Studying abroad as a doctoral researcher - start here!

Sometimes a shorter research period based on researcher status may be a more desirable option for exchange studies for doctoral researchers. For example, a few weeks’ visit to work at a laboratory or studying dissertation material located at a university abroad is considered a research visit.  More information about research visits is available here.

Conferences are an opportunity to meet other doctoral researchers and established researchers in your field at local, national and international meetings and conferences promotes your integration into the academic community. They are also an excellent way to promote your research results. 

Please see more on conferences on this Conferences article. 

In addition to conferences and research visits, various courses and summer schools, either elsewhere in Finland or abroad, are a good way to gather international skills. In addition to pure substantive expertise, these are good opportunities for networking and acquiring new perspectives. 

If, based on the curriculum of your doctoral programme, it is possible for you to receive a credit for the course you completed abroad, you can submit an application for credit for the credit. Remember to ask the course organizer for a certificate.

As a doctoral researcher, it is also possible for you to receive funding for a student or researcher exchange. The different options for these depend on whether you are employed by the university or not. 

If you are doing your dissertation in an employment relationship with the University of Helsinki, the student exchange instructions and agreements do not primarily apply to you. As an employed doctoral researcher, you can instead go on a teacher exchange, which lasts a maximum of 1 week. If you are doing a dissertation with or without a grant, the same instructions and rules apply to you as for exchange undergraduate students. However, a large part of the exchange agreements at the University of Helsinki are only aimed at bachelor's and master's level students, so if you find an exchange destination that suits you, read the instructions carefully and make sure that you are eligible to apply for that destination. 

Most of the international visits of doctoral researchers take place with other funding mechanisms than funding from the International Exchange Services and Education Cooperation unit, i.e. for example, travel grants from the doctoral school or with funding from scholarship foundations.

Your supervisor can help you find a suitable exchange destination and a possible supervisor/mentor at the target university. So discuss your plans well in advance with your instructor.

Doctoral researchers can apply for an Erasmus traineeship. Trainees receive an Erasmus grant that covers part of the traineeship expenses. More information about Erasmus traineeships is available in undergraduate traineeship instructions. However, please note that of the traineeship opportunities presented on the page, only the Erasmus traineeships apply also to postgraduate students.

If you are employed by the University of Helsinki as a doctoral researcher, you must apply for a leave of absence to become eligible for a traineeship grant. The SAP HR employee portal is used to apply for a leave of absence.

The climate aspects related to traveling talk a lot these days. At the University of Helsinki, a carbon-neutral university road map is underway - a project in connection with which travel-related goals for carbon neutrality are also being considered. The alignments made in the project will be reported in Flamma and the travel instructions will be updated in those respects later.