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 Kitta Peura

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.

Applications to doctoral programme, changes to study right (e.g. thesis advisor) and application for pre-examination

These proposals have deadlines according to the table A. The decisions will be made in meetings.

Decisions on permission for public defence and corrections to thesis

When both pre-examination statements have arrived, the first decision on permission will be made according to table B (the first round of permission process). 

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

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

Other decisions and more information on permission for public defence

Confirming the opponent(s) and details of the defence

The proposals submitted by each Monday at noon (provided that no supplementary information is needed) are in most cases processed during the same week (except on holiday weeks and seasons) either in an email meeting or in the regular meeting on that week (table A). 

Please note that in case of regular meetings, you can submit the proposal of opponent(s) and details (date, time) of the defence at the same time with the corrections

Approval of doctoral thesis

If the statement of the opponent has arrived early enough before the meeting, 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 (table A). 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 A.

Deadlines and decision dates, table A

*Please read the details of the application in question above the table.

Deadlines and decision dates, table B

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 confirm the study plans of doctoral students however, so that the chair can transfer the student's study plan to the Doctoral Programme Committee, for example, if the decision requires a broader discussion; and
4. 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;
5. to confirm the full-time/part-time status changes. The status is defined in admission.
6. to confirm research field changes after admission.