Juan José Quispe has experience of the academic cultures in several countries. He is now enjoying life in Finland at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Pharmacy, but in the future he wishes to improve the quality of higher education in his home country of Ecuador.
International staff at universities cannot be lumped in as a single group. People have very diverse experiences of organising their academic careers and the rest of their lives in a foreign country.
Media and communications researcher Veera Ehrlén believes that science is created together. She works with Young Academy Finland to build a community of researchers where expertise is shared, the voice of science is boosted, and research is made socially visible.
Professor of the Year 2026 Jani Erola is also one of the fifteen recently appointed Research Council of Finland Academy Professors. His new project studies the connections between increased level of education, job market changes, and new technology in social inequality.
Intentional misunderstandings, hate speech, silencing attempts. Academic of the Year, researcher and non-fiction writer Timo R. Stewart has had to witness these over the course of his career. In his opinion, a researcher conducting science with public funds plays an important role in social discourse.
Minister Mari-Leena Talvitie’s goal is to open the doors of higher education institutions to at least every second young person. By increasing RDI funding, she wants to secure a strong capability to innovate for Finland in the future. At the same time, she is aware of the difficulties of increasing the education level and research funding.
Vuoden Professori 2025 on paikkatietotekniikkaan ja satelliittinavigointiin erikoistunut Vaasan yliopiston tietotekniikan professori Heidi Kuusniemi. Hän haluaa kehittää laajaa yhteistä hyvää palvelevia ratkaisuja ja menetelmiä. Hänen uransa aikana satelliittipaikannuksessa on otettu vallankumouksellisia harppauksia.
Securing life opportunities for future generations should be our number one priority, says the Academic of the Year 2024, Research Professor Sofia Laine. She finds youth research essential for securing the conditions for sustainable life on our planet.
The funding model for higher education institutions is currently undergoing minor modifications in accordance with the government programme. However, the need for a more fundamental change in the model is brewing in the background, according to the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Director General of the Department for Higher Education and Science Policy, Sirkku Linna.
“My work is at its best when I finish a research project, as well as when I notice my students improving while I am teaching”, summarises Professor of Nutrition Therapy Ursula Schwab, the 2024 Professor of the Year.
As a result of Lotta Kaila’s active social discourse, pollinator exposure to pesticides has become a topic of discussion in Finland. That has required the Academic of the Year to put herself out there.
Doctor of Work Psychology Helena Åhman specialises in facing high-pressure situations and trusts the enriching nature of disagreements and options.
For the new President of the Finnish Union of University Researchers and Teachers, Tero Karjalainen, boosting wellbeing and letting people get on with it and do science are high on the agenda. He encourages the universities to compete through good HR policies.
Academic of the Year Tuija Saresma has put herself on the line many times for her study of hate speech. Often with confusing results.
Professor of the Year 2023 Aki Mikkola focuses on discussion, internationality, and the freedom to err. Many machines around Finland bear the imprint of research and instruction.
We must quickly develop services to ensure research data is preserved even in the future, envisions Minna Niemi-Grundström.
The world and the surrounding universe is such an incredible place from a learning point of view, says Professor of Continuous Learning Päivi Hökkä.
Anna Solin is confident that languages can be used in parallel – including in university administration.
