Doctoral personal study plan (DPSP)

What does the DPSP consist of?

The doctoral personal study plan (DPSP) consist of five parts, that together form the entire plan:

Credit plan (Sisu)
Research plan
Supervision plan
Financing plan
Career plan

The DPSP is a dynamic plan that evolves as the doctoral thesis and studies progress. The doctoral student is responsible for keeping it up-to-date, while the supervising professor monitors and supports its updates, and approves the plan.

Doctoral students use the MyStudies portal to make their DPSP and send it for their supervising professor's approval. Supervising professors can view and approve the DPSP on the staff interface called Student Success Hub.

Who can see my DPSP in the system?

In addition to the supervising professor, the DPSP can be viewed anytime in the staff interface Student Success Hub by the doctoral student's thesis advisor(s), possible co-supervisors, and the doctoral education services. Aalto external thesis advisors cannot access the system, but they will receive a pdf version of the DPSP, when they need to accept the supervision plan on their part (more info in section "How to make a DPSP and submit it for approval").

External thesis advisors will always receive an English pdf from the system. When writing the contents of your DPSP, please use a language that all your supervision team members can understand. On the student's MyStudies desktop, the pdf file of the DPSP will be offered in the language that you have chosen for the MyStudies interface from the language settings. You can share the pdf version of your DPSP to your external advisors anytime as needed.

NB. All saved edits to the DPSP are recorded in a change history component available on Student Success Hub and visible to all those who have rights to view your DPSP in the staff interface. Tracking the changes is relevant mainly if there is a need to check in what format was some information approved by the supervising professor, if there has been edits to the plan after its approval. But please consider this and do not save any sensitive information to your DPSP even temporarily.

How to make a DPSP and submit it for supervising professor's approval

The DPSP is located on the MyStudies portal for students. The recommended web browsers for MyStudies are Chrome and Firefox. For questions concerning MyStudies beyond the DPSP page, e.g. related to login issues, please check the general MyStudies instructions for students (aalto.fi).

You can navigate to the DPSP on MyStudies from the top menu, where it has its own tab that is visible only for students doing a doctoral or licentiate degree.

Discuss your plans with your supervising professor and fill in the five* parts of your DPSP to the system. Please note that some parts of the plan, such as the Supervision plan, require a discussion with both your supervising professor and your thesis advisor(s) before you can fill in the agreed details into the system.

You can save incomplete information on the DPSP parts and return to complete things later, so there is no need to finish them in one go. The DPSP is not sent for the supervising professor's approval until you submit it from the "Submit for approval" button. Please note that the comment you can add to the supervising professor when submitting the plan is visible in the staff interface for all that have the DPSP view rights.

*BIZ: Note that at the School of Business, some students are not required to prepare their research plan until the beginning of their second year of study. Discuss this with your own supervising professor.
When your DPSP is ready, submit it for your supervising professor's approval. Your supervising professor can see the information you have filled in to the DPSP on the Student Success Hub staff interface, but cannot edit your plan. Your supervising professor can approve the plan or return it to you. The DPSP status shows as "Waiting for approval" until your supervising professor has reacted to the approval request. Supervising professors get automatic weekly reminders from the system, if they have pending DPSP requests waiting for them. Instructions for supervising professors.

If there is something to fix in your plan, your supervising professor can return the DPSP to you. If they return it, they need to add a mandatory comment to explain what needs to be changed for them to approve the plan. You will get an email notification about this. Once you have edited the DPSP as needed, you can submit it for approval the same way as before.

If your supervising professor thinks everything is ok and approves the plan, you get an email notification that may include an optional comment from them. The DPSP status is turned to "Approved".

NB. Supervision plan: When you first make the DPSP, the supervision plan is automatically sent for approval to all supervision team members when you use the "Submit for approval" button. Members of the supervision team are the supervising professor, thesis advisor(s), and a possible co-supervisor. Those thesis advisors who have an employment contract at Aalto can view all the DPSP parts directly in the system just as the supervising professor, and can approve the supervision plan there. Aalto external thesis advisors will receive a pdf of the DPSP to their email and can approve the supervision plan with an email reply, that is registered as an approval directly into the system. The status of the whole DPSP will turn to "Approved" only after all parties have approved the supervision plan. If anyone rejects, the DPSP will be returned to the student for editing.
In the future, when you update your DPSP, the status will show that the plan has been edited after approval. You can save your approved DPSP as a pdf file before editing it, in case you want to later check what was written on the previous version. Supervising professors will always see the latest edited version of the DPSP, i.e. the same content as the student sees, but they can use the change history tool on the staff interface to check what information has changed after their approval.

You can send the DPSP for re-approval the same way as initially, from the "Submit for approval" button. When you send the DPSP for re-approval, the approval request will go to your whole supervision team only if you have edited the supervision plan. If you have edited other parts of the DPSP, but not the supervision plan, the approval request goes only to your supervising professor.

See section "Updating the DPSP and re-approvals" to learn when do you need a new approval for your updated DPSP.

Updating the DPSP and re-approvals

The DPSP should be updated whenever needed and the topical parts discussed with your supervising professor at least twice a year. The doctoral researchers employed by Aalto can do this in connection to the biannual MyDialogues discussions. Please also note your School's possible midterm review or advisory board practices related to the DPSP.

It is recommended that in connection to the biannual discussions, the DPSP is always approved if there are updates to it. Otherwise, you don't need to submit it for approval every time you edit the contents. However, note that there are some specific instances listed below that require you to have the DPSP officially approved.

When does the DPSP need to be approved?

You will need an official approval for your DPSP at the beginning of your studies and

If your supervising professor, thesis advisors, or research field changes (NB. Then you also need your School's official decision on the change(s), see the application instructions and the required form)
If your funding situation changes significantly.
Before you start your pre-examination: have your DPSP approved, if your credit plan (Sisu) has changed after your supervising has last approved it in MyStudies. At this stage, you can add a comment to the approval request explaining that you need the approval specifically for the updated credit plan to start the pre-examination phase.

Instructions for the five parts of the DPSP

One part of the DPSP, the credit plan, is prepared in Sisu and a screenshot of it uploaded to MyStudies. The other four parts are prepared directly in the MyStudies portal, where you can see the specific content for each part. Below you will find some general instructions and materials to help you prepare the different parts of the DPSP.

Credit plan covers those study attainments that you intend to include in your doctoral degree. These can include courses completed at Aalto University or elsewhere, or individual studies. Please familiarise yourself with your doctoral programme's curriculum.

Choosing courses for your plan Model schedule for doctoral students Courses completed at other Finnish or foreign universities Independently completed individual studies

How to make the credit plan in Sisu?

Credit plan is your plan for what kind of courses and individual studies you will include in your degree. You make your credit plan at . Your supervising professor is able to view your credit plan in Sisu, but cannot approve it there.

Sisu notifications can be misleading and suggest that you would need to have your Sisu credit plan's study modules approved at the beginning of your studies, but that is not the case, and you can ignore the "approval required" notifications at this point. Approval in Sisu is to be applied only before pre-examination, when it has the confirmed final content to be included into your degree.

Credit plan is approved as one part of your DPSP on the MyStudies portal, where you can upload a screenshot from Sisu.

Sisu instructions: Credit plan (Sisu) for doctoral students Montly Sisu and DPSP clinics for doctoral students

Confirming your course selections

After your supervising professor has confirmed your DPSP at the beginning your studies, you do not have to get an official confirmation if you change the courses you plan to complete at Aalto or change your plans for individual studies. If is enough that you actively discuss your plans with your supervising professor.

Substituting compulsory courses

If you want to substitute compulsory courses, first ask about it from your doctoral programme's Doctoral education services.

Final approval in Sisu at the end of studies

When your doctoral studies are nearing their end and you have completed all courses and pre-examination is approaching, the Sisu credit plan has to be set to its final form.

In most cases, Sisu requires approval of the study modules included in the plan. It is preferable to do this only just before the pre-examination phase. Before you request for the approval in Sisu, all the study attainments to be included in the degree must be completed, and you need to have your supervising professor's approval for your final credit plan as part of your DPSP in the MyStudies portal.

More detailed instructions: My doctoral studies are nearing completion and my pre-examination is about to begin (aalto.fi)

Research plan is a constantly evolving plan, so remember to discuss it often enough with your supervising professor and thesis advisor(s). Update it regularly on MyStudies and fill in the parts you can at each time. When your knowledge increases, you can improve the plan, so don't worry if the first version does not yet have all the answers.

BIZ: Note that at the School of Business, some students are not required to prepare their research plan until the beginning of their second year of study. Discuss this with your own supervising professor.

The DPSP research plan is divided into three sections: the written research plan, its schedule as a separate tool, and the data management plan. Below, you can find more information according to the same division. When you plan your research, it is also important to be aware of Research ethics and research integrity. More useful information can also be found on the Researcher skills for doctoral students page.

Research plan

The first section has ready-made fields that guide you in answering to common topics to be included in a research plan. These include:

Working title of your doctoral thesis
- Your own working title for your thesis can change many times during your doctoral studies, and is different from the thesis topic confirmed for you in the system at the start of your studies (seen on the Doctoral thesis page in MyStudies). A change to the confirmed topic is only needed if your research topic completely changes from the original, for instance in connection with a change of supervising professor.
Research aim: research questions or objectives
Theoretical background
Implementation: Methodology and methods
Researcher mobility during your doctoral studiesResearcher mobility and collaboration
Publication and disseminationHow to choose a scientific publication for your research
List of references to support your research
Collaboration
- The university collects data on whether doctoral theses are made in collaboration with a company or other organisation. In connection to this, a contact person for the possible collaboration is asked from the student. This person should be informed by the student about this for example as follows: "Your contact details are saved to the Aalto Service Platform to support doctoral studies and their administration. More information concerning the use of personal data available is in the privacy notice /en/student-guide/privacy-notice-mystudies or by contacting servicedesk@aalto.fi."
- We are developing an automated message, that would directly inform the person concerned if their contact details are saved to the system, but for now the students are responsible for informing the possible contact person about adding their information to the university's system. NB. if the contact person is your thesis advisor, you do not need to inform them.

You can also add possible attachments to your research plan, such as pictures or figures. If your research plan includes e.g. mathematical formulas and the simple text fields do not support the writing of your plan, you can add the whole as an attachment. In this case, fill in any sections in the system that are not answered in your attached research plan.

Research plan schedule

The schedule tool includes some rows that are common for all doctoral students, plus as a guiding example rows for planning the schedule for three articles. From the "Modify Rows" button you can open the editing mode, where you can rename the example article rows to whatever you want (pen icon), delete them (trash bin icon), or add new rows to the plan (+ Task).

The plan includes four years by default, but you can add more years from the (+ Year) button. Years added after the four default years can also be deleted from the "Modify Years" button, which makes a trash bin icon appear. In order to keep any edits you have made, make sure to use the Save button when exiting the pop-up window.

Data management plan

Each doctoral thesis is a research project of its own and an essential part of doing research is to define e.g. where to save your research data and how long to store it. Good research data management also supports open science. More information:

Managing your data in doctoral research Research data management (RDS) and open science

NB. If you are part of a research group, it may have its own data management plan that defines how to handle data in the project. In that case, it is important that your own plan does not contradict the umbrella project's data management plan. Discuss the topic with your supervising professor, to make sure you are aware of any set guidelines and know how to apply them to your own doctoral research.

The plan clarifies the responsibilities of the supervising professor, thesis advisor(s), and doctoral student during the supervision process. The contents of the supervision plan should be discussed in advance with all parties and then write down in the system what has been agreed about the responsibilities and practicalities of the supervision. All parties approve the supervision plan, which therefore also functions as verification of the supervision roles and practicalities to be followed as they have been mutually agreed upon.

If there are changes in the supervision team, the student needs to request for those changes to be officially approved. This happens with the form Change of supervising professor, thesis advisor, research field or mode of study, available at Doctoral student forms

The division of responsibilities within the updated supervision team should be discussed in advance. Once the official decision has been made and the updated supervision team information is saved in the system, the student must update the supervision plan according to what was agreed and send it for approval. Unlike the other DPSP parts which are approved by the supervising professor only, the supervision plan is approved by all supervision team members.

In short, here is the step-by-step process if there are changes in your supervision team:

Agree on the supervision arrangements in advance
Fill in the change form as instructed to request for official approval of the changes
Once the official decision is made, your new supervision team information is saved in the system and you will be notified
Update your supervision plan in MyStudies and submit the DPSP for approval
All supervision team members need to approve the supervision plan.

Read more about supervision and change requests here:

Supervision of doctoral studies

Financing plan helps the doctoral student and supervising professor to plan the funding needed for the doctoral studies, and to understand how much is needed. In the plan, you state the duration and source of secured funding, and possible plans for acquiring further funding.

Read more about funding your doctoral studies here:

Funding your doctoral studies

The DPSP offers a template and materials for your career plans, that you can keep adding to as your doctoral studies progress. The template is for four years, which is the normal target time for full-time students to graduate in. If you are studying part-time and for longer than four years, you can adapt the yearly sections to fit your own schedule.

Aalto University's Career Design Lab supports doctoral students in creating their individual study and career paths from the beginning of their studies. Learn more about the Career Design Lab's services and other career support available:

Career Design for Doctoral Students

Transition period for new and old DPSPs

All doctoral students who have started in March 2026 or later will create their first doctoral personal study plan with the new DPSP tool on the MyStudies portal following the instructions on this page. If you have started earlier and have submitted your DPSP to the system as a pdf compilation according to the old instructions, please note the following:

A DPSP approved by your supervising professor that is found in the Advisory Notes section of MyStudies with an approval note by your supervising professor (or the doctoral education services) will remain there and stay valid, if there are no changes to it.
Those documents saved in the DPSP tasks that have not been officially approved in the system according to the old instructions (not found in the Advisory Notes section) will eventually be deleted from the system. Once the deletion date is decided, there will be a separate announcement well in advance.

We recommend that all doctoral students start using the new DPSP tool, but as long as a previous version approved in the system stays valid content-wise, an old DPSP is enough to have. If you do not have a DPSP approved in the system and located in the Advisory Notes section, you should make a doctoral personal study plan with the new tool. According to the degree regulations on doctoral education, each doctoral student should have a DPSP. The guideline is to discuss it with the supervising professor twice a year. In Spring 2026, we require all doctoral students that have started from March 2026 onwards to make their DPSP with the new tool. In Autumn 2026, all doctoral students should have a DPSP made with the new tool or an old DPSP that is accepted in the system according to the old instructions as described above.

Possible temporary shortcomings in supervision information

The new DPSP tool automatically retrieves supervision team information (supervising professor, thesis advisors) from the system. Especially for older students, there may some shortcomings in the information, because there have been changes to how Aalto external thesis advisors and co-supervisors are recorded into the system. The doctoral education services are working on the data migration and on current estimate the information will be fixed for all students by the beginning of the autumn semester. However, if you need to update your supervision plan as part of your DPSP and you note some information is missing, please contact your doctoral programme’s Doctoral education services for a quick fix to the information.

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Doctoral education