Doctoral scholarships

Individual doctoral candidates who are or can consider themselves affiliated with theology at Åbo Akademi can apply for doctoral scholarships. The Julius Polin Ancestors’ Memorial Fund annually announces shorter or longer scholarships in connection with Åbo Akademi’s doctoral call in September each year. Application periods and further information are available here. The application round for the fall of 2024 closed on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 23:59.

The longer doctoral scholarships from the Julius Polin Ancestors’ Memorial Fund are four-year scholarships, and currently, all scholarships are filled. The same memorial fund also announces 3-12 month scholarships, and these are announced every fall (see above).

Applications are assessed by both internal and external experts. The internal experts consist of members of the Polin Board. The Polin Institute’s board makes a recommendation based on expert opinions received, and the scholarships are granted by the Board of the Foundation for Åbo Akademi.

Doctoral position, postdoctoral researcher positions, and research projects

The Polin Institute also finances doctoral positions, postdoctoral researcher positions, and research projects. Currently, there are five research doctoral positions at the institute.

The calls for 2025 for a doctoral position, for a research doctor in practical theology, and for a research doctor in church history are postponed until 2026.

Research projects led by senior researchers (at least at the level of docent) affiliated with theology at Åbo Akademi can apply for funding at the Polin Institute, provided they have been evaluated sufficiently high by external project evaluation (Finnish Academy, Research Council, or similar). The Polin Institute’s board may recommend that such projects should be funded, but the decision on actual funding is made by the Board of the Foundation for Åbo Akademi. Currently, four research projects at the Polin Institute are funded.

Stints for Polin monographs

The Polin Institute also welcomes researchers for shorter stays, which in special cases may include a scholarship. The Executive Board decides on such stints.

The Institute has a Polin Monographs Program, through which foreign researchers with a doctorate are welcome to conduct research at the Institute for up to six months. The Institute offers two positions for the time period March-August and two positions for the period September-February. The application deadline for September 2025 – February 2026 is 14 February 2025. The call for applications can be found here.

The Head of Research receives the applications, selects the strongest candidates and sends the applications to at least one member of the Polin Committee. If two members evaluate the applications, they must read them all. The selection criteria are the expected quality of the proposed monograph, based on the manuscript extract or manuscript and work plan, as well as the applicant’s academic merits in relation to his or her career stage, the relevance of the proposed monograph and its contribution to theology.

Sabbaticals

Polin Sabbaticals is a program that welcomes foreign researchers for slightly longer research periods of between one and twelve months. The researcher wishing to come to the Polin Institute for a sabbatical should contact the Head of Research of the Institute, who will make a decision. The Polin sabbatical researcher is expected to participate actively in the activities of the Institute. As a general rule, the Institute will pay for the visiting researchers’ accommodation and workstation (excluding computer), while the visiting researcher is responsible for his/her own food and travel expenses.