Postdoctoral Researcher (Humanities and Theology)

The Philosophical Faculty; Joensuu; On-site; EUR 41,000 - 47,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible and multi-location work

Staff training offering

Occupational health care and campus餐?

Job summary

University of Eastern Finland invites applications for a two-year postdoctoral researcher position in humanities or theology at the Philosophical Faculty on Joensuu Campus. You will conduct high-quality research, contribute to a research group, and develop a plan to pursue external funding.

The role includes mentoring and potential teaching responsibilities. The position offers a structured career plan, access to staff training and health benefits, and opportunities to network internationally

Qualifications

• Eligible to apply if you have completed a doctoral degree in 2025 or 2026, or have submitted your doctoral dissertation for pre-examination by end of October 2026.
• Good spoken and written English skills.

Responsibilities

• Advance your research and your own research career at the University of Eastern Finland.
• Develop new research questions and plans as part of a research group.
• Apply for research funding and grants.
• Produce high-quality scientific publications.
• Supervise students’ theses, especially doctoral dissertations.
• Build national and international research collaboration networks.
• You may participate in teaching in your area of expertise.

Skills

Good English (spoken & written)

Education

Doctoral degree in Humanities or Theology

Job description

Postdoctoral Researcher (Humanities and Theology)

A postdoctoral researcher position is open for application in the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Eastern Finland. The position will be filled for a fixed term starting on 1 January 2027 or as agreed, but no later than 31 March 2027. Read more below and submit your application by 24 November 2026.

Role and salary

The Philosophical Faculty is opening a full-time postdoctoral researcher position in the field of humanities or theology for a fixed term of two years as part of the reform of doctoral education. The aim is to support doctoral graduates from the Philosophical Faculty who are pursuing an academic career. In addition to high-quality research, the purpose of opening the position is to facilitate the establishment of a research group alongside applications for external funding. Read more on our career pages .

The position follows a research plan consisting of work packages and sub-goals, ensuring that after two years the researcher will have better readiness to apply for external funding and to establish or expand their own research group. The research plan is prepared in cooperation with a mentor and by making use of possible research networks.

Building connections with working life is part of doctoral education. Each postdoctoral researcher prepares a career plan to support their work, identifying different career opportunities both within and outside the university and strengthening ties with key professional and collaborative networks in their field. Another important objective is to qualify for an academic career.

As our new postdoctoral researcher, your main duties will include:

• advancing your research and your own research career at our university,
• developing new research questions and plans as part of a research group,
• applying for research funding,
• producing high-quality scientific publications,
• supervising students’ theses, especially doctoral dissertations,
• building national and international research collaboration networks.

You may also have the opportunity to participate in teaching in your area of expertise.

As this is a fixed-term research position, it will be filled for a two (2) year term from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028 (or as agreed, starting no later than 31 March 2027). A probationary period is applied.

The salary of the position is determined in accordance with the salary system of the Finnish universities. The salary comprises two components: a job-related salary element and a personal salary element. In this position, the job-specific salary component is EUR 3,366.36 per month, based on level 5 of the demand level chart for teaching and research staff. The personal performance component is at least 6% and at most 50% of the above amount. Depending on the personal performance component, the starting salary will be approximately EUR 3,700–4,200 per month.

Our requirements and expectations

Requirements:

• You are eligible to apply if you have completed a doctoral degree at the Department of Humanities or the School of Theology of the Philosophical Faculty in 2025 or 2026, or if you have submitted your doctoral dissertation for pre-examination by the end of October 2026.
• Good spoken and written English skills.

Considered an advantage

• demonstrated ability to disseminate scientific results,
• previous national and international scientific activity,
• previous research funding (at the doctoral level) and independent roles in research projects.

Evaluation

In the evaluation of applications, particular attention will be paid to the following factors:

• the suitability of the applicant’s doctoral degree and any other academic degrees supporting the topic of the research plan
• the quality and feasibility of the research plan (including the career plan) (maximum 2 pages). The plan must include a foreign period of at least 3 months during the two-year contract period (as part of the plan),
• the motivation letter (maximum 1 page).

In evaluating applicants, special attention will also be paid to the plans and potential for an independent research career, including international networking and applying for external funding.

The evaluation process may include interviews with selected candidates. Invitations to interview will be sent separately.

You will have access to the university’s employee benefits, including:

• the possibility of flexible and multi-location work,
• an extensive staff training offering (including a thesis supervision course and university pedagogy training),
• Staff benefits of the University of Eastern Finland, including comprehensive occupational health care, affordable lunches at campus restaurants and SYKETTÄ sports services.

Questions?

For further information about the position, please contact:
Vice Dean Heidi Hyytinen, [e-mail], tel. [phone].

For further information about the application procedure, please contact:
HR Specialist Nina Miinalainen, [e-mail], tel. [phone].

The Philosophical Faculty operates on the Joensuu Campus of the University of Eastern Finland. The faculty trains professionals and experts in the fields of the humanities, education, psychology and theology. In addition to four academic schools, the faculty comprises a teacher training school intended for supervised teaching practice and for the development of teacher training. The faculty's research activities are multidisciplinary and theoretically and methodologically diverse, and they are closely linked to the university's strategy. The faculty has approximately 4,000 Bachelor’s and Master’s degree students and some 340 postgraduate students. The staff amounts to 450 persons, including the staff of the teacher training school.

The University of Eastern Finland (UEF) is the most multidisciplinary university in Finland. Our university employs approximately 3,200 employees, and our community includes approximately 17,000 degree students and 16,000 adult education students. Our campuses are located in Joensuu and Kuopio. We represent the world’s cutting edge of research in many fields and produce research-based knowledge, which is made openly available to benefit everyone.Learn more about our university at www.uef.fi/en .Read also about UEF as a working community and employer and the career stories of our employees .