Helsinki Doctoral Education Network in Information and Communications Technology (HICT)

The Helsinki Doctoral Education Network in Information and Communications Technology (HICT) is a collaborative doctoral education network hosted jointly by Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, the two leading universities within this area in Finland. The network serves as a collaboration platform for doctoral education combining all the relevant subfields of computer science and information technology at Aalto University and the University of Helsinki. It involves at present 55 professors and over 200 doctoral students, and the participating units graduate altogether more than 40 new doctors each year.

The quality of research and education in both HICT universities is world-class, but the education is still practically free as there are no tuition fees in the Finnish university system. Helsinki has been ranked as the World's Most Livable City (Monocle, 2011), and is the capital city of Finland, which is in the top 10 of the most highly educated nations in the world (OECD, 2013), and has been selected as the world’s best country to live in (Newsweek, 2010).

The activities of HICT are structured along six research area specific tracks:

• Algorithms and machine learning
• Creative technologies
• Life science informatics
• Networks, networked systems and services
• Software and service engineering and systems
• User centered information technology.

The activities of HICT are coordinated by the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology, a joint research institute of Aalto and University of Helsinki, and the participating university departments are:

• Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki (UH/CS)
• Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Aalto University School of Science (Aalto/CSE)
• Department of Information and Computer Science, Aalto University School of Science (Aalto/ICS)
• Department of Media Technology, Aalto University School of Science (Aalto/ME)
• Department of Communications and Networking, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering (Aalto/COMNET)
• Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics, Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering (Aalto/SPA)

News

• Deadline Feb. 14, 2014: The participating units of HICT have currently 15 fully funded positions available for exceptionally qualified doctoral students.
  • The application form is now open! Deadline: February 14, 15:30 EET (GMT+2).
  • Clarifications for the first stage of the application process:
    • Current doctoral students of HICT supervisors do not need to submit a (long) motivation letter at this stage; a short explanation of the status of the doctoral studies is sufficient
    • Current doctoral students of HICT supervisors do not need to ask for recommendation letters at this stage; they will be requested separately as needed