The University of Eastern Finland has received EU funding to recruit 14 doctoral students into a four-year multidisciplinary Neuro-Innovation PhD programme, which will be implemented on the Kuopio campus.
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund grant of 1,5 million euros will increase the scope and quality of multidisciplinary research in the UEF Neuroscience Research Community (NEURO). Thereby, it will also generate a strong positive impact on health innovation in Finland and beyond.
The recruitment of the international PhD students will start in June 2021.
“Neuro-Innovation PhD programme is one of the key milestones in our strategy to promote the integration of biological neuroscience with innovation management, data science as well as ethics and law. Importantly, this programme challenges research groups to expand their research and training towards crossdisciplinarity beyond the conventional”, Professor Mikko Hiltunen, Director of NEURO, says.
Broad collaboration
The doctoral programme will be implemented in the Faculty of Health Sciences, the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, and the Faculty of Science and Forestry at the University of Eastern Finland.
Researchers from neurosciences, management, legal, social and data sciences and applied physics will educate innovation leaders with novel competences to create ethical and sustainable solutions to advance brain health throughout the life.
The world-class partner universities offer students opportunities to pay shorter and longer visits with them, and learn about international research practices and career paths.
Stakeholder interaction
During their studies, the PhD students will learn about, not only multidisciplinary academic research, but also university-society interaction.
The doctoral program engages partner stakeholders, such as the Kuopio University Hospital (KUH), innovation and health ecosystems, patient organizations and health companies, to work with PhD students and their supervisors.
This new education will create a strongly demanded and highly beneficial talent hub of brain health innovation in the Kuopio region.
”Strengthening the work life integration of doctoral education is very important for the University of Eastern Finland. The collaboration that will be implemented with this grant can provide us a model for the re-development of our existing doctoral programmes”, Academic Rector Tapio Määttä acknowledges.
New career paths
Intensive career coaching of the PhD students is a special feature of the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme.
The graduates will have unique combinations of academic and practical skills needed in future jobs and cross-sectoral career paths.
The students will develop excellent abilities to operate as multi-talented innovation agents in science, business and policy.
"The ability to combine research on neuroscience with law and ethics, business or data sciences gives the students an entirely new perspective on the impact their research can make to the society. This will also significantly boost the cross-disciplinary collaboration within UEF and internationally", Professor Tarja Malm, Co-coordinator of the Neuro-Innovation programme, says.
“We warmly welcome international applicants who wish to advance brain health innovation for the benefit of patients and their families”, Professor Päivi Eriksson, Coordinator of the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme, encourages.
Information about the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme on website www.uef.fi/neuro-innovation.
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