Newly appointed University of Helsinki professors will give their inaugural lectures on Wednesday, 28 May 2025 starting at 14.30 in the University’s Main Building (Fabianinkatu 33). The lectures serve as popular introductions to the professors’ disciplines and current research topics. The programme below includes a detailed schedule for the day’s lectures, livestream links for lecture rooms and a list of the lecturers. Before each approximately 20-minute lecture, the relevant faculty’s dean or vice-dean will briefly introduce the professor.
Following the above lectures, Professor of Media and Communication Studies Mats Bergman will give his inaugural lecture at an inauguration ceremony starting at 17.00 in the University’s Great Hall. After the ceremony, the audience is welcome to attend a reception held in the Main Building foyers. A cloakroom is located at Aleksanterinkatu 5.
Please join us to meet the University of Helsinki’s newly appointed professors. The event is open to all.
Fabianinkatu 33, 2nd floor
14.30 JOHANNA AROLA
Molecular Pathology | Faculty of Medicine
Voidaanko syöpä löytää ennen kuin se on syntynyt?
15.00 LIISA KAUPPI
Cancer Molecular Biology | Faculty of Medicine
DNA damage and repair – double-edged swords for human health
15.30 TIINA OJALA
Pediatric Cardiology | Faculty of Medicine
Pieni sydän, suuria mahdollisuuksia – Teknologia, tekoäly ja lastenkardiologian tulevaisuus
16.00 TAIJA MÄKINEN
Translational Medicine | Faculty of Medicine
Imusuonisto – kehon näkymätön vaikuttaja
Fabianinkatu 33, 3rd floor
14.30 KAIUS SINNEMÄKI
Quantitative and Comparative Linguistics | Faculty of Arts
Mitä kieli meistä kertoo?
15.00 TERHI AINIALA
Finnish Language | Faculty of Arts
Nimen voimat
15.30 TUOMO HIIPPALA
English Language and Digital Humanities | Faculty of Arts
Miten eri ilmaisukeinot toimivat yhdessä?
16.00 LARI KOTILAINEN
Finnish Language | Faculty of Arts
Voiko suomea oppia työelämässä?
Fabianinkatu 33, 3nd floor
14.30 ANTTI LATVALA
Criminology | Faculty of Social Sciences
Biopsykososiaalista kriminologiaa: Yksilötason tekijät rikoskäyttäytymisen selittämisessä ja ennaltaehkäisyssä
15.00 JOHANNA RAINIO-NIEMI
Political History | Faculty of Social Sciences
Poliittinen historia ja Suomen malli
15.30 MULKI AL-SHARMANI
Islamic Studies | Faculty of Arts
Islamic Ethics and Law: What Can Feminist Hermeneutics Bring to the Table?
Fabianinkatu 33, 3rd floor
14.30 JUSSI ERONEN
Socio-ecological Systems | Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Sosio-ekologiset järjestelmät ja monikriisien maailma
15.00 MARJO SAASTAMOINEN
Evolutionary Ecology | Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Pitkäaikaisseurantojen merkitys evoluutioekologiassa
15.30 FRANCISCO RIVERA GÓMEZ-BARRIS
Integrative Neurobiology | Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Rescuing Myelin Repair in Multiple Sclerosis: Vasculature – Friend or Foe?
16.00 JARNO VANHATALO
Statistics | Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Tilastotiede ekologian tutkimuksessa
Stream link will be added to the page later.
Fabianinkatu 33, 3rd floor
14.30 KATARIINA ÖÖRNI
Integrative physiology | Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Käynnistääkö kolesterolihiukkasten paakkuuntuminen valtimotaudin?
15.00 DARIO GRECO
Pharmaceutical Bioinformatics | Faculty of Pharmacy
Next generation chemicals and drugs: towards effective, safe, and sustainable products
15.30 HANNA TUOMISTO
Sustainability Science (Sustainable Food Systems) | Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
What will we eat in 2050?
16.00 LASSI AHLVIK
Environmental Economics | Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
Ilmastopolitiikka ja tulonjako
Fabianinkatu 33, 3rd floor
14.30 TEPPO SÄRKÄMÖ
Neuropsyhcology | Faculty of Medicine
Musiikkia ikääntyville ja kuntoutuville aivoille
15.00 KAISA HARTIKAINEN
Neurology | Faculty of Medicine
Aivoterveyden neuraaliset jalanjäljet – Fokuksessa otsalohkoverkostot
15.30 BENJAMIN ULTAN COWLEY
Learning in Humans and Machines | Faculty of Educational Sciences
Mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics of learning to perform a skill
Fabianinkatu 33, 4th floor
14.30 PETER HÄSTÖ
Mathematics (Swedish-language professorship) | Faculty of Science
Flexibilitet och matematiskt kunnande
15.00 INDRĖ ŽLIOBAITĖ
Life Science Informatics | Faculty of Science
Analysing change
15.30 TOM JILBERT
Environmental Geochemistry | Faculty of Science
Community matters in environmental research
16.00 KONSTANTINOS SARAKINOS
Experimental Materials Physics | Faculty of Science
Turning randomness into order: atom-by-atom creation of materials
AT 17.00, GREAT HALL
University Main Building, Aleksanterinkatu 5
The ceremony will be followed by a reception with refreshments on the second floor of the Main Building.
Accessible entrance: Yliopistonkatu 2. Further information on Main Building facilities and accessibility.
Cloakroom: Aleksanterinkatu 5
Dress Code: For the event dress code, see the bottom of this page under ‘Dress code’.
Additional event information: helsinkiunievents@helsinki.fi
The event will be streamed and there will be photography during the event. The lectures will not be recorded.
New professors
New professors giving their inaugural lectures wear a black suit, or tailcoat with a bow tie and black waistcoat. Pocket handkerchief is not used with a black waistcoat. Clerics may wear clerical attire, and those who have completed their doctoral degree at a foreign university may use the gown of that institution. The new professors carry with them their doctoral hats if they have graduated from a Finnish university, and they have a doctoral hat.
Audience
The dress code for the audience is casual. In the evening session, the dress code is festive attire.
Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry:
Kirsi Mikkonen, Professor of Food Sciences | Annukka Vainio, Professor of Sustainability Science (Behavioural Change toward Sustainability Transformations)
Faculty of Science:
Federico Bianchi, Professor of Cryosphere-atmosphere interactions | Annalea Lohila, Professor of Biogeochemical Cycles | Petteri Nurmi, Professor of Computer Science (distributed systems and networking with emphasis on Internet of Things) | Markku Vainio, Professor of Physical Chemistry
Faculty of Arts:
Silvio Cruschina, Professor of Italian Language | Ilona Hongisto, Professor of Audiovisual Culture | Camilla Lindholm, Professor of Scandinavian Languages | Pia Olsson, Professor of Ethnology | Pekka Posio, Professor of Ibero-Romance languages | Mikko Tolonen, Professor of Digital Humanities | Susanna Välimäki, Professor of Art Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences:
Kris Clarke, professor of Social Work | Joel Hietanen, professor of Sociotechnical Change of Consumer Society |
Hisayo Katsui, professor of Disability Studies | Jaakko Kuorikoski, professor of Practical Philosophy | Franklin Obeng-Odoom, professor of Global Development Studies | Salla Sariola, professor of Sociology | Johanna Sumiala, professor of Communication
Faculty of Educational Sciences:
Raili Hilden, professor of Language Didactics | Janne Varjo, professor of Sociology of Education
Faculty of Medicine:
Timo Myöhänen, professor of Pharmacology
Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences:
Petri Ala-Laurila, professor of Neurobiology
Faculty of Law:
Anette Alén, professor of Civil and Commercial Law
Faculty of Arts:
Leena Kolehmainen, Professor of Germanic Philology | Anu Lahtinen, Professor of Finnish and Nordic History | Anneli Luhtala, Professor of Latin language | Marja Vierros, Professor of Classical Philology | Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen, Professor of Indigenous Studies
Faculty of Educational Sciences:
Riikka Räisänen, Professor of Craft Science and Craft Pedagogy
Faculty of Medicine:
Jari Lahti, Professor of Clinical psychology, mental health, and mental health interventions | Sirkku Peltonen, Professor of Dermatology and Allergology | Pipsa Saharinen, Professor of Biochemistry | Maritta Välimäki, Professor of Development of Healthcare Services
Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry:
Timo Hytönen, Professor of Molecular and Translational Plant Biology | Edward Webb, Professor of Global Forests and Land Use
Faculty of Science:
Pia Bäcklund, Professor of Regional and Urban Inequalities | Gregor Hillers, Professor of Earthquake Seismology | Antti Honkela, Professor of Data Science (Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence) | Katrianne Lehtipalo, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Physics | Mika Mäntylä, Professor of Computer Science (Software Development Methods) | Simon Puglisi, Professor of Data Science (Knowledge Discovery in Big Data) | Laura Ruotsalainen, Professor of Computer Science (Spatiotemporal Data Analysis for Sustainability Science)
Faculty of Law:
Dorota Gozdecka, Professor of Law | Dan Helenius, Professor of Criminal and Procedural Law
Faculty of Social Sciences:
Minna van Gerven, Professor of Social Policy | Johanna Kantola, Professor of European Societies and Politics | Timo Harrikari, Professor of Social Work| Michiru Nagatsu, Professor of Philosophy of Social Science and Sustainability