Professor Zanda Rubene Appointed Director of the LU Doctoral School

“The Doctoral School will soon become an important source of support for both young researchers and doctoral supervisors, providing opportunities to expand and strengthen the potential of doctoral research through closer collaboration with industry and greater involvement of international partners. Although the establishment of a doctoral school at UL - as in Latvia more broadly - is a recent development, we hope to see positive results very soon, particularly regarding the number of defended doctoral theses and awarded doctoral degrees,” says Prof. Zanda Rubene.

Prof. Zanda Rubene serves not only as Vice-Dean for Science at  Faculty of Education and Psychology but also as a leading researcher and director of the doctoral program in Educational Sciences. Under her supervision, eight doctoral theses have been successfully defended. She teaches courses in educational philosophy, critical thinking, and research ethics, and is especially engaged in research on childhood, including digital childhood. Since May 2022, she has also chaired the UL Constitutional Assembly.

As previously reported, in accordance with a decision of the UL Council, a unified Doctoral School was established at UL on 15 July. Its main tasks are to implement and promote all doctoral study programs, support the career development of young researchers, monitor and improve the quality of doctoral education, and foster international cooperation. The new doctoral model, to be gradually introduced at UL by the end of 2026, includes the transition to employment-based doctoral studies and strengthening interdisciplinarity in research.

Each year, around 50 young researchers obtain doctoral degrees at UL. This year, nearly 100 new doctoral candidates are planned to be admitted.

The UL Doctoral School will offer a robust and high-quality academic component, providing opportunities to acquire a range of skills necessary for advanced intellectual work, from cultural history and philosophy to statistics, academic publishing, and project writing. Doctoral candidates will have broader opportunities for remuneration and will be actively involved in academic work from the start of their research. An individualized doctoral committee system will facilitate interdisciplinary research. Unified regulations will reduce uncertainty and increase transparency, while providing greater flexibility to assess doctoral competencies and align them with current sectoral needs.

Amendments to the Higher Education Law stipulate the introduction of the new doctoral model and the establishment of the Doctoral School as a university structural unit by 1 September 2024. The regulations of the UL Doctoral School are expected to be approved in July. Doctoral candidates who begin their studies by the end of August this year must obtain their doctoral degree by the end of 2026 in accordance with the Higher Education and Research Law, while those starting their studies from 1 September 2024 will receive their degree under the new legal requirements.

UL has already implemented an internal doctoral grant system and organized educational and informational seminar series, including workshops on time management, stress management, professional burnout, digital profile development, scientific networking and publishing, science communication, and more. Experience-sharing webinars have introduced doctoral candidates and supervisors to study and research practices at various universities worldwide.

Under the new legal amendments, all activities related to quality assessment by external institutions, such as the Latvian Council of Science and the State Scientific Qualification Commission, will be carried out within this university structural unit.

Admission to UL doctoral studies in 2024 will take place from 19 to 30 August. More information on doctoral study programs and the application process is available on the UL portal gribustudet.lv.
 

The establishment of the UL Doctoral School is part of the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism project “Internal and External Consolidation of the University of Latvia” (No. 5.2.1.1.i.0/2/24/I/CFLA/007), implemented by the University of Latvia and the School of Business, continuing the work initiated under the European Social Fund project “Strengthening the Capacity of UL Doctoral Studies under the New Doctoral Model” (No. 8.2.2.0/20/I/006).


 

This translation was prepared using machine translation tools (DeepL and ChatGPT).