University of Helsinki MAREEES Master’s Thesis Guide 2026-2027

The Master’s Programme in Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies, usually shortened to MAREEES, is a 120 ECTS, two-year Master of Arts programme taught fully in English. It is coordinated through the Aleksanteri Institute and combines humanities and social-science perspectives on Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

For thesis planning, the most important point is that MAREEES follows the humanities Faculty thesis regime at the University of Helsinki. The University’s central thesis page still uses the older heading “Faculty of Arts” for this section, but MAREEES is explicitly listed there. The University’s current organisational pages place the Aleksanteri Institute in the Faculty of Humanities. This guide therefore uses the current programme information together with the humanities thesis rules that explicitly apply to MAREEES.

The current MAREEES degree structure

The current programme structure totals 120 ECTS:

• Core studies: 15 ECTS
• Global processes and regional dynamics: 15 ECTS
• Global challenges: 20 ECTS
• Professional orientation: 5 ECTS
• MA thesis seminar: 5 ECTS
• Master’s thesis: 30 ECTS
• Optional studies: 30 ECTS

The programme is explicitly interdisciplinary. Its theories and methods come from humanities, social sciences and area studies, so there is no single research method that every MAREEES thesis must use.

That has an important practical consequence. Your method should follow your research question, material, theoretical approach and disciplinary orientation. A project on political institutions may require a different analytical design from one on memory, identity, media, language, migration, environmental politics or historical change.

The thesis seminar is where the project becomes concrete

The current 5 ECTS MA thesis seminar is not simply an accompanying course. The programme states that students write their thesis plan in the seminar and that thesis supervisors are assigned during it.

The seminar therefore becomes the place where you should turn a broad regional interest into a workable research project. A strong thesis plan should make clear:

1. what problem you are studying;
2. why the problem matters academically;
3. what your research question or questions are;
4. what material or sources you will analyse;
5. what analytical approach or method fits the question;
6. what theoretical or conceptual framework you need;
7. how the work can be completed within the thesis timetable.

MAREEES also connects the thesis process to the Aleksanteri Institute research community. Current programme information states that students can present their research plans as posters at the international Aleksanteri Conference during the second-year autumn. The autumn 2026 welcome material independently confirms that this poster session remains part of the MA thesis process.

This is useful because a poster forces you to explain the project in a compact form. If the research question, material and method cannot be explained clearly on one poster, the project may still be too broad.

What the Master’s thesis must demonstrate

The programme’s current thesis learning outcomes are especially useful as a planning checklist. The thesis is expected to demonstrate that you can:

• formulate relevant and interesting research questions;
• create a coherent research design;
• analyse and produce research materials; and
• write a scientific research report.

These expectations should shape the entire thesis. A sophisticated topic alone is not enough. The research question, theoretical framework, material, method, analysis and conclusions must form one coherent design.

The Aleksanteri Institute’s current research environment covers areas such as security and war, politics and institutions, identity and migration, environment and climate, and knowledge production. These themes can help you locate a thesis within an active research conversation, but they are not compulsory topic categories.

PSP teacher and thesis supervisor are different roles

Current MAREEES study-planning guidance assigns each student a PSP teacher. The PSP teacher helps plan the overall degree and monitors study progress.

The thesis supervisor is a separate role. According to the current guidance, the thesis supervisor is selected according to the thesis topic, is usually not the PSP teacher, and is an Aleksanteri Institute faculty member.

This distinction matters when seeking help. Questions about how the thesis fits into your degree may belong with the PSP teacher. Questions about the research question, theoretical framing, material, method, analysis or thesis argument belong primarily with the thesis supervisor and thesis seminar.

How long should the MAREEES thesis be?

The humanities Faculty thesis instructions that explicitly list MAREEES state that the usual length of a Master’s thesis is 40-60 pages, excluding possible appendices.

This is a page framework, not a word-count target. The current official material does not establish one universal MAREEES word count, so a precise word number should not be invented.

If two students write a thesis jointly, the normal length is 60-80 pages. The introduction and abstract must specify each writer’s individual contribution.

A thesis may also be completed within a larger research project. In that case, each student still submits their own thesis for examination, and each thesis is graded separately.

Build the thesis around alignment, not around a fixed chapter template

The current official material does not impose one universal MAREEES chapter structure. A practical structure may include an introduction, literature or scholarly framework, data or source material, methods, analysis, discussion and conclusions, but the exact architecture should follow the research design and seminar or supervisor instructions.

A useful alignment test is to ask whether each part has a clear function:

• Does the introduction define a manageable research problem?
• Does the literature review establish the scholarly conversation rather than simply summarise previous work?
• Does the theoretical framework help answer the research question?
• Is the material appropriate for the claims you want to make?
• Does the method explain how the material will actually be analysed?
• Does the analysis answer the research question rather than merely describe the material?
• Do the conclusions follow from the analysis?

This is especially important in an interdisciplinary programme. Combining perspectives can strengthen a thesis, but only when the links between them are explicit.

Research methods in MAREEES

Because MAREEES combines humanities, social sciences and area studies, possible methods can vary considerably. Depending on the project, students may work with documents, interviews, media materials, policy texts, archives, discourse, historical sources, comparative cases, qualitative or quantitative data, or other research materials.

The official programme does not prescribe one compulsory empirical method. Do not choose a method simply because it is common in another thesis. Start from the question and ask what evidence would actually allow you to answer it.

The same caution applies to citation style. Current official sources do not establish one universal named citation style for every MAREEES thesis. Use the referencing system required by your seminar, supervisor or applicable disciplinary instructions, and use it consistently.

Thesis plan and preliminary examination

The humanities Faculty instructions require a thesis plan before the thesis project begins or at its initial stage at the latest. The plan is discussed and approved by the degree programme and must identify the thesis supervisor or supervisors.

The Faculty also recommends a preliminary examination before formal submission. The supervisor conducts this preliminary examination. During teaching periods, the supervisor has four weeks to provide feedback. After the preliminary examination, you may still supplement and revise the thesis.

This creates an important distinction between a draft and the final E-thesis submission. Use the preliminary stage for substantive corrections. Do not treat formal submission as another draft checkpoint.

Formal examination in E-thesis

The completed thesis is submitted electronically as a PDF through E-thesis.

Once the final version has been submitted for assessment, it can no longer be edited. Before pressing the final submission button, verify at minimum:

• the title and author information;
• the final PDF file;
• the abstract;
• table of contents and page numbering;
• figures, tables and appendices;
• citations and reference list;
• supervisor information;
• publication permission and any embargo request.

The E-thesis system forwards the thesis for assessment and later transfers approved theses to the University’s Helda repository according to the publication decision.

Examiners and grading

For MAREEES under the humanities Faculty regime, two examiners are appointed after formal submission. One examiner is the thesis supervisor. Both examiners normally must hold doctoral degrees, although the head of the degree programme may allow a rare exception.

The thesis is graded on the University’s 0-5 scale.

The central thesis instructions state an important Faculty-specific distinction: examination uses the humanities Faculty assessment criteria and point 7 is not assessed. This means you should not import the Faculty of Social Sciences seven-area assessment model into MAREEES.

The Dean makes the final grading decision. If the two original examiners cannot agree on the grade, a third examiner can be appointed. If two of the three agree, that grade is used; if all three propose different grades, the Faculty applies its stated averaging and rounding procedure.

Abstract and maturity test

The thesis must include an abstract in the language of the thesis. Under the humanities Faculty instructions, the abstract also serves as the Master’s maturity test.

University-wide rules treat the maturity test as a separate 0 ECTS study attainment graded pass/fail. The language requirement depends on your previous education, the language of secondary education and whether you have already demonstrated the required language competence in an earlier degree.

Students should therefore check the current maturity-test language instructions rather than assume that English is always sufficient simply because MAREEES is taught in English.

AI use

The University of Helsinki allows large language models as support for learning and writing unless a teacher or programme restricts their use, but students remain responsible for the accuracy and integrity of submitted work. AI use must be reported as required by the applicable instructions.

One rule is absolute: AI is not permitted in maturity tests.

For the thesis itself, use AI only within the University’s rules and the instructions given by your supervisor or seminar. Never treat generated text as a source of evidence, and verify any factual, bibliographic or analytical output independently.

Public thesis, confidentiality and embargo

Master’s theses are public documents. Confidential information must therefore not be included in the thesis, its public appendices or the abstract.

E-thesis asks for a publication decision. If you permit open publication, the approved thesis can be published in Helda. The abstract and descriptive metadata are public regardless.

If delayed publication is necessary, the embargo request must be made during the E-thesis submission process. An embargo delays open publication, but it does not convert the approved thesis into a secret document.

2026-2027 submission timetable

The Rector’s decision dated 10 March 2026 provides the University-wide thesis schedule. For the Faculty of Humanities group, the 2026-2027 submission dates are:

Completed theses must be submitted by 23:59 Finnish time on the deadline. The Rector’s decision also states that theses are not assessed in July and that supervision and feedback are not provided in July unless specifically required by a faculty or programme.

This makes backward planning important. If you want a particular Dean decision date, do not plan only from the submission deadline. Allow time for supervisor feedback, preliminary examination, final corrections, PDF preparation, abstract checking and E-thesis metadata before that date.

A practical MAREEES thesis workflow

A reliable sequence is:

1. Define a focused regional and scholarly problem.
2. Convert it into an answerable research question.
3. Discuss feasibility in the thesis seminar.
4. Draft the formal thesis plan.
5. Confirm the thesis supervisor.
6. Identify theory, literature, material and method as one research design.
7. Test the project by explaining it clearly, including through the seminar or poster process.
8. Collect and analyse material systematically and ethically.
9. Draft the thesis around the research question rather than around a generic template.
10. Use supervisor and seminar feedback to improve the argument.
11. Complete the recommended preliminary examination early enough for meaningful revision.
12. Check the 40-60 page framework, abstract, references, appendices and final PDF.
13. Confirm the relevant submission deadline.
14. Submit the final file in E-thesis only when it is genuinely final.

The strongest MAREEES thesis is not the one with the broadest geographical scope or the most theoretical vocabulary. It is the one in which a manageable question, appropriate evidence, clear analytical method and defensible argument fit together within the programme’s interdisciplinary research environment and the Faculty of Humanities thesis rules.