Ap­ply to Doc­toral pro­gramme of artis­tic re­search in per­form­ing arts

Published 25.6.2024 | Updated 25.6.2024

Application period and application form

The application period starts on 2 September 2024 at 9:00 in the morning (local Finnish time, UTC+3). The online application compiled according to the application instructions must be submitted by the application deadline, which is 16 September 2025 at 15:00 in the afternoon (local Finnish time, UTC+3). The application is submitted via the online Studyinfo service. The link to the application form will open once the application period begins.

The application must include the online application form that is filled in on the Studyinfo portal, as well as appendices to the application in electronic format. All appendices must be submitted via the Studyinfo service by the application deadline.

The application can be compiled in Finnish, Swedish or English.

Applications must be submitted via the Studyinfo service

We only evaluate materials that have been uploaded on the Studyinfo portal. Links leading to external websites or repositories will not be taken into consideration. Applications or parts of an application that are sent by post, couriered, delivered in person or sent by email will not be processed.

Once you have submitted your application form, you will receive a confirmation email for your application.

If you have technical problems on the Studyinfo website, contact: teak.doctoral.admissions@uniarts.fi.

Please remember to reserve enough time for the process, as the application deadline is definite.

Applications that are overly long or incomplete are not processed.

The link to the Studyinfo application form will be updated here at the start of the application period, 9:00 on 2 September 2024.

Number of doctoral candidates to be admitted

The Theatre Academy will admit a maximum of 8 (eight) new doctoral candidates to pursue doctoral studies leading to a Doctor of Arts (Dance), Doctor of Arts (Theatre and Drama) or Doctor of Arts (Art and Design) degree within the Doctoral Programme of Artistic Research in Performing Arts in autumn 2025.

If you are planning on carrying out collaborative doctoral research as part of your doctoral degree, present your own individually distinct research topic and explain how your personal artistic research is interlinked with the collaborative research project. A collaborative research plan cannot require the admission of another applicant or several other applicants. Submit your application and all required appendices on the Studyinfo portal independently.

Content of the application

• Research plan, 1,200 words at most.
  • As comprehensive a description as possible of the research idea, its context and execution method.
  • Information on the kinds of research elements that the prospective doctoral research will consist of. The research elements are the artistic components and the commentary of the doctoral research or combinations of these (read more from the programme curriculum). The research elements must be defined clearly and the grounds for their role in the research must be specified.
  • The research plan must also state how the research elements will be published or made public, what kind of resources they require and what kind of a schedule is planned for their execution.
  • Take the admissions criteria into consideration when writing the research plan.
  • More detailed guide for writing a research plan.
• Summary of the research plan in English.
• Preliminary list of references.
• Preliminary funding plan.
• Curriculum vitae (maximum of 3 pages).
  • Personal data (including year of birth).
  • Prior education.
  • Artistic and/or pedagogical activities, publications and other merits that the applicant deems beneficial for their doctoral studies.
• Verified copies of degree certificates and, if applicable, a language proficiency certificate in electronic format.
• If the applicant has completed a degree outside of Finland, they must include a document clarifying the status of the degree in the education system of the country in question either in Finnish, Swedish or English as part of their application.
• A short portfolio of the artistic activities that the applicant deems essential to their work (corresponding to a maximum of 5 pages and/or 15 minutes of audiovisual material).

Attachment of video or audio files

Approved file formats for moving image and audio materials are the following:

• Digital file in H264 compression (max. file size 1GB)
• Audio: mp3, m4a, aiff, wma, wav, aac
• Video: mpeg, mpg, mp4, mov, avi, wmv, m4v, vob

Follow the following format when naming the attachments: lastname_firstname_filename (an example: smith_john_researchplan). Do not use Scandinavian characters (ö, ä, å) or special characters in the file names.

Research plan

The research plan must include as comprehensive a description as possible of the research idea, its context and execution method.

The research plan must comply with the code of conduct for research integrity. The research plan provided by the applicant may be checked for plagiarism on the Turnitin plagiarism detection platform.

Who can apply

An applicant will be deemed eligible to apply after the application period if they have the required educational background, have provided the required proof of their language proficiency and have submitted the application with all the required attachments by the deadline. The applications of applicants who have been deemed eligible to apply will be evaluated, and based on this evaluation, some of the applicants will be invited to participate in the next phase of the admissions procedure.

Educational background

An applicant can be admitted to doctoral studies when they have completed: 

• an applicable master’s degree at a university
• an applicable master’s degree at a university of applied sciences
• applicable education outside of Finland giving eligibility for the corresponding studies in a higher education institution in the country where the education has been completed.

An applicant who is deemed by the university to have otherwise acquired sufficient knowledge and skills required for the studies can also be admitted as a doctoral candidate. The university may require a student admitted to pursue a third-cycle degree to complete the necessary supplementary studies in order to acquire the knowledge and skills needed for the programme. (Universities Act 24.7.2009/558, section 37)

Language skills in doctoral studies

Teaching within the Doctoral Programme of Artistic Research in Performing Arts is provided in Finnish and English.

The applicant must prove their language proficiency in Finnish or English during the application period either with prior studies or with a certificate of a successfully completed language test. Teaching is not provided in Swedish, but the research itself can be carried out in Swedish.

Proof of eligibility to apply

Proof of educational background

The applicant proves their educational background with a certificate for their degree or education. If the applicant has completed a degree outside of Finland, the application must include a document clarifying the status of the degree in the education system of the country in question either in Finnish, Swedish or English. The document may be a Diploma Supplement or an explanation provided by the educational institution of the status of the degree in the education system of the country where the studies were completed. In other words, the applicant must clarify whether their degree gives them the eligibility to pursue corresponding doctoral-level higher education studies in the country in question.

If you have not graduated yet but will receive your degree certificate before the right to study becomes valid, you can send the certificate to the admissions office via email to teak.doctoral.admissions@uniarts.fi on 31 July 2025 at 15:00 at the latest (local Finnish time, UTC+3).

If your certificate is in another language than English, Finnish or Swedish, you must have the documents translated into English, Finnish or Swedish by an authorised translator. The translation is official if it has been made by the higher education institution that awarded the degree or by an authorised translator. Translations by an authorised translator must bear the translator’s stamp and signature.

Proof of language skills

The applicant must prove their language proficiency during the application period either with prior studies or with a certificate of a successfully completed language test. Demonstrating language proficiency is especially important in doctoral studies, which is why we make sure that applicants have sufficient skills for successfully completing doctoral studies. The applicant’s first language alone is not sufficient proof of language skills.

Admissions criteria

1. The quality of the research plan from an artistic, scientific and research perspective:
   • relevance of the research question,
   • consistency, analytical soundness and clarity of the research plan,
   • familiarity with the relevant artistic and theoretical framework,
   • description of the elements for the planned doctoral research (including the artistic components) and motivation for them.
2. The linking of the research plan to one of the fields represented by the Theatre Academy and to its related research.
3. Suitability of the research plan considering the degree structure and learning outcomes described in the curriculum.
4. Practical feasibility of the research plan: resource allocation, facilities and schedule.
5. Solid professional experience and merits in one of the artistic fields represented by the Theatre Academy.
6. Readiness to refine the research plan based on the briefing.
7. Readiness to engage in persistent studies and research work.

Admissions process and schedule

Admissions jury

The admissions are the responsibility of an admissions jury, which consists of representatives of Tutke’s academic staff as well as professors, lecturers, and researchers within the Theatre Academy’s degree programmes.

If a member of the jury has engaged in close cooperation (for an artistic project or a research project, for example) with you, worked as your supervisor or subordinate, or acted as your designated thesis project supervisor or examiner during the last three years, they are obligated to disqualify themselves from evaluating your application.

Phases

The admissions procedure has three phases.

1. During the first phase, the admissions jury selects the applicants who advance based on their applications.
2. During the second phase, the applicants elaborate on their research plans in accordance with the briefing they are given.
3. In the interviews during the third phase, the admissions jury has the opportunity to ask the applicants more detailed questions, and the same applies vice versa.

After the third phase, the admissions jury makes a proposal on the doctoral candidates to be selected, after which the Theatre Academy dean will make a decision on the student admissions.

Schedule

• 2 September 2024: The application period starts at 9:00 in the morning (local Finnish time, UTC+3)
• 16 September 2024: The application period ends at 15:00 in the afternoon (local Finnish time, UTC+3). The applicant’s eligibility to apply will be assessed after the application period ends, and if necessary, they will be asked to supplement their application by providing the following: degree certificate, status of the degree in the education system, certificate of language proficiency. The applicant will not be asked to supplement other appendices.
• 27 September 2024: The deadline for supplementing applications is at 15:00 in the afternoon (local Finnish time, UTC+3)
• October–November 2024: Phase I: The admissions jury goes through the applications and makes a decision on which applicants advance and are asked to elaborate on their research plan as part of the admissions process.
• December 2024–the first week of January 2025: The applicant elaborates on their research plan in accordance with the briefing.
• 7 January 2025: the last day to submit the more elaborate research plan. The deadline is at 15:00 in the afternoon (local Finnish time, note: winter time UTC+2).
• January 2025: Phase II: The admissions jury makes the decision on which applicants are invited to an interview based on the more elaborate research plans. The invitations to interviews will be sent by 3 February 2025.
• 13–14 February 2025: Phase III: The admissions jury interviews the applicants who advanced.
• November 2025: The admissions jury makes a proposal on the doctoral candidates to be selected. The dean of the Theatre Academy makes the decision on the students to be admitted.
• 10 March 2025: The admissions results are published.

Applicants are advised to reserve time devoted to working on their research plans from the beginning of December 2024 until the end of the first week of January 2025.

The application supplementation period refers to the time period when you can still submit a degree certificate, a translation of a degree certificate, a certificate proving the status of your degree in the education system of the country where you completed the degree or a certificate of language proficiency. If you receive the request to supplement your application, you can submit the missing appendix on Studyinfo.

Contact teak.doctoral.admissions@uniarts.fi if you have technical problems uploading your appendices on Studyinfo.

Announcement of the results

The admissions results will be announced on 10 March 2025 on the Uniarts Helsinki website, as regards the applicants who have given their consent on the application form for publishing their names. Applicants admitted as students receive an email of the admissions results on the day when the admissions decision is published.

Feedback on the application

If you are not admitted, you can choose to receive feedback on your application. We offer limited feedback times after the end of the admissions process in March-May 2025. You will receive more information about the feedback opportunity in the decision letter from Tutke.

Request for rectification

According to Section 82 of the Universities Act (L558/2009), a person who has applied for entry to a university may lodge a request in writing with the university for a rectification of the decision concerning admission within 14 days from the publication of the admission results. The rectification request must be submitted in writing to Uniarts Helsinki’s registry.

Read the instructions for requesting a rectification.

Contact information and questions

If you cannot find an answer to your question in these application instructions or on the website presenting the programme, send an email to teak.doctoral.admissions@uniarts.fi. Please do not contact the teaching and research staff of the Theatre Academy, as it will not improve your chances of being selected.