Are you all about science and technology? Would you like to develop your skills and use them to tackle the greatest challenges of our time? VTT might be just the place for you – apply now for VTT Summer of Changemakers 2026 traineeships! 

VTT is one of the leading applied research organisations in Europe. What unites us are curiosity, a passion for learning, and a purpose: to solve the biggest challenges of our time and turn them into sustainable growth and well-being. Our cross-disciplinary community of nearly 2400 brilliant minds from 60 different nationalities is focused on creating impact through science-based innovation. Now, we are looking for passionate changemakers – you – to join us as summer trainees.

Our last summer's trainees rated their summer job experience at VTT 4.8/5 in our summer job survey. Below are some excerpts from their feedback when asked how they would describe VTT as a workplace:

"I was impressed by how much responsibility and freedom I was given. I was trusted to work independently, but support was always available when needed."

"VTT is a professional, inspiring, and forward-looking workplace where practical impact is evident. The work community is skilled and open to new ideas."

"I found VTT versatile, innovative, and inspiring."

Do you want to be our next Master’s thesis worker in our Materials performance and interactions team?

As a Master’s thesis worker, your key goals are finding out the key dependencies and trends in multidegradation of metals in an environment with multiple types of degradation occurring simultaneously. 

In this position, you will have an essential role in planning and conducting experimental work on the tribological and microbially influenced corrosion behaviour of metals. You will be involved in doing the tribological and corrosion testing, characterising the samples and analysing the data. 

Our team, Materials performance and interactions, works on studying the degradation of materials, mainly at the surface. We enable the designing of the optimised and more durable materials through understanding the phenomena behind materials performance and behaviour in versatile conditions. 

What would your responsibilities include?

• Planning of the testing setup and building it 
• Conducting the experiments; measurements and documentation 
• Processing the data 
• Participating in characterising the samples with e.g. microscopy and spectroscopy 
• Contributing to publication/report writing 
• Presenting the results 

We're looking for someone who:

• Has studied a relevant field regarding materials, such as materials science, mechanical engineering or chemistry (required) 
• Has understanding about metal materials and their microstructures (required) 
• Has understanding of tribological, corrosion and electrochemical phenomena (required) 
• Has understanding of materials characterization methods (SEM+EDS, XRD, FTIR etc.) (required) 
• Has insight on microbiological aspects (nice to have) 
• Has practical experience in sample preparation such as grinding and polishing (nice to have) 
• Has data handling and/or modelling insights (nice to have) 

As a person, we hope that you:

• Have eagerness to solve problems and talking to experts across different disciplines to find the needed information 
• Have great collaboration skills and team player 
• Have motivation and ability to pick up new methods and practices and apply them in research 
• Are practical (for planning and hands-on for setting up the experiments and sample preparation) 
• Have ambition to understand complex contexts 

As part of the application process, we ask all candidates to submit a short video response. The recruiting team will review this video to better understand your background and motivation for this position. Please record and submit your video using this link: click to see video interview question. This step is required for your application to be considered.

What would we offer you?

• Impactful work for the future. As a leading applied research organisation, we are on a mission to bring exponential hope to the world by joining together people, businesses, science and technology. We tackle the biggest challenges of our time – from climate change and resource sufficiency to industrial renewal and smart healthcare – and turn them into sustainable growth. Read more about our strategy – the path of exponential hope.
• Career opportunities, top-level mentors. At VTT, your skills are appreciated and supported with the opportunity to learn from the top experts in their field. You’ll get to discover our community of nearly 2400 experts representing 60 nationalities working across cutting-edge fields of science and technology.
• Meaningful projects, real responsibility. With us, you get to take on meaningful projects and create innovative scientific and technical solutions. We treat all employees as equals and give you real responsibility from the start. VTT is a caring employer that supports your growth and work–life balance and offers a range of well-being services.

What is like to work with us solving the biggest challenges of our time? Check from the video what kind of experiences Aymara, Daniil, Eric and Isabella had from their summer traineeships and what kind of change did they drive.

Apply now and join our community of brilliant minds!

Come, curious minds and clever changemakers! Prepare your CV and cover letter, and send in your application with your transcript of records via our recruitment system as soon as possible but at the latest by 1 February 2026. Let’s change the world for the better next summer.

All VTT Summer of Changemakers traineeships are paid, and the salary is determined based on study credits: for Master's students the monthly salary is between 2650€ and 2850€, and for Bachelor's students the monthly salary is between 2150€ and 2450€. The typical duration of traineeships is between 3 and 6 months, with start dates usually falling between March and June, however the length and the exact starting date can be discussed with the hiring team. 

Please read more of VTT Summer of Changemakers from here: https://www.vttresearch.com/en/summer-changemakers

Interested and want to hear more?

For further information, please contact Research Team Leader, Vilma Ratia-Hanby, +358 40 688 7168 on 16.1. at 13-14 or on 26.1. at 10.30-11.30 (EET). 

We will process applications as they come in, and fill in the position as soon as we find the right candidate. We will inform all applicants about the continuation of the process during February 2026. Most of the interview will be held in February-March, however they can be started already during the application period. 

We look forward to hearing from you!