Doctoral Studies
The doctoral studies at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts emphasise artistic work of high quality and artistic research in an associated field.
Since 1997, it has been possible to complete a postgraduate degree, Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA), at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. The doctoral studies at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts are coordinated by the Postgraduate Programme.
Students in the Postgraduate Programme are experts in their own field, artists whose work is characterised by a research-oriented approach. Their approach to their own language of expression is labelled by awareness and they aspire to analyse and develop the operational methods and strategies connected to artistic work.
In the spring term of 2012, there are 31 doctoral students involved in the Postgraduate Programme offered at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.
The objective of the doctoral studies is to provide the students with in-depth expertise for research in the fine arts and its significance in society. The goal is for the student to attain the abilities needed in order to complete top quality works of art that reflect artistic maturity and to be able not only to work independently in the field in question, but also to apply the methods of artistic research in the development of the field.
Degree requirements are recorded in the 2010–2015 Curricula guide.
Doctors of Fine Arts graduated from the Postgraduate Programme
| 2011 | Irene Kopelman | The Molyneux Problem Five backstage stories – and a map of why and how |
| 2011 | Marjatta Oja | Three-Dimensional Projection – Situation Sculpture between the Artist and the Viewer |
| 2010 | Denise Ziegler | Features of the Poetic: The Mimetic Method of the Visual Artist |
| 2008 | Jan-Erik Andersson | Life on a Leaf (Tila ikonina: Taloni arkkitehtonisena taideteoksena) |
| 2006 | Tarja Pitkänen-Walter | Liian haurasta kuvaksi – maalauksen aistisuudesta (Too Fragile to Turn it into Representation – on the Sensuous Materiality of Painting) |
| 2005 | Jan Kenneth Weckman | Seitsemän maalauksen katsominen/Maalaus maailman osana (Looking at Seven Paintings: Painting as a Part of the World) |
| 2005 | Teemu Mäki | Darkness Visible – Essays on Art, Philosophy and Politics |
| 2002 | Jan Kaila | Valokuvallisuus ja esittäminen nykytaiteessa, teoksia vuosilta 1998-2000 (Photographicality and Presentation in Contemporary Art; Works 1998-2000) |
| 2001 | Jyrki Siukonen | Uplifted Spirits, Earthbound Machines, Studies on Artists and Dream of Flight 1900-1935 |