All the doctoral students in computer science at the University of Helsinki belong to the Doctoral Programme in Computer Science (DoCS). The programme is a part of the Doctoral School of Natural Sciences that is formed by the doctoral programmes in the Faculty of Science.

The goal of a PhD degree in Computer Science is to gain deeper knowledge of some sub-field of Computer Science and the ability to attain new scientific insights in it. While the general theme of the DoCS programme is Computer Science, the focal areas of the programme are Algorithmic Bioinformatics; Algorithms, Data Analytics and Machine Learning; Data Science; Networking and Services; and Software Systems.

The DoCS programme collaborates actively with Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, EIT Digital, and Computer Science related departments at Aalto University. With the Aalto University, the collaboration is done, for example, via the joint doctoral education network, Helsinki Doctoral Education Network in Information and Communications Technology (HICT). DoCS is also participates in the national INFORTE.fi programme, and the EIT Digital Doctoral School.