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Doctoral hat with UEF emblem.

Doctoral conferment ceremony celebrated in Kuopio on 9–11 June – programme is available for the public, too

The University of Eastern Finland will hold a doctoral conferment ceremony on the Kuopio Campus on 9–11 June 2022. In the ceremony, doctorates will be conferred upon 126 doctoral graduates of the University of Eastern Finland, as well as upon 13 honorary doctors. For the general public, the programme includes a conferment exhibition and Studia Generalia lectures given by the honorary doctors on Thursday, 9 June. In downtown Kuopio, a conferment procession walking through the city centre can be spotted on Friday, 10 June. The route ends at Kuopio Cathedral for an ecumenical service, which is open to everyone.

Initially planned for the summer of 2020, the doctoral conferment ceremony has been postponed by two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Public lectures by honorary doctors seek solutions for a better world

The theme of the conferment week's Studia Generalia lectures is Solutions for a Better World. The Studia Generalia lectures will be held in Lecture Hall SN100 in the Snellmania building (Yliopistonranta 1 E, 1st floor) on Thursday, 9 June 2022, at 13–14.30. Three honorary doctors will give a lecture (in Finnish). Professor Pekka Vallittu from the University of Turku will give a lecture on the topic Solutions for a Better World from Biomaterials Science. Dance Artist, Professor Jorma Uotinen will give a talk on the topic In Search of Culture, and Director General of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas will give a lecture on the topic Climate Change: Mankind's Greatest Challenge. The event will be opened by the university's Academic Rector Tapio Määttä. After the lectures, coffee and refreshments will be served, free of charge, in the lobby of the Snellmania building. A conferment ceremony photo exhibition has also been set up in the lobby, to be opened by Rector Emeritus Ossi V. Lindqvist at 12.30.

An honorary doctorate is the highest distinction the university may confer upon a person. In this year’s doctoral conferment ceremony, the three faculties operating on the Kuopio Campus will confer 13 honorary doctorates upon distinguished individuals from the spheres of science and societal life. Learn more about the honorary doctors.

The conferment procession can be spotted on the streets of Kuopio

The ceremonial conferment of degrees will take place at the Music Centre in Kuopio on Friday. In the festive ceremony, doctoral graduates obtain the right to use the insignia associated with their academic status, which at the University of Eastern Finland are the doctoral hat, the university’s own doctoral emblem, and the doctoral diploma.

The conferment procession can be spotted on the streets of Kuopio on Friday, 10 June 2022, as it walks from the Music Centre to Kuopio Cathedral at 16.10–16.30. The procession’s route is Music Centre – Kuopionlahdenkatu – Puijonkatu – Minna Canthin katu – Kuninkaankatu – Kuopio Cathedral. At 16.30, an ecumenical conferment service, which is open to all, will begin at Kuopio Cathedral.

The route will be closed to traffic during the procession’s walk, also affecting traffic on the crossing streets.  Traffic will return to normal as the procession moves forward. The procession is organised weather permitting.

The conferment week’s programme also includes, for example, a hat-fitting ceremony, a banquet and a ball, and a cruise on Lake Kallavesi.

For further information on the doctoral conferment ceremony, please contact:

Conferment Ceremony Coordinator Kirsi Bykachev, kirsi.bykachev (a) uef.fi, tel. +358 50 363 4819

https://www.uef.fi/en/conferment-ceremonies