Studies of Cultures

Full-time studies

• PhD studies consist of a course component and a thesis component. Many of the courses are based on individual work and demand close co-operation with the supervisor.
• Some subject courses and all general courses will have contact meetings. Not all the general courses will be offered in English every year.
• PhD students must participate in the PhD seminars throughout their studies.
• The official Junior Research Fellow study period of PhD studies is four years.

Core course components

The core components of the programme are the interdisciplinary research seminars during which each PhD student will have to present a paper at least twice during their studies. Feedback will be provided by both the lecturers and the fellow students. To develop the methodological basis, there is a course on Current Methods in Humanities. PhD students will be able to hone their academic writing and public speaking skills. The cooperation with one's supervisor is of utmost importance when planning the individual and core courses.

Study programme 2026/2027

Daniele Monticelli is the Professor of Italian Studies and Semiotics. He has studied and researched in Italy, Germany, Estonia, the US and teaches subjects in contemporary Italian history, society and politics, philosophy of language, comparative literature and research seminars. 

His research is characterized by a wide and interdisciplinary range of interests which include the relations between translation and ideology particularly under totalitarian rule and censorship, semiotic theory and poststructuralism, the literary construction of affects, passions and cognition, contemporary critical theory with particular focus on the political thought of Agamben, Badiou and Rancière. He has authored literary and essayistic translations from Estonian into Italian and actively contributes to the cultural and political debate in the Estonian media and society.

Listen to his One Minute Lecture Is Love an Endangered Emotion?

Tõnu Viik is a Professor of Philosophy at Tallinn University, Estonia. He is interested in phenomenology and philosophy of culture. His research is concentrated on phenomenological accounts of meaning-making in everyday life, or cultural phenomenology.  He is especially interested in misleading or deceptive cases of meaning-making such as ideological delusions or self-deception.

More about his research here.

Listen to his paper "Collective Emotions and Populist Politics" (International conference “Angry Times. Populism and Democracy Discontent”, 04 March 2020)

Marek Tamm is the Professor of Cultural History and senior research fellow at the School of Humanities in Tallinn University. He is also Head of Tallinn University Centre of Excellence in Intercultural Studies and of Estonian Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts.  Graduated in history and semiotics at the University of Tartu (1998), he earned his master degree in medieval studies from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (1999) and his doctorate degree in medieval history from Tallinn University (2009). Author of five books, of some seventy scholarly articles published in Estonian, English and French, and editor of dozen collections of articles.

Main research interests: cultural history of medieval Europe, Estonian historical culture, theory and history of historiography, and cultural memory studies.

Anna Verschik is the Professor of General Linguistics at Tallinn University. Her scholarly interests inculude topics like Estonian-Russian language contacts, multilingualism on the internet, sociolinguistics in the Baltic countries, contacts of Yiddish in the Baltic area and sociolinguistic situation of post-Soviet countries in a comparative perspective. She teaches subjects related to her research field.

Main research interests: contact linguistics and multilingualism.

• Tallinn University is a vibrant study and research centre situated in the capital of Estonia. It is almost in the city centre and easily accessible by public transport. The Tallinn Port, Bus Terminal and Airport are within easy reach. 
• The School of Humanities is the biggest unit in Tallinn concentrating on teaching and research of Humanities. We are running a number of curricula at BA, MA and PhD level.
• Our school is interdisciplinary and international, innovative and teamwork-orientated. We welcome both foreign staff and students. We have students from the United States, Nigeria, Ghana, Germany, Spain, Costa Rica, Finland, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia, China, Turkey and many other countries.
• Due to our Erasmus contacts, our students have excellent opportunities to spend a part of their studies abroad. We also welcome a growing number of incoming Erasmus students every year.
• All our curricula promote the individual development of every learner, close contacts between students and teaching staff are vitally important.
• Students can use the services of the libraries of the university and the National Library of Estonia which is located in Tallinn. These institutions offer a wide range of electronic data bases to their users.
• The Archive of renown semiotician, Juri Lotman is housed at Tallinn University.
• The PhD studies are supported by the activities of the Graduate School of Culture Studies and Arts.

• Funding: Archimedes

• Completed Master’s degree or the equivalent.
• Proof of English Proficiency.

Read more here

Admission Requirements

For general requirements and application deadline, please read admission to PhD Studies here.

Additional admission criteria in 2026

During the application period (07 December - 17 December) the candidates should upload into the application database:

1) The research proposal that has been expanded and enhanced in cooperation with the prospective supervisor and signed by her/him (length approx. 5 pages / 2500 words without the list of sources), which contains at least the following components:

• The topic of the research project;
• The objectives of the research and main research question(s);
• Overview of methods to be used and/or of main terminology;
• The overview of the state of the art of the topic;
• Overview what topic related research the candidate has done prior to application;
• Overview of the contents of the intended research;
• Prognosis on the possible primary results of the research;
• Primary list of the sources and literature to be used in the research;
• The timeline-schedule of the research (incl. information on research to be conducted abroad, like Erasmus visits to other universities, visiting libraries and archives abroad etc.).

If the research contains fieldwork: the description of the scope, length, and financing (both the projected budget and sources of financing).

The project candidates must also clarify how their topic is related to the project and what activities they will carry out as part of it. For non-project related topics clarification why this research should specifically be carried out at Tallinn University School of Humanities.

2) Expanded vision of the teaching assignments to be carried out during the PhD studies (max. 2 pages). It should give information on courses or course components to be taught, the role of the PhD candidate, and should be accepted by the prospective supervisor. (During the four years of PhD studies the students are expected to assist at least in three courses or seminars and to teach or co-teach at least one course / seminar).

3) CV (including a list of candidate’s publications and full information on IT skills)

4) A proof of English proficiency

Admission exam

The admission exam is an interview that is conducted based on the research proposal and other documents submitted by the candidate. The candidates for junior researcher position are expected to have a very clear idea about the arrangement and length of their PhD studies. The interview take place in July and candidates will be contacted to arrange the exact time.

The assessment criteria

The following aspects will be assessed:

• The academic competences of the candidate (incl. suitability of prior education, other knowledge and qualifications supporting the research topic, suitability of language skills for the intended research) [max. 35 points]
• Research project / proposal (incl. topicality and interdisciplinarity, the contents of the research, intended methods, suitability for the profile of the School of Humanities or connection with the project) [max. 35 points]
• Teaching competences (incl. the candidate’s suitability to teaching at the School of Humanities) [max. 20 points]
• General motivation to study at PhD level (and to contribute towards a project) [max. 10 points]

The subtotal maximum points a candidate can obtain is 100.

The examination board will assess each candidate individually based on the criteria. Each board member will assess the candidates based on the submitted materials. The board members will discuss the candidates and decide if they should / should not be invited for an interview. During the interview all board members may ask questions. Afterwards there is a discussion among the board members and a shortlist of candidates to be offered a PhD position is created based on the mutual agreement of the board members.

See also the detailed guidelines on application procedure at Tallinn University site.

The aim of the proposed doctoral thesis, “The use of digital film heritage in general education: EDU Arkaader”, is to examine how the digital film heritage of the National Archives of Estonia can be used in 4-12 grade general education and how the educational service and digital environment designed to facilitate its use can be developed in ways that respond to the needs of teachers and students. The study focuses on students in grades 4-12, making it possible to examine the use of digital film heritage in the context of the needs of a specific age group and educational stage.
Building on earlier research that approaches film in education as an autonomous artistic and cultural form that supports observation, interpretation and critical engagement with audiovisual language (Bergala, 2016), and demonstrates how film education can connect cinema with other cultural domains through analytical, creative and multimodal learning activities (Ojamaa & Milyakina, 2019), this research examines the educational potential of digital film heritage. Drawing on research that highlights the role of digitization in expanding the interpretation, mediation and educational use of cultural heritage (Cameron & Kenderdine, 2007) and the role of audiovisual archives in the construction and mediation of cultural memory (Brunow, 2015), the study seeks to explore how digital film heritage can be used in general education to support learning with audiovisual culture.
The research focuses not only on the educational value of film, but more broadly on how to develop the educational service and digital environment of a national film archive so that existing film heritage is more accessible, meaningful and applicable to teachers and learners in educational contexts. Digital film heritage can be used across different subjects and connected to the learning objectives of subjects such as history, Estonian language and literature, social studies, art education etc. Therefore, the study also examines the opportunities offered by film heritage for cross-curricular integration and how archival educational materials and the digital environment could better support such use.
The main research questions of the doctoral thesis are:
1.    How is the digital film heritage of the National Archives of Estonia used in the second stage of general education, and what opportunities does it offer for teaching different subjects?
2.    What factors support or hinder the use of digital film heritage in teaching and cross-curricular integration?
3.    What needs and expectations do teachers and students in grades 4-12 of general education have, and how can these inform the development of the National Archives’ educational service and EDU Arkaader?
The theoretical framing of this study is interdisciplinary, combining film and media studies, educational research, cultural memory studies and approaches to digital cultural heritage. The empirical part employs a combination of research methods: semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire among teachers and students, as well as interviews with National Archives staff. In addition, a user experience analysis of EDU Arkaader will be conducted, supplemented where possible by classroom observations and content analysis of existing educational materials. The data will be analyzed using qualitative content analysis, while descriptive statistics will be used for the questionnaire data.
The practical outcome of the study will be evidence-based recommendations for the further development of the National Archives educational service, Arkaader and EDU Arkaader. Based on the research findings, proposals can be developed for educational materials and methodological guidelines, teacher support and the development of the user interface, as well as for creating learning scenarios that support the use and integration of digital film heritage across different subjects. In the longer term, the study may contribute to the development of a model through which memory institutions can mediate their digital audiovisual heritage in education in a more systematic and user-centred manner. The findings may be applicable not only to the National Archives of Estonia but also to other memory institutions seeking to develop the educational use of audiovisual cultural heritage and strengthen cooperation between memory institutions and schools.

Suitable candidates will have a background in cultural or media studies, literature, art or film studies, history or the digital humanities. An interest in cultural memory, film and visual culture or digital cultural heritage is advantageous, as is a willingness to work within the frameworks of both interpretive cultural analysis and user research. The candidate must have a good command of Estonian and English.

Successful candidate will be enrolled in the doctoral program in Studies of Cultures at Tallinn University.

Supervisors: Diana Popa, Eva Näripea

Hanna Maria Aunin was a doctoral student in Studies of Cultures. She earned her master’s degree at Tallinn University in Literature, Visual Culture and Film Theory. Her research, conducted as part of the Memory and Environment project, focused on memory, film, and the concept of the gaze. Hanna was interested in the extent to which looking and being looked at were culturally, socially, and historically determined. Her aim was to examine the manifestations and roles of the gaze in Baltic films dealing with World War II and the Soviet past, as well as how the gaze influenced the experience of watching films and ways of seeing and remembering.

• Browse her thesis

Alina Poklad was a PhD student in Studies of Cultures. She completed an MA at Tallinn Technical University in IT and business management before earning an MA at Tallinn University in Slavic Languages and Cultures. Her PhD research topic is disability studies. She focuses on the image of disabled people in Russian culture. In her work, she investigates why Russian society still perceives people with disabilities as "other" and why the representation of these people in Russian culture is still stigmatized, despite changing attitudes in other European countries. Alina Poklad uses theories and frameworks of various authors in the disability studies field to analyze these questions.

• Browse her thesis

Rita Niineste was a PhD student of philosophy at the University of Tallinn. She has BA degrees in English philology (Tartu University) and philosophy (Tallinn University), and an MA in cultural theory and philosophy (Tallinn University). Her research focuses on feminist perspectives on sexual difference, as well as the philosophy of sexuality and sexual ethics. She is interested in the phenomenological analysis of empirical data yielded by experimental psychology and in prospects for science-based approaches to sexuality within the tradition of philosophy and beyond.

• Browse her thesis

Aleksandra Ianchenko was a doctoral candidate in Studies of Culture. She studied Fine Arts at Irkutsk Technical University, Russia and then obtained her second MA degree in Art Management at Russian State University of Humanities in Moscow and at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her current research is embedded within the project “Public Transport as Public Space in European Cities: Narrating, Experiencing, Contesting (PUTSPACE)”. As an artist, Aleksandra uses a range of creative mediums with the aim to understand atmospheres on urban public transport and the ways in which they can be changed through performative public art practice. 

• Browse her thesis

Louise Sträuli was a PhD student in Studies of Cultures. After graduating from the Erasmus Mundus Master in ‘Global Markets, Local Creativities’, Louise joined the research Project ‘Public Transport as Public Space in European Cities: Narrating, Experiencing, Contesting’ (PUTSPACE), within which her doctoral research was embedded. Beyond the question of what distinguishes public transport as public, Louise aimed to uncover the tensions between everyday mobility experiences and planning-related mobility narratives. In particular, she examined the development of policies regarding safety and fares, the experience of ticket controls and practices of fare evasion, and the influence of digital media on the use of public transport. To this end, she combined analyses of policies and online communities with qualitative interviews and (mobile) ethnographic methods.

• Browse her thesis

Jaana Davidjants was a PhD student in the Studies of Cultures. She completed her MA in political science, at Goldsmiths, University of London. Jaana's research concerns the amateur material from crisis zones (as e.g Aleppo's siege), with her further focus being on Western media and the way the material of distant suffering was framed there. Her professional background is in visual communication. She has mainly collaborated with artist-activist collectives and smaller NGO-s working in the area of human rights.

• Browse her thesis

Timothy Anderson was a PhD student in Studies of Cultures and currently works as a Junior Lecturer of Anthropology. He holds an MA in Geography & Social Anthropology from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in Spatial Planning jointly awarded by Radboud University Nijmegen and Blekinge Institute of Technology. Following his graduate studies, Timothy worked at Nordregio, a Nordic policy research institute based in Stockholm. Timothy's PhD research involved time spent among asylum-seekers, settled refugees, and detained migrants in Estonia. His goal was to provide an ethnographic analysis of Estonia’s asylum system by relaying and amplifying the voices of migrants within the country. His research interests include political anthropology, asylum policy, nationalism, borders, and human rights.

• Browse his thesis

Miriam Rossi was a PhD student in Studies of Cultures. She completed her MA studies in Russian and English languages and literatures at the University of Pavia (IT). Miriam Rossi's doctoral research focused on poetry translation in uncensored spaces during Late Soviet Union. The research dealt in particular with the phenomenon of the Leningrad "samizdat", a clandestine circulation of texts, where particularly during the eighties translation activities flourished and the figure of the underground poet-translator emerges as the main agent of this cultural practice. Involving translation history, poetry translation and comparative literature, Miriam Rossi's research adopted various theoretical frames, from Pierre Bourdieu to Alexei Yurchak, investigating also poet-translators' meta-texts.

• Browse her thesis

Mikhail Fiadotau earned his doctoral degree in Studies of Cultures with a focus in anthropology. He holds an MA degree in Linguistics from Minsk State Linguistics University in Belarus. His research interests include media and design anthropology, game studies, and Japanese studies. Mikhail's dissertation explores the cultural heterogeneity of videogame creation and consumption practices, with a particular focus on the independent gaming communities in the Anglophone world and Japan. Mikhail has carried out research visits at Japan Foundation's Kansai Institute in Osaka, Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, and Leipzig University. He also teaches game design in Tallinn University School of Digital Technologies and has delivered workshops and guest lectures on the subject in Estonia and abroad.

• Browse his thesis

Ksenia Shmydkaya earned her doctoral degree in Studies of Cultures. She holds MA degree in Modern and Contemporary History from Lomonosov Moscow State University and M2 degree in History and Anthropology from Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris 1). Her current research focuses on the historical fiction created by women writers in the interwar Europe. Among her scholarly interests are gender history, life-writing, Eastern European feminisms, and relationship between literature and historiography.

• Browse her thesis

Kristiine Kikas earned her doctoral degree in Studies of Cultures. Prior to that, she held a master’s degree in Comparative Literature and Cultural Semiotics from Tallinn University. Kristiine’s research belongs to the field of affect studies and it explores the possibilities for non-representational reading of poetry. Being grounded in the philososphy of Gilles Deleuze, specifically in his theories of experiencing art and literature, the aim of the work was to map the ways in which the language of poetry affects the reader besides and simultaneously with semantic meaning. 

• Browse her thesis.

I earned my PhD degree in Cultural Studies (Anthropology) from Tallinn University in 2020. My thesis researched the mask-making traditions of the Yup’ik, the Indigenous people of southwest Alaska. During my doctoral studies, I conducted multiple archaeological and ethnographic fieldworks in Alaska that have helped reconstruct the development of Yup’ik mask-making tradition throughout its colonial
history—oppression, resilience and recovery. In my work, I also discuss how the knowledge and traditional value system attached to mask making are being revived today in the work of contemporary Alaska Native artists. Through the restoration of pre-colonial cultural practices, contemporary artists heal themselves as well as local communities from colonial trauma, strengthening their long-repressed cultural identity.
I am thankful to Tallinn University for supporting my multidisciplinary, challenging and quite non-conventional research project.

• Browse her thesis.
• "Estonian researcher helps restore the long-suppressed mask-making tradition of the Indigenous people of Alaska". Read the article

"The PhD studies at the Tallinn University are a pleasant test for oneself: the interdisciplinary and international Doctoral School broadens horizons and provides the opportunity to see ones research area from new angles and using new approaches.This has enabled me, as a lecturer, to link my speciality area (dance and ballet history) with other research areas and find new touching points between different sciences. My more experienced colleagues have supported me in my quest for new perspectives and encouraged me to take steps into directions that a narrow disciplinary approach does not support. PhD studies enhance independent thinking and self-focussing in this ever fracturing world, helps to find contacts with likeminded people and collaborators for the future, not least important: contacts for the projects that come in the years after tudies".

Heili Einasto's thesis received a third prize in the Field of Culture and Social Sciences, PhD category at the annual Estonian National Contest for University Students in 2016.

"In my experience the strength of the PhD programme of School of Humanities lies in its flexible nature – it is always possible to bring together specialists from different Universities and various fields to create academic forums, which encourage fruitful exchange of ideas. While writing my PhD thesis I benefitted from long discussions with Prof. Rein Raud and Rajyashree Pandey (Glodsmith College) who gave me valuable advice on how to approach the various issues I wanted to discuss in my work. Prof. Pandey also organised special seminars on classical Japanese literature inviting PhD students from Helsinki University to participate. The contacts I made while studying in School of Humanities have been invaluable in my later work".

Browse his thesis

Follow his minilecture Can a spider attain enlightenment?

"I received my PhD degree in Studies of Cultures in 2011 from Tallinn University. The topic of my thesis was Poetics of Irrationality in A.H. Tammsaare’s Work. PhD degree, a sign of academic competence, allows to operate more professionally and with better results in many different fields of culture. Working as the head of the Tallinn Literature Centre (which combines the A. H. Tammsaare Museum and the Eduard Vilde Musem) it has become very clear to me that the time spent on the dedicated research was certainly worthwhile. It also becomes more and more clear to me that in the field of culture, there will always be a need for intelligent and well-educated members of national culture."

Graduate career options

Internationally accredited PhD diploma opens positions that require a doctoral degree.

Further study opportunities

With a PhD obtained from Tallinn University, one can apply for PostDoc positions all over the world or continue individual academic development.

• Specific questions regarding the programme should be directed to the School of Humanities:
  Maris Peters

• For additional guidelines regarding admission procedure please contact the international admission specialist.