Significant EU funding for doctoral training programme coordinated by the University of Oulu
The funded programme, MITIME: Entanglements of Migration and Time in Post-industrial Urban Europe doctoral programme focuses particularly on urban areas in Europe where industrial activity has declined, and societal transformations challenge traditional perceptions of time and forms of belonging.
The funding from the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks will enable 15 fully funded doctoral researcher positions across the University of Oulu and six partner universities in Bilbao, Bochum, Cork, Istanbul, Liège, and Rotterdam.
“This funding gives a rare opportunity to directly influence how human mobility and migration experiences in Europe are understood and addressed,” Paula Rossi, the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities says.
The MSCA Doctoral Network funding strengthens the position of the University of Oulu and the European University UNIC as leading European hubs for research and doctoral education in the field of migration and mobility studies.
“It enhances our international partnerships, helps attract top-tier doctoral candidates, and deepens our dialogue with policymakers and civil society. More broadly, it raises the university’s profile in discussions about transformation, integration, and the diversity and inequalities associated with urban change,” Rossi explains.
The success also lays the groundwork for future research collaboration and funding opportunities, further integrating Oulu into European research and policy networks, Rossi adds.
In addition, the University of Oulu is a partner in four other doctoral programmes that have received funding. They are located at the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering: Doctoral Network on Spectrum Analytics as a Service (SpecX, contact Marja Matinmikko-Blue), Advanced Network Connectivity using Harmonious Optical and Radio Technologies (ANCHOR, Marcos Katz), Decentralized critical Infrastructure Asset Monitoring and coNDition assessment (DIAMOND, Juha Röning) and GENerative and connected intelligence for 6G Open ManagemEnt (GENOME, Mehdi Bennis).
The goal of the Doctoral Networks is to implement training programmes in partnership with organisations across disciplines, stimulate the creativity of doctoral researchers, enhance their innovation capacity, and promote long-term employability.
The European Commission is supporting a total of 149 doctoral programmes aimed at training and developing the expertise of over 1,800 doctoral researchers through collaboration between academia and external stakeholders.
In the 2024 MSCA Doctoral Networks call, the European Research Executive Agency (REA) received a total of 1,417 applications, of which 10.6 percent were funded. The University of Oulu also participates as a partner in four other funded projects.