The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies (DPBUSINESS) provides world-class business research expertise that transcends the traditional limits of the discipline.
Doctoral studies in business studies aim at familiarising the students with the research, theories and research methods in the field in a way which qualifies the students to prepare a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation. Furthermore, students strengthen their knowledge in their specific specialisation fields. The doctoral programme encourages students to take an international approach: to participate in researcher exchanges, study in foreign universities, make presentations in international conferences, publish in international journals and become members of international researcher networks.
The Doctoral Programme in Business Studies in the University of Eastern Finland operates at Joensuu and Kuopio campuses. In the doctoral programme, doctoral students work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).
The director of the doctoral programme is Professor Mika Gabrielsson, and the coordinator is Amanuensis Meri Jäppinen (contact information below).
Research areas in the doctoral programme
The mission of the Business School emphasizes cross-disciplinary and internationally acknowledged approaches to research and teaching. Research is also aiming to conrtibute to the development of local business life and to the wellbeing of society as a whole. The common dominator of the research is the development, growth and internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
One of our main objectives is to have more and better research articles published in prestigious journals. We encourage our personnel to build international networks through researcher exchange, conference participation and international research funding.
There are six fields within Business Studies for doctoral students to choose from:
- Innovation Management (Kuopio Campus)
- Service Management (Joensuu Campus)
- Accounting and Finance (Kuopio Campus)
- Business and Law (Joensuu Campus)
- International Business and Sales Management (Kuopio Campus)
- Tourism Marketing and Management (Joensuu Campus)
Research groups in UEF Business School
How to apply?
In the doctoral programme, doctoral students work on research projects that follows the research profile specified for both campuses and aim at the degree of Licentiate of Science (Economics and Business Administration) or Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration).
The fields of research and contact persons in the doctoral programme are:
- International Business and Sales Management: Director of the doctoral programme, Professor Mika Gabrielsson
- Service Management: Professor Anu Puusa
- Business and Law: Professor Pasi Syrjä
- Tourism Marketing and Management: Professor Raija Komppula
- Innovation Management: Professor Päivi Eriksson
- Accounting and Finance: Professor Mervi Niskanen
The eligibility criteria for doctoral degree studies in UEF Business School are:
- Applicants with a Finnish Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration who have mainly achieved the grade very good (cum laude approbatur) or higher for their pro gradu thesis and the grade very good or higher for their major subject studies.
- Applicants with a Finnish Master’s degree in any field who have achieved mainly the grade very good (cum laude approbatur) or higher for their pro gradu thesis and the grade very good or higher for their major subject studies. The applicant’s research project must be related to one of the thematic areas of the doctoral programme, and the applicant must have the competencies required in this thematic area.
- Applicants who have acquired abroad a relevant degree which, in the country in question, provides eligibility for further university studies and for pursuing a doctorate. Applicants who have obtained their qualifications abroad must demonstrate their competence to pursue a research project by detailing their major studies (that include a Master’s thesis or other similar study project that corresponds to a pro gradu thesis) for which mainly the grade very good or higher has been awarded and which have been completed before applying to the doctoral programme. If the Master’s thesis or other study project has been written in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, an English summary must be attached to the application. The applicant’s research project must be related to one of the thematic areas of the doctoral programme, and the applicant must have the competencies required in this thematic area.
- Applicants who have completed an internationally accredited (AMBA, AACSB) Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree, if they are able to demonstrate before applying to the doctoral programme that after completing the required supplementary studies, their major subject studies correspond to the level of the major subject studies of a Finnish Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration (including a study project that corresponds to a pro gradu thesis). The applicant must attach to the application a proposal for major subject studies or studies in the thematic area. If the Master’s thesis or other study project has been written in a language other than Finnish, Swedish or English, an English summary must be attached to the application. The grade mainly very good or higher must have been awarded for both the MBA degree and the supplementary studies.
- Applicants with a Master’s degree completed in a Finnish or foreign University of Applied Sciences who have completed a Master’s thesis or other study project that corresponds to a pro gradu thesis as part of their degree. Both the major subject studies and the study project must have been completed and awarded mainly the grade very good or higher before applying to the doctoral programme. Applicants with a Master’s degree from a University of Applied Sciences should take into account that the director of the doctoral programme verifies the skills provided by the earlier education, and the professor responsible for the thematic area concerned may require that supplementary studies are to be completed.
- Applicants with a licentiate degree in business and administration from a Finnish or a foreign university.
- Applicants with a licentiate or a doctoral degree in a field other than business and administration from a Finnish or a foreign university. The applicant’s research project must be related to one of the thematic areas of the doctoral programme, and the applicant must have the competencies required in this thematic area. If necessary, the professor responsible for the thematic area concerned may require that supplementary studies are to be completed.
- Two supervisors have to be appointed to the doctoral applicant.
- Quality of research plan. The research subject has to be scientifically and empirically relevant and applicable to research of Business School. Research plan has to be with good quality and consist e.g. following: innovativeness of the research idea, realistic, clear and implementable research plan, noticing of the research ethics. The prior research of the doctoral applicant is taken into consideration.
- Proficiency in English.
If the applicant fulfils at least one of the following requirements, a separate language test is not required but the applicant is to prove his/her English proficiency with the applicable degree certificate and the transcript of his/her academic record:
- English as foreign language included in at least a Bachelor-level degree conducted in Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) or in an EU/EEA country.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree conducted in English language in a Nordic country (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) or in an EU/EEA country.
- Bachelor's or Master's degree conducted in English language in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom or the United States.
The applicants are to prove their language skills in English as follows (English language test):
- TOEFL paper-based: Total score 600 and Writing 4.0
- TOEFL Internet-based: Total Score 100 and Writing 22
- IELTS (Academic): Overall Score 6.5 and Writing 5.5
- PTE (Pearson Test of English), min. 59 points
Applicants must discuss their doctoral degree studies and the supervision of their doctoral dissertation with their prospective supervisor PRIOR to applying for the right to pursue studies. Only after having received the consent from the supervisor, the applicant can submit the application.
For each doctoral candidate at least two supervisors are appointed. One of the supervisors must be a professor or docent at the University of Eastern Finland. Alternatively, a person who has equivalent scientific competence to a professor or a docent and is a member of the staff at the faculty can be appointed as a supervisor.
Application attachments:
- copy of the basic university degree certificate, and other documents which may affect the granting of a study right,
- a transcript of earlier academic records,
- a research plan and
- the consent from the supervisors
Admission procedure and research plan
When applying to the Doctoral Programme in Business, the research plan should, in principle, be prepared in English, as the language of the doctoral programme is English. The research topic should be chosen so that it is possible to write and publish articles on the topic in English. The research topic should be related to the focus areas of the research conducted in the Business School. The deadlines for applications are at autumn semester and spring semester. The online application form is available on studyinfo.fi portal.
The research plan should contain the following:
- starting points and theoretical basis of the research, previous research,
- aims of the research, research tasks and questions, ethical issues,
- research methods and data, administration of data,
- working plan, working plan for part of the tasks,
- schedule and funding plan,
- publication plan, and
- evaluation of opportunities to exploit the results of the research, societal significance of the research results.
The extent of the plan is about 10 pages.
The right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding or a contract of employment or teaching tasks at the University. However, full-time doctoral students need funding to cover their costs of living and potential research costs (travel costs, research material etc.). Funding options should be discussed with the supervisor already when planning to apply for a doctoral study right and creating a research plan.
Doctoral studies can be funded for example by a scholarship, by working as a researcher in a research project, by working as a doctoral candidate at the University of Eastern Finland (doctoral student position), or by studying part-time while at work. Doctoral students apply for funding themselves.
Read more about funding options of doctoral studies on Kamu Student handbook.
Application period
You can apply to the Doctoral Programme in Business Studies twice a year: by the end of October and by the end of April.
What is Studyinfo.fi?
Studyinfo.fi is the official national admissions portal with all the up-to-date information about study programmes leading to a degree in Finland.
Studies
The doctoral dissertation demonstrates the student’s in-depth knowledge of the field of research, related fields and the philosophy of science. Furthermore, the dissertation demonstrates his or her ability to apply the methods of scientific research in practice, both independently, and critically in his or her field of research as well as independently to generate new information.
One of the following can be accepted as a doctoral dissertation:
- A separate piece of research (monograph). A monograph is a work based on the research project by the doctoral student. It is a coherent and independent study and should contain the data and methodology used and the results as a whole.
- At least three articles dealing with a same set of problems published or accepted for publication in scientific journals applying a referee procedure. Peer reviewing refers to an assessment process carried out by the scientific community where an article or part of a collection of articles undergoes an advance assessment by an independent expert. The review must be verifiable. At least one of the articles has to be published and two accepted for publication. The other articles may be manuscripts to be published. In case the articles are joint publications, a doctoral student must be the correspondent writer of at least in two of them. An article electronically pre-published by a scientific series is regarded as published.
In business an essay-based dissertation can also be approved. The essay-based dissertation comprises at least three published or unpublished independent entities dealing with the same set of research problems. Some of these entities may be scientific articles or other publications and unpublished essays.
In addition to the articles or essays, the dissertation must include an introduction and summary which compiles the contents of the articles. These may be placed at the beginning of the dissertation, or the introduction may be placed at the beginning and the summary at the end of the dissertation.
If the articles or essays are joint publications, a doctoral candidate must present a written account of their own contribution to those publications when requesting a public defence. A joint publication may be included in a maximum of two different dissertations.
The studies towards the degree of a Licentiate of Science or a Doctor of Science to be completed in the doctoral programme consist of a licentiate thesis or a doctoral dissertation, transferable skills studies (10 ECTS) and subject-specific doctoral studies (30 ECTS); the total scope of the studies is 40 ECTS.
Research Seminar (in major) (3 ECTS) and 5210911 Introduction to Business Research and Theory (3 ECTS) are compulsory courses. The seminar and other courses are held in English if there are participants who do not speak Finnish. Students who do not have the degree of Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) may be required to complete supplementary studies (between 15 and 30 ECTS). These studies are also specified in the doctoral study plan.
You can find information for different phases in the doctoral education on Kamu Student handbook:
- Doctoral education at the University of Eastern Finland
- Starting doctoral education
- Doctoral curriculum and study requirements
- Internationalisation in doctoral education
- Guidance and support in doctoral education
- Support for doctoral research
- Funding of doctoral education
- Wellbeing of doctoral researcher
- Permission for public examination and pre-examination of doctoral dissertation
- Publishing of doctoral dissertation
News and events
Dissertations
More information on the doctoral programme

