Doctoral programme in Space Research and Technology

The page was updated on 4 May, 2026.

The main application period is from 1 to 15 May. Admission is open for the following research projects (scroll down for abstracts):

• LEIDMA – Low-intensity Emission IDentification with Machine-learning Algorithms (supervisor: Boris Deshev)
• Application of remote sensing data time series analysis for the assessment of landscape fire risks in hemiboreal forests (supervisor: Mait Lang)
• Rapidly Deployable and Renconfigurable Machine Learning Applications for Data Processing on Satellites (supervisor: Mihkel Pajusalu)
• Planets around early-type stars and their galactic environment (supervisors: Heleri Ramler, Eike W Günther)
• Cosmology with J-PAS voids (supervisors: Antti Tamm, Rien van de Weygaert)

• Methods, Traceability and Validation of the In-Water Ocean Color Measurements (supervisors: Krista Alikas, Riho Vendt, Viktor Vabson)

In the Faculty of Science and Technology, all candidates must submit a motivation letter and a CV in Dreamapply together with the application. Candidates will be assessed on the basis of the motivation letter and an entrance interview.

The maximum combined points score for the motivation letter and interview is 100, each giving up to 50 points. Candidates whose doctoral thesis project attained a mark of at least 70 per cent (35 points), are invited to an interview.

Doctoral students admitted to these projects will have employment contracts as a junior researcher. The expected workload is 1.0, and the expected work period is four years. The final workload will be set during the initial negotiations. The study module has been reduced to 30 EAP, the remaining 210 EAP will be filled with the doctoral student´s individual research plan.

Read more about admission to doctoral studies at the University of Tartu.

Read more about language requirements.

Read abstracts of open calls for doctoral studies in Space research and technology.