Open calls in doctoral studies, the fourth period

The fourth application period will take place from 15 to 30 November 2024.

Doctoral students admitted to these projects will have employment contracts with the junior researcher. The expected workload is 1.0, the expected work period is four years.  The final workload will be set during the negotiations.

Admission conditions and evaluation criteria of the faculty

In the Faculty of Science and Technology, all candidates must submit a motivation letter and a CV in the Dreamapply together with the application. Candidates will be assessed on the basis of a motivation letter and an entrance interview. (except for the science education, where a draft for doctoral project must be submitted instead of a motivation letter). Candidates will apply for announced projects.

 

Motivation letter

Please write a brief motivation letter (in English, maximum of 6000 characters with spaces) based on the following points:

1. Why are you interested in this PhD project, explain your choice.
2. What is your previous experience in this field? Explain how your educational and professional background relates to the project you are applying to.
3. What are the analytical/scientific methods you have practiced.
4. Describe briefly the methods and main results of your MSc thesis.
5. Decribe your earlier research activities, including research publications and conference presentations, if available.
Assessment criteria for motivation letter:

- motivation and argumentation of skills and the choice of the project
- relevant study and work experience and other relevant activities (publications, project management etc.) as required to present in the motivation letter.

Interview

The applicant must describe the wider scientific background of the doctoral project and possible applicability of the results, also their motivation to be admitted to PhD studies with particular project. The admissions interview is conducted by the admissions committee. Only applicants whose motivation letter is assessed positively will be invited to the interview (minimum positive result is 35 points out of 50).

The entrance interview is used to assess the following:

- knowledge of the wider scientific background of the project and possible application of the expected results
- applicant’s motivation to pursue doctoral studies in the relevant field of science and to work in this field
- wider analytical and generalization skills regarding the research and study topics.

International applicants who cannot be present at the interview in Tartu, may conduct an online interview. Applicants will be informed of their interview date and time by the respective faculty.

Both the motivation letter and entrance interview are assessed on a scale of 0 to 50 points, minimum positive score is at least 35 points. To be invited to an interview, the applicant must earn at least 35 points for the motivation letter.

Projects for application:

Space Research and Technology

Supervisor: Mihkel Pajusalu

The goal of this PhD project is to develop a digital representation of a planetary rover in order to minimise the risk of failure of the system on the Lunar surface and to use it as a monitoring tool throughout its life cycle. In addition, investigation of the use of the digital twin as a tool to optimise and design the physical and software related aspects of the rover will be conducted. The major part of the project will be devoted to improving and developing the Tartu Observatory ULYSSES Moon simulator toolkit to be used as the environment for the digital counterpart. Later in the project a physical counterpart will be added to verify the digital twin accuracy. This project allows the potential PhD student to work in many different theoretical and practical problem areas like graphical user environment development, robotic system interfaces and continuous data acquisition.

 

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