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View all other units

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PhD Programme

The Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies offers the opportunity to gain a doctoral degree (PhD) in Political Science by enrolling in its English language PhD programme. During the four years of PhD studies, students are required to collect credits through coursework, teaching, international publishing, conference participation and work on the doctoral project. The following text gives a detailed overview of the requirements, including information about credit points, formats of dissertations and funding opportunities.

Please note that, as of 2022, the PhD studies at the University of Tartu will undergo a reform which also includes changes to the curriculum. Therefore, the information below is mainly aimed for current students.

First steps

After you have successfully passed the admissions process and have been admitted to the PhD programme there are a number of immediate first steps that need to be taken:

PhD Study Agreement. Each doctoral student at the University of Tartu signs a study agreement which outlines topic and period of study and research, competences and expected results, and responsibilities of student and supervisor.
PhD student`s individual study plan. At the beginning of the first semester, in September each year, each full-time doctoral student is required to submit an Individual Study Plan, which includes a plan of research, studies, use of infrastructure and is approved by the supervisor. It will be drawn up and signed by the student, a supervisor and the University.
Doctoral allowance. All PhD students enrolled in a full-time study are eligible for a doctoral allowance if they are citizens of the Republic of Estonia or reside in Estonia on the basis of a residence permit and have not exceeded their nominal period of study. The amount of the state doctoral allowance at the moment is €660 per month (as of 2018). Students enrolled in or after the autumn semester of the 2018/2019 academic year will receive the doctoral allowance €660 + the doctoral students’ performance stipend 400 euros for six months. After that the payment of the stipend is contingent on the student´s academic performance. See more at: https://www.ut.ee/en/news/performance-stipend-available-doctoral-students-next-academic-year

Curriculum and requirements

The doctoral programme in political science lasts four years and consists of 240 European credit points (ECTS). The programme is divided into two main parts: course work (60 ECTS) and the doctoral dissertation (180 ECTS). The course work includes major field subjects (36 ECTS - including Doctoral seminar, Political Science Classics courses, Elective major subject courses), university-wide optional courses (6 ECTS), teaching requirement (6 ECTS) and other optional courses (12 ECTS). See the curriculum structure in the Study Information System.

All major components of the current curriculum are explained in more detail below.

Doctoral seminar (SORG.00.038), 6 ECTS

The broad goal of the seminar is to help PhD students succeed in the PhD. programme and to facilitate their transition from being a student to being a scholar. The seminar offers information about the main elements and requirements of the PhD programme (the dissertation itself, coursework, the publication requirement, the conference participation requirement, the teaching requirement, etc) and provides a forum for discussing these. It seeks to convey professional standards and know-how, covering a broad range of themes from publishing, conference participation, and professional associations to research funding. At the end of the course students are required to present and defend a substantially revised research plan - the Dissertation Prospectus - in front of a greater audience of other doctoral students and lecturers.

Political Science Classics courses, 12 ECTS

These are independent study courses leading to qualifying exams in any two of the following four fields:

Political theory (SORG.03.023), 6 ECTS;
Comparative politics (SORG.03.024), 6 ECTS;
Baltic politics (SORG.00.072), 6 ECTS;
International relations (SORG.00.070), 6 ECTS.

The candidate must work through a set of prescribed literature and successfully pass an oral exam (in some cases a written assigment is required). Detailed exam programmes (reading lists) are available for each exam. Contact the professor/lecturer in charge to schedule the exam date and get details about the readings:

eiki.berg [ät] ut.ee (Eiki Berg )– for International Relations;
piret.ehin [ät] ut.ee (Piret Ehin) – for Comparative Politics;
heiko.paabo [ät] ut.ee (Heiko Pääbo) – for Baltic Politics;
eva.piirimae [ät] ut.ee (Eva Piirimäe) – for Political Theory.

There are usually two opportunities to take the exam each academic year (in December/January, and May/June).

Elective major subject courses, 18 ECTS

The students must complete the following courses:

1) Paper at an international scholarly conference, 6 ECTS. The candidate may receive elective credit for a scholarly paper delivered at an internationally recognized and/or pre-reviewed conference, (e.g. annual meetings of the ECPR, IPSA, ISA, etc). To get credit for conference participation, two main criteria must be met: 1) you attended this kind of international scholarly conference 2) you produced a scholarly paper for the conference (as opposed to just ‘giving a talk’). To get credit, send your conference paper along with the name, location and dates of the conference (e.g. the official website) to the programme coordinator Maili Vilson. NB! PhD students admitted in 2016 and later must collect 12 ECTS for conference presentations, so in addition to the course above, another 6 ECTS will be collected under Research on doctoral dissertation.

2) Special Seminar in Political Science, 6 ECTS. This is a forum for faculty members and more advanced PhD students to present and discuss their own current research. To get credit points for the colloquium, the PhD student must attend at least 80% of the meetings as well as present his or her research. In the first year of study, the contribution to the colloquium comes in form of the dissertation prospectus defence (usually held in May); in later years students can present planned conference papers/ research articles or major sections of their dissertation etc. To learn more about the research colloquium visit the special section under Research on this website.

3) Methodology in the social sciences, 3 ECTS. This is a flexible course which provides each PhD student with the opportunity to use any methods training courses necessary for conducting their research to also fill the curriculum. For example, a students can transfer credits gained from ECPR methods schools or any methods courses taught at the University of Tartu or any other higher education institutions that correspond to the level expected from the PhD studies.

4) Current topics in the social sciences, 3 ECTS. This is a flexible course which provides each PhD student with the opportunity to use any training courses necessary for conducting their research to also fill the curriculum. For example, a students can transfer credits gained from ECPR methods schools or any summer or training schools that correspond to the level expected from the PhD studies.

University-wide elective courses (including teaching practice of 6ECTS) 12 ECTS

Each semester the Office of Doctoral Studies coordinates different university-wide doctoral seminars. Courses offered include, for instance, Academic writing skills, Bioethics, Intellectual Property, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, and Public speaking. The list of courses changes somewhat from year to year, as new courses are being added. See in SIS for courses offered in any given semester.

University Teaching Practice (SORG.00.016)

To help PhD students acquire teaching skills and prepare them for an academic career, a teaching requirement has been included in the programme. Such teaching must amount to 6 ECTS and may consist of the following activities:

teaching one's own course (‘full credit’: e.g. teaching a 3 ECTS course gives 3 ECTS);
assist a faculty member in teaching a course, including grading exams and student papers (‘half credit’: assisting a 6 ECTS course gives 3 ECTS);
serve as an advisor to a BA or MA thesis (supervising one MA thesis gives 3 ECTS, supervising 3 BA theses gives 3 ECTS).

PhD students should gradually build their ‘teaching portfolio’. In principle, any combination of the above is fine as long as your portfolio includes some actual classroom teaching (i.e. it should not consist of thesis supervision only).

Once work corresponding to 6 ECTS has been completed, send a brief description of your teaching activities (including names and dates of courses taught or assisted, theses successfully supervised, etc) to the maili.vilson [ät] ut.ee (programme coordinator).

Elective subjects, 12 ECTS

Additional doctoral-level courses of the candidate's own choosing (including courses offered by other Universities), or language courses are also applicable. Any third Political Science Classics course is also an option, as is any additional interdisciplinary social sciences courses.

Doctoral dissertation (SORG.00.027) 180 ECTS

In accordance with the University of Tartu's ‘Procedure for Awarding Doctorates’, a PhD candidate must have a minimum number of publications before he/she may defend the doctoral dissertation. These publications can be:

a) Scholarly articles indexed by Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, Arts & Humanities Citation Index and/or indexed by Scopus (excluding chapters in books)
b) articles in journals which belong to the category ‘A’ or ‘B’ of ERIH;
c) Peer-reviewed articles in other international research journals with an ISSN code and international editorial board, which are circulated internationally and open to international contributions;
d) Articles or chapters in publications of renowned international publishing houses;
e) Monographs published by acknowledged international scientific publishing houses.

Based on these publication categories, there are three ways to submit a doctoral dissertation:

as a series of minimum three publications (falling at least into categories c or d listed above), supplied with a summary and published in the University dissertations series (Dissertationes Universitatis Tartuensis). If a publication has several authors, the specific contribution of the person applying for the degree has to be clearly indicated;
as a monograph published in the University dissertation series (Dissertationes - Universitatis Tartuensis) which has been pre-reviewed at international level by at least two independent reputable scientists in the respective field. In this case, the degree applicant is required to have published at least one article or chapter (falling under categories c or d listed above) on the topic of his/her dissertation;
as a monograph corresponding to category ‘e’ above.

In political science, the most common form of dissertation is type 2, however, a candidate may also consider the other options and discuss them with his/her advisor. Publications published before the commencement of doctoral studies at the University of Tartu may be accepted toward this requirement, subject to review by the Board of the Institute. The defence of the thesis takes place in the form of a public academic discussion after all other requirements for the degree have been met. For additional information, see the Procedure for Awarding Doctorates on the UT main website.

Annual progress review

As a University-wide requirement, PhD students must pass an annual progress review (atesteerimine). At the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, the progress review usually takes place in late August every year.

What is the progress review? The purpose of these annual meetings (PhD student + supervisor + 3 or 4-member committee) is to assess the progress a PhD student has made in the programme. The meeting is a 20-30 minute discussion based on the student's individual study plan and the progress review form, which you have to submit in advance. As a result of the meeting, the committee must make a recommendation, i.e. choose one of the following options:

requirements met, the student will continue full-time studies;
requirements partly met, the student will be transferred to part-time study, which means the student receives 50% of the PhD study stipend, and is required to pay the study fee of 50€/semester;
requirements not met, the student will be dismissed.

The basis for this decision is coursework completed, credit points earned and progress made on the dissertation (including research activities related to the dissertation such as publications, conference presentations, participation in research projects). Ideally, to complete the programme in four years, one should earn 60 ECTS per year. 45 ECTS per year and above is considered sufficient for full-time study (täiskoormusega õpe), 30-44 ECTS per year is sufficient for part-time study (osakoormusega õpe).

The UT Study Regulations with section on ‘Progress review of doctoral students’ are available here (see section V.5).

Who must pass the progress review? All PhD students, except those who are on academic leave. Note: if your academic leave ends within a few months of the scheduled review period, you should still pass the progress review because it would be difficult to arrange a separate review meeting later on.

What is expected of the PhD student? For the progress review meeting:

>> Please prepare your progress review report and be prepared to discuss activities of the past year in light of your individual study plan (coursework, progress made on the dissertation, conferences, publications, projects, etc). The information you give in this form constitutes the basis for the discussion and decision, so please be sure to list all of your relevant achievements and describe progress made on the dissertation in sufficient detail.

>> Have a clear overview of how many credit points you (will) have earned by the end of the semester.

Funding and support to PhD students

Doctoral allowance is available for students who:

are citizens of the Republic of Estonia or who reside in Estonia on the basis of a residence right or a permanent or temporary residence permit;
are engaged in full-time doctoral study on a state-funded study place;
have not exceeded the nominal period of study;
do not receive student support from a government of a foreign country, or an international or intergovernmental organization.

The amount of the doctoral allowance is €660 per month (as of 2018). The application to receive the doctoral allowance should be submitted via SIS during the period September 1 to September 30. The application should be submitted once for the entire study period; there is no need to re-apply every year.

Information on non-state stipends and other funding opportunities is available here. One can apply for travel support from Kristjan Jaak or the DoRa programme (short-term travel, extended stay abroad). The Skytte Institute is also a member of the Doctoral School of Economics and Innovation which organises various events and offers mobility opportunities.

There are also limited employment opportunities for PhD students at the Institute (mostly in teaching). PhD students can also be involved in various institutional or individual research grants held by faculty members (for instance, PhD students participating in grant projects supported by the Estonian Research Council can be paid an additional stipend not exceeding €200 per month).

The Counselling Centre at the University offers advice regarding organisation of studies, career and psychological counselling, study-related information and training courses to students of all levels of study. Please click here for more information.

Additional information

Procedure for assessing doctoral students progress in research and conducting progress reviews in the Faculty of Social Sciences
Good practice of doctoral studies (in Estonian, in English)

For more information, please contact the PhD programme coordinator Maili Vilson, maili.vilson [ät] ut.ee.

Current and Defended Dissertations

Below, you can find more information about PhD research undertaken and completed at the Institute.

Dissertations currently undertaken at the Institute

Art Alishani, MA (TalTech)

Topic: "Harnessing the potential of algorithms and intelligent technologies to build robust and human-centric public administrations: Cross-border digital public services"
Supervisors: Robert Krimmer, Mihkel Solvak

Butrint Berisha, MA (Stockholm)

Topic: "Exploring the role of civil society organisations in the foreign policy of contested states: An analysis of Kosovo, Palestine and Taiwan since 2010"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Logan Carmichael, MA (Auckland)

Topic: "Cybersecurity Uplift in the Estonian Digital Governance Model, 2007-2021"
Supervisors: Robert Krimmer, Mihkel Solvak

Ionut-Valentin Chiruta, MA (Oslo)

Topic: "Reconstructing collective memory in the time of Populism. A study of mnemonic reverberations of the Magyar minority from Romania"
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Michael Cole, MA (Birmingham)

Topic: "The influence of Russian discourse on right-wing populist discourses in Ukraine and Georgia"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Stefan Dedovic, MA (TalTech)

Topic: "Interoperability governance of the cross-border mobile electronic identification"
Supervisors: Robert Krimmer, Mihkel Solvak

Radityo Dharmaputra, MA (Glasgow/ Tartu)

Topic: "Contemporary Russian Foreign Policy Discourse towards Asia: Assessing the Logic of Causality in the Discursive Structure of Identity"
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov

Sandra Hagelin, MA (Amsterdam)

Topic: "Understanding the role of borders and boundaries in European Integration following the Covid-19 crisis"
Supervisor: Stefano Braghiroli

Biao He, MA (OsloMet)

Topic: "E-governance for all: How does the Chinese local government bridge the digital divide that persons with disabilities experience in the use of e-governance services?"
Supervisors: Robert Krimmer, Mihkel Solvak

Urmas Hõbepappel, MA (Lund)

Topic: "Changing History – Changing the Present? Postmodernist Historiography and Political Change in China"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Sanshiro Hosaka, MA (OUJ)

Topic: "Covering Former Empire 'Peripheries': Academia's Reception of Russian Strategic Narratives in International Conflicts"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Kristjan Kaldur, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Early patterns of integration among the newly arrived migrants: the case of Russian-speaking new migrants in Estonia"
Supervisors: Piret Ehin and Kristina Kallas

Ivan Ulises Kentros Klyszcz, MA (Glasgow/ Tartu)

Topic: "Russia's perception of Turkey's engagement with the North Caucasus autonomous republics"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Natalia Kovyliaeva, MA (CEU)

Topic: "Gaining Voice: Digital Feminist and Women's Movements in Post-Soviet Countries"
Supervisor: Katrin Uba and Andrey Makarychev

Thomas Michael Linsenmaier, MA (FU Berlin)

Topic: "The interplay between regional international societies – towards a European security architecture?”
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov

Lelde Luik, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "'We the people': political representation, power and popular sovereignty in Latvia"
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov

Tatiana Lupacheva, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "The electoral consequences of personalised parliamentary behaviour: A comparative textual analysis of legislative speeches"
Supervisor: Martin Mölder

Mariia Maksimova, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Envision, regulation, management, and impact of the implementation of cloud-based solutions for e-government: public-private collaboration in value creation"
Supervisor: Mihkel Solvak

Eoin Micheal McNamara, MA/MSc (Tartu/ London)

Topic: "What determines the NATO contribution of small post-2004 allies? A comparative analysis of Estonia, Slovenia and Bulgaria"
Supervisor: Andres Kasekamp and Eiki Berg

Andrii Nekoliak, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Understanding the origins of ‘memory laws’ in Eastern Europe: case studies of Estonia, Ukraine, and Poland"
Supervisor: Vello Pettai

Maria Reinfeldt, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Conceptualizing the European Union as an international actor: an analysis of the moving position of the EU’s Self and the construction of Europe from within"
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov

Bogdan Romanov, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "Electronic voting in Russia: the scrutiny of 'i-voting' in an authoritarian context"
Supervisors: Mihkel Solvak, Robert Krimmer

Oliver Rowe, MA (Geneva)

Topic: "The White Movement at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919-1920: People, Nations, and Self-Determination in the Russian Revolution and Civil War and their Contemporary Legacies"
Supervisor: Eva Piirimäe

Anselm Schmidt, MA (Regensburg)

Topic: "Russian versus Ukrainian 'International' News Media and the War in Ukraine: Between Actors and Instruments of State"
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Annika Siirak, MA (Tartu/ Bruges)

Topic: How political change towards democracy can end up stuck in a hybrid regime
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Mari-Liis Sulg, MA (Tallinn)

Topic: Small State Foreing Policy strategic options: Estonian Example
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

George Spencer Terry, MA (Tartu)

Topic: The Far Right as a Cultural Phenomenon: Searching for Definitions in Italy, Poland, and Estonia
Supervisor: Andrey Makarychev

Märten Veskimäe, MA (Tartu)

Topic: Measuring the impact of government e-services
Supervisor: Mihkel Solvak

Maili Vilson, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "The Europeanization of national foreign policy during the crisis in Ukraine"
Supervisor: Viacheslav Morozov and Piret Ehin

Kristel Vits, MA (Tartu)

Topic: "De facto states and dependences: disentangling the interrelationship between de factostatehood and patronage"
Supervisor: Eiki Berg

Louis Wierenga, MA (Toronto)

Topic: "Women in radical right, populist parties in Europe"
Supervisor: Andres Kasekamp and Vello Pettai

Dissertations defended at the Institute 2006-2021

Click on the link to access the full dissertation online.

Allan Sikk, "Highways to power: New party success in three young democracies", 2006.
Supervisors Rein Taagepera and Mogens N. Pedersen

Holger Mölder, "Cooperative security dilemma – practicing the Hobbesian security culture in the Kantian security environment", 2010.
Supervisor Eiki Berg

Heiko Pääbo, "Potential of Collective Memory Based International Identity Conflicts in Post-Imperial Space: Comparison of Russian Master Narrative with Estonian, Ukrainian and Georgian Master Narratives", 2011.
Supervisor Andres Kasekamp

Mihkel Solvak, "Private members’ bills in parliament - a comparative study of Finland and Estonia", 2011.
Supervisor Vello Pettai

Viljar Veebel, "The role and impact of positive conditionality in the EU pre-acession policy", 2012.
Supervisor Eiki Berg

Alar Kilp, "Church authority in society, culture and politics after Communism", 2012.
Supervisor Rein Taagepera

Maria Groeneveld, "The role of the state and society relationship in the foreign policy making process", 2012.
Supervisors Andres Kasekamp and Alexander Astrov

Mari-Liis Sööt, "Explaining corruption: Opportunities for corruption and institutional trust", 2013.
Supervisor Tiina Randma-Liiv

Kadri Lühiste, "Regime Support in European Democracies", 2013.
Supervisor Piret Ehin

Raul Toomla, "De facto states in the international system: Conditions for (in)formal engagement", 2014.
Supervisor Eiki Berg

Andro Kitus, "A Post-Structuralist “Concept” of Legitimacy", 2014.
Supervisors Vello Pettai and Lasse Thomassen

Kristian Lau Nielsen, "Soft Power Europe: The Lesser Contradiction in Terms and Practices", 2016.
Supervisor Eiki Berg

Birgit Poopuu, "Acting is everything: the European unioon and the process of becoming a peacebuilder", 2016.
Supervisor Maria Mälksoo

Kristina Kallas, "Revisiting the triadic nexus: An analysis of the ethnopolitical interplay between Estonia, Russia and Estonian Russians", 2016.
Supervisor Vello Pettai

Liisa Talving, "Economic conditions and incumbent support: when and how does the economy matter?", 2016.
Supervisors Piret Ehin and Kristjan Vassil

Ryhor Nizhnikau, "Externally induced institutional change in the EU’s Eastern neighbourhood: migration and environment reforms in Ukraine and Moldova in 2010–2015", 2017.
Supervisor Viatcheslav Morozov

Kats Kivistik, "Relevance, content and effects of left-right identification in countries with different regime trajectories", 2017.
Supervisors Piret Ehin and André Freire

Lukas Pukelis, "Informal mutual oversight mechanisms in coalition governments: Insights from the Baltic states for theory building", 2018.
Supervisor Vello Pettai

Shota Kakabadze, "'The Caucasian chalk circle': Georgia’s self at the East/West nexus", 2020.
Supervisors Andrey Makarychev and Maria Mälksoo

Maksim Kulaev, "Trade unions, transformism and the survival of Russian authoritarianism", 2021.
Supervisor Viatcheslav Morozov

Juhan Saharov, "From economic independence to political sovereignty: inventing “self-management” in the Estonian SSR", 2021.
Supervisor Eva Piirimäe

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