37 Doctoral Students Graduate From RSU

37 students graduated from various doctoral study programmes at Rīga Stradiņš Universiy (RSU) in 2019. They received their certificates at a ceremony on 11 December. Among them were doctoral students in medicine, law, pharmacy, communication, political science and sociology. The Minister of Health Ilze Viņķele, RSU Rector Professor Aigars Pētersons, Vice-Rector for Science Agrita Kiopa, the Dean of the Department of Doctoral Studies Prof. Sandra Lejniece, Vice-Rector for Health Studies Prof. Guntis Bahs and others were there to congratulate the graduates.

There has been growing interest in doctoral studies in recent years. This year there was a 20% increase in the number of applications to doctoral programmes compared to the previous academic year, with the highest increase in medicine and political science. In total, there are 213 doctoral students studying in eight doctoral programmes at RSU – Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, Political Science, Sociology, Communication Culture and Multimedia, Psychology and Management.

The RSU Doctoral School will launch in 2020 – a one-stop agency that will organise seminars, consultations and various events for prospective researchers to ensure a high-quality study experience and the development of professional competences. New researchers will have the opportunity to gain additional knowledge about research design, data processing and interpretation, writing, publishing strategies and project preparation. The Doctoral School launched on 8 January 2020 with a seminar on networking events for new researchers and the opportunities offered by Horizon 2020.