Doctoral researcher Lilja Lehmuskallio encourages applicants from of arts management, cultural production, and cultural policy to apply to doctoral studies
Who are you and what do you study?
Hi, I am Lilja Lehmuskallio, and I am a doctoral student in Arts Management in MuTri Doctoral School, Sibelius Academy. In short, my research is about minority and marginalised groups’ position and representations in national arts organisations.
What else do you do besides your doctoral studies?
Since August 2023 I have been working as a part-time Doctoral researcher at Uniarts Helsinki, which has enabled concentrating on research. Besides this, I work as a creative producer in the field of contemporary dance mainly in communication and development, and I teach at the department of Arts Management.
What do you find best in your studies at the moment, what are the most challenging things?
The best thing right now, is being able to search and read newest research in my subject and just concentrate on research. Also, I just joined a very interesting doctoral seminar. A challenging thing is, that the department of Arts Management is small, so there aren’t many ready-made doctoral courses available in my area and finding those elsewhere takes time. Hoping there will be more applicants from these study areas!
What is you typical study week like?
At the moment I read a lot and build further the structure and methods of the research. I attend the doctoral seminar. Writing grant applications and seminar proposals takes time as well!
How would you describe the doctoral studies community at the moment?
I don’t yet know the community of MuTri widely, however people I’ve met so far are friendly, curious, and truly passioned about their research subjects!
What do you remember from your application process to the doctoral studies?
That’s very fresh in my mind! I graduated from the master’s studies in Arts Management in December 2021 and the deadline to doctoral studies was already in the end of January. I concentrated deeply in writing my research proposal, which continued the themes of my MA thesis. The wait until the results in June felt painfully long… I was of course superbly happy to be admitted and I could continue with my research subject.
I would have liked to find more information about the researchers and doctoral students and what kind of research projects were ongoing in the doctoral schools.
What tips would you give to someone planning to apply to the Sibelius Academy doctoral studies?
I wish it was more widely known that it is possible to do research also in other areas than music in Sibelius Academy, so I would like to encourage applicants from the areas of arts management, cultural production, and cultural policy to apply to doctoral studies! Also, I want to give a tip, that one can take courses from the other academies of Uniarts Helsinki: the Theatre Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts.
The next round of applications for post-graduate studies at the Sibelius Academy will start in January 2024. On 20 November 2024 at 5.30 p.m. Finnish time you can join us in Zoom to ask and talk about the doctoral studies and the application process.