About us

The Finnish Doctoral Education Network in Nursing Science (HoVaTo) is a national doctoral education network, which includes representatives from all Finnish universities offering doctoral nursing science education. It operates in collaboration with five universities: University of Eastern Finland, University of Oulu, Åbo Akademi, University of Turku, and Tampere University. In 2025, the network has already been operating for 30 years.

The aim of the Finnish Doctoral Education Network in Nursing Science is to promote research in the field of nursing science by means of educating doctoral researchers. Multidisciplinary collaboration and a common network between universities promotes national doctoral education in nursing science, networking of specialists from different universities and extensive utilization of expertise.

The network of HoVaTo actively arranges doctoral courses, seminars, and symposiums in different parts of Finland, and it supports the national and international mobility of doctoral researchers by rotations in research groups in different universities.

• Organizes approximately 10 courses in the field of nursing science for doctoral researchers each year.
• Approximately 60 national and 20 international specialists or lecturers participate in the implementation of courses and other events each year.
• Website reaches globally more than 3,700 readers each year.
• The blog is published 11 times a year and reaches over 500 readers each year.