The National Defence University will organize the third doctoral conferment ceremony in its history in Helsinki on 18-20 September. The event will celebrate the doctors and honorary doctors of military sciences to be conferred, as well as Finnish research in military sciences.
The conferment ceremony will follow the academic traditions of Finnish universities without, however, overlooking the National Defence University‘s own traditions that go all the way back to the 18th century to the Cadet School in Haapaniemi. The National Defence University is a military scientific university. It provides the highest military education in Finland.
At the conferment ceremony, 23 doctors of military sciences who have graduated after the National Defence University‘s previous doctoral conferment held in 2018 will be conferred. Of those who will be conferred, 16 are officers and 7 civilians.
The part of the celebration the most visible to the general public will be the festive procession taking place after the ceremonial conferment of degrees to be held on Friday 19 September. The public will have an opportunity to watch the procession at the Senate Square starting from 2 p.m.
In conjunction with the conferment of doctorates, five honorary doctors of military sciences will be conferred. An honorary doctorate of military sciences may be conferred upon persons who have distinguished themselves scientifically or socially in the field of military sciences or comprehensive national defence. From the point of view of the activities of the National Defence University, honorary doctors are key social contributors and persons who have done outstanding work in national defence.
An honorary doctorate is the highest academic distinction that can be awarded to a person by the National Defence University, the Rector of the NDU, Doctor of Military Sciences, Major General Mika Kalliomaa says.
The names of the honorary doctors will be published during the first week of September.
Military scientific research activity is multi-disciplinary. Research in different scientific fields produces expertise and knowledge integrated into teaching and societal interaction.
The majority of the National Defence University‘s studies are openly accessible via the Doria Repository and follow the principles of open science. All the doctoral dissertations achieved at the National Defence University are publicly available.
The National Defence University gained the right to award doctoral degrees in 1998, and the first dissertation was defended in 2003. In August 2025, the 72nd military sciences dissertation will be defended. Finnish military scientific reseach is increasingly internationally networked and esteemed abroad. Nine of those to be conferred at the ceremony have written their dissertations in English.
More than one third of the doctoral dissertations achieved at the National Defence University are in English. As mentioned in our recently updated Strategy, the number of English-language theses and publications will increase in the years to come - this is how we will reach the entire research community in the field of military science even better. Our Doctoral Programme is open to all those who have achieved a Master‘s Degree, says the National Defence University‘s Director of Research Hannu Kari.
Internationally, the National Defence University is a vanguard of the military scientific community. Only a handful of European universities have the right to award doctoral degrees in military sciences.
