SEED Selection

The SEED programme follows The European Charter for Researchers and The Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. We employ a detailed selection process. The selection process comprises four main stages and will last approximately 10 weeks.

All the information about the submission of applications and the required documents will be available in the Call for applications and the Guide for Applicants.
 

The eligibility check is done by LUT University against the predefined eligibility criteria. The applicants not fulfilling the eligibility criteria will be notified immediately after the eligibility check, and if unable to provide the necessary qualifications (in one week after being notified) they will be removed from the selection process.

To be eligible to apply for the position, the doctoral candidate must: 

• have completed an applicable higher university degree, for example Master’s degree (M.Sc. or equivalent) in a relevant field. 
• be a researcher, who at the deadline of the recruitment call is not in possession of a doctoral degree.
• have fluent English communication skills proven by an English language test (a full list of the accepted tests will be provided in the Guide for Applicants).
• fulfil the geographic mobility requirement. The SEED programme follows the general MSCA mobility requirement where the candidate may not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Finland for more than 12 months in the 3 years immediately before the call deadline.

Two stage evaluation will be used in the selection process:

1. evaluation based on application documents and
2. interview. 

A Selection Committee will be established for each of the 13 Doctorate position.

The evaluators will use a modified MSCA-PF framework to evaluate the application documents in the first stage. The evaluation points are:

1. Quality and pertinence of the project’s research and innovation objectives (and the extent to which they are ambitious, and go beyond the state of the art) (30 %)
2. Soundness of the proposed methodology (including interdisciplinary approaches, consideration of the gender dimension and other diversity aspects if relevant for the research project, and the quality of open science practices) (30 %)
3. Quality and appropriateness of the researcher’s professional experience, competences and skills (40 %)

The final scores are based on individual evaluations and consensus discussion. Only those applicants exceeding the threshold will be considered for the interviews. If several candidates exceed the threshold, the three (3) of them scoring the highest for each position will proceed into the interviews. 

Interviews will be conducted online by the Selection Committee of each Doctorate Candidate position. The interview includes a 10 min presentation by the candidate and a 20 min Q&A session.

Applicants exceeding the threshold criterion for the first stage (application documents) will be selected for interviews. In case there are several scoring above the threshold, three of the best scoring applicants will proceed to the interviews. In case of several equal overall scores, the score on professional competence will determine the order of the applicants (and then the soundness of the methodology and finally the quality of the objectives, if equal scores still stand). The second stage consists of the interview. The evaluation points for the interview are:

1. Scientific presentation skills and overall communication skills (30 %)
2. Motivation for the position, to work at LUT and within the secondment scheme, and for the research topic (30%)
3. Strengths, including the ambition to develop skills as a future scientist (40 %)

A final list is compiled based on the calculated final scores thus ideally resulting in a final list of 13 applicants.

After the selections of the DCs, all applicants will be informed about the decision by e-mail providing them with the evaluation summaries. The interviewed applicants ranked but not chosen will be informed about their placing on the waiting list – they can also choose not to stay on the list. In case a selected applicant refuses the position, the applicant with the second-best score for that specific position is offered the position.