This volume is a collection of essays on the process of obtaining a PhD degree at a Finnish university. The contributors share the common background of coming to Finland from abroad especially for the purpose of taking up PhD studies. They hail from different countries and academic backgrounds and obtained their degrees at different Finnish universities from Helsinki in the south of the country up to Oulu in the north. Moreover, they studied and conducted research at different faculties. The individual processes, academic, social, and cultural experiences and challenges form the core of the individual essays.

Jukka M. Krisp is Professor of Applied Geoinformatics at Augsburg University. Michael Szurawitzki, PD Dr. phil. habil., teaches Germanic Linguistics at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich.