, facilitate learning, and reduce competition. |
Industry and Practitioners |
Create easy beginnings for collaboration: practice-oriented events, mentorships, small pilot projects, workshops, hackathons, end-user analysis, and jointly funded PhD projects. Participate in special courses; encourage employees to strengthen their alumni relations. |
Highlight the practical relevance and limitations of research and innovations throughout the project duration. |
Strive for diverse and multidisciplinary stakeholder representation in boards or associations. Organize or attend seminars and workshops for academics to create shared understanding. |
Communicate the practical importance of the work and help with diversifying the network. Help the researchers to identify the key beneficiaries and end-users of the research and jointly communicate the research outputs. |
Acknowledge the competence of and employ PhDs to senior positions early in their career. Invest in jointly-advised industrial PhDs to strengthen the university-industry collaboration. |
Read more about Majakka: Making Waves: Joining forces for better doctoral education in
water research
For any questions regarding Majakka, please contact Postdoctoral researcher Maija Taka
([email protected])
Doctoral education services
Doctoral education services support doctoral students, supervising professors, thesis advisors and doctoral programme directors in matters related to doctoral studies. Doctoral education services belong to Learning Services.

Related pages
Doctoral education
Doctoral student, supervising professor and thesis advisor: this is your hub for doctoral education. The information sources collected on this hub related to doctoral theses, doctoral programmes, public defences and management of doctoral education, to name a few, are also useful for our applicants and stakeholders.

Doctoral Education Working Group (DEWG)
The President has appointed the Aalto University Doctoral Education Working Group, which develops the university’s doctoral education, discusses the mutual issues on doctoral education and prepares the university guidelines.
