DP FOBI Doctoral Programme at University of Eastern Finland 2026

15 PhD Positions at the University of Eastern Finland – Fully Funded MSCA Doctoral Programme 2027

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Overview of DP-FOBI Doctoral Programme

The Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI) at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) is a prestigious international doctoral programme co-funded by the European Union through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND scheme. The programme has secured €4.2 million in total funding, with €2.4 million from the EU, to recruit 15 doctoral researchers for fully funded four-year positions .

◆ 15 fully funded 4-year doctoral researcher positions.
◆ Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND programme.
◆ Interdisciplinary research in sustainable forest-based bioeconomy.
◆ All faculties of UEF participating across natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and health sciences.
◆ Check fully funded scholarships in Europe for international students for similar opportunities.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Available Research Themes – DP-FOBI 2027

The programme focuses on three interconnected research areas that enable cross-disciplinary research :

◆ Forest Inventory and Ecosystem Modelling
◉ Forest structures, dynamics, and monitoring systems.
◉ Data-driven tools for continuous-cover forestry and land-use planning.
◉ Dead wood dynamics in Fennoscandian boreal forests .
◉ Laser scanning for tree structure and wood quality assessment.

◆ Novel Forest-Based Products
◉ New uses of forest resources in well-being, nutrition, and green chemistry.
◉ Efficient enzymatic conversion of biomass to bio-based compounds .
◉ Biomass-derived chemical fractions and enzymatic biomass conversion.
◉ Forest-based food and functional resources.

◆ Market Behaviour in Bioeconomy
◉ Decision-making of market actors and sustainable innovation.
◉ Public discourse analysis, behavioural science, and innovation management.
◉ Environmental discourses and spread of (dis)information in social networks .
◉ Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses .
◆ Explore latest scholarships in Europe for all nationalities for more field options.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Eligibility Criteria for DP-FOBI PhD Positions

◉ Hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in a field relevant to the chosen PhD project.
◉ Must not already hold a doctoral degree (applicants who have defended their thesis but not yet been formally awarded the degree are also ineligible) .
◉ Must comply with the MSCA mobility rule: must not have resided or carried out main activity (work/studies) in Finland for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the deadline (10 August 2026) .
◉ Must fulfil the language skills requirements of the relevant UEF Doctoral Programme.
◉ Strong motivation for interdisciplinary research in forest bioeconomy.
◉ Project-specific requirements are detailed in individual position descriptions.
◆ See financial aids for students in Europe for more funding options.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Scholarship Benefits – DP-FOBI PhD Positions

★ Fully funded 4-year employment contract as a Doctoral Researcher (full-time position) .
★ Competitive MSCA salary: Living allowance of €3,200 monthly, forming the main part of the gross salary .
★ Mobility allowance of €87 monthly for mobility-related private expenses .
★ Family allowance of €300 monthly for doctoral researchers with a spouse and/or dependents .
★ Paid leave and additional holiday bonus in summer.
★ Travel allowance of €1,500 per year for conference travel, and an additional €10,500 in total for secondments and short visits .
★ Research costs of €6,000 in total for lab consumables, data collection, publications, etc. .
★ Full social security benefits and standard Finnish employment conditions (paid vacation, parental leave, and occupational healthcare) .
★ Comprehensive structured doctoral training with interdisciplinary supervision.
★ Access to international research networks and industry collaborations .
★ Explore Nordic countries' latest scholarships in 2026 for more details.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Sample PhD Projects – DP-FOBI 2027

The programme offers diverse projects across multiple disciplines. Examples include:

◆ Dead Wood Dynamics in Fennoscandian Forests 
◉ Master's degree in forest ecology, ecology, environmental science, or related field.
◉ Strong quantitative skills and experience in statistical modelling using R.
◉ Based at Joensuu campus, School of Forest Sciences.

◆ Efficient Enzymatic Conversion of Biomass to Bio-Based Compounds 
◉ Master's degree in chemistry, chemical engineering, biotechnology, or closely related field.
◉ Understanding of biophysical and bioanalytical methods for protein characterization.
◉ Based at Joensuu campus, Department of Chemistry.

◆ Environmental Discourses and Spread of Multilingual (Dis)information 
◉ Master's degree in linguistics, computational linguistics, translation studies, or related field.
◉ Competence with large-scale datasets and computational tools (R or Python).
◉ Based at Joensuu campus, School of Humanities.

◆ Contested Conceptualizations of Forest in Bioeconomy-Related Discourses 
◉ Master's degree in languages, translation studies, linguistics, media studies, or related field.
◉ Prior methodological knowledge of metaphor analysis or rhetorical analysis is an advantage.
◉ Based at Joensuu campus, School of Humanities.

◆ Additional projects available in Marketing, Law, Geography, Public Health, and more .
◆ list of all open scholarships in Europe for additional funding sources.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Required Documents for DP-FOBI Application

✓ Certified copy of Master's degree diploma (or equivalent proof if diploma is pending) and transcript of records .
✓ Curriculum Vitae (CV).
✓ Electronic copy of Master's thesis.
✓ Two-page summary of the Master's thesis in English.
✓ Ethics Self-Assessment form.
✓ Motivational letter (preferably one page, maximum three pages) .
✓ Proof of English proficiency if not evident from academic credentials.
✓ All documents must use the provided application templates available on the DP-FOBI website .
✓ Official English translations required for degree certificates not in English, Finnish, or Swedish .
✓ list of all open scholarships in Europe for additional opportunities.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Important Dates for DP-FOBI PhD Positions

Application Period: 11 June – 10 August 2026 .

◆ Application deadline: 10 August 2026 at 24:00 (midnight) Finnish time (UTC+3).
◆ Eligibility and ethics check: August–September 2026.
◆ External review: September–October 2026.
◆ Interviews: October–November 2026.
◆ Final selection and appointment: December 2026 .
◆ Positions expected to begin no later than 1 April 2027 .

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Application Process for DP-FOBI PhD Positions

1. Explore the individual position descriptions on the DP-FOBI website .

2. Review the eligibility criteria and project-specific requirements carefully.

3. Prepare all required documents using the provided application templates .

4. Submit your application via the UEF electronic recruitment system before the deadline .

5. Applications must be submitted in English.

6. The five-stage selection process includes: Eligibility check, External review, Interviews, Final selection, and Appointment .

7. Applicants who pass the external review will be ranked based on average scores; top candidates will be invited to interviews.

8. Selected candidates will prepare a research plan in collaboration with supervisors for doctoral programme admission.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Why Choose DP-FOBI PhD Programme

◆ Prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND programme with EU funding.
◆ Fully funded with competitive MSCA salary and comprehensive benefits.
◆ Interdisciplinary research addressing global sustainability challenges .
◆ Opportunity to work in Finland, one of Europe's leading research nations.
◆ Access to the FOBI Research Community of approximately 150 researchers across eight departments .
◆ Structured training with international mobility and industry collaboration.
◆ Located in the "Forest Capital of Europe" – Joensuu campus .
◆ High-quality supervision and career development support.
◆ Explore fully funded scholarships in Europe for international students for similar programs.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Final Thoughts – DP-FOBI PhD Positions

◆ This is a transformative opportunity for early-career researchers passionate about sustainable forest bioeconomy.
◆ The programme values interdisciplinary research and international collaboration.
◆ Prepare your application early and ensure all documents meet the specified requirements.
◆ Contact DP-FOBI-mail@uef.fi for inquiries .
◆ For more opportunities, explore latest scholarships in Europe for all nationalities.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Apply Link

Apply Now for DP-FOBI PhD Positions