Alumni Testimonials

Why did you choose to study cognitive science?  

"I first got interested in psychology in high school, like many others. I went to high school in the US, and my psychology teacher was fantastic, inspiring many students to pursue that path. I wasn’t sure at all after high school what I would study, and I spent a few months exploring different options from personal trainer education to economics to various behavioural sciences. I knew that the human brain interested me and decided to focus on that. On the university website, I came across this short description of cognitive science, and it included all of the things from the psychological field that I was interested in, and none of the things that were not interesting to me, mainly clinical studies and patient-related work. I decided to apply to both psychology and cognitive science, however, and actually got accepted into both. At the end, the choice was quite difficult, but I think one of the decisive factors was the wide spectrum of things one could study within cognitive science, that eventually tipped the scale."  

How does your work relate to your studies?  

"This is a question I get a lot as a designer. There are quite a few cognitive scientists working in user interface design, and there are two main parallels between my studies and my current work.  

Most of today’s digital user interfaces are based on visual observation and touch-based interaction. Understanding perceptual psychology and how the visual system works lays the foundation for good UI design. Additionally, designers have to know the limitations of humans’ cognitive processes, understand motor functions and how possible disruptions in any of these processes can be overcome and accounted for in the design. If you don’t know who and what you’re designing for, the end result is not going to be great.   

Second, the work is about understanding users and their behaviour, and the best way to do that is by observing them in a natural setting, utilising various research methods that are now familiar from my studies. I’ve used various ethnographic research methods, conducted interviews, designed and carried out user tests both online and offline."  

What skills have you gained during your studies that have helped you in your professional experience(s)?  

"This overlaps partly with my previous answer. The most useful skills in my work are definitely the various research and design methods used to design, evaluate and reiterate designs based on user understanding and feedback."  

Was it hard to start your career after graduation?  

"Like many others in our field, I found myself in a different situation, where I had started my ‘career’ already while studying and found it quite difficult to finish my studies after starting to work full time. I started working in Aalto University at the end of the second year of my studies, and from there I switched to Perfektio in the beginning of 2018. I finally submitted my thesis and graduated in the middle of the Corona pandemic in spring 2020."  

Is there something that stands out about your experience as a cognitive science student?  

"I still tell people that ask about my studies that the most interesting part is that you can become “anything” as a cogsci student. You can specialise in neuropsychology doing clinical studies or ground-breaking research, or instead end up as an expert statistician. It’s equally likely you become a game or a UI designer, like me. The opportunities are quite broad, as understanding human cognition is key in a lot of different roles. I think the only limiting factor is one’s own imagination and ambition."  

Do you have any advice or suggestions to give to prospective and/or current students in cognitive science?  

"I want to encourage everyone to study a broad palette of topics, because it’s so useful to understand issues from many different viewpoints. Study a minor in a completely different field and take a deep dive into a neighbouring field, like social studies or computer science. I spent seven years in the university, and I think it as just the right duration. There is no rush to get out of there - once you’re out, it’s hard to get back in, as well all know." 

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Perhaps a memorable anecdote from your time at the University of Helsinki or from your work?    

"Here’s one that has stuck with me for a long time. I think it was Otto Lappi that said this during the introductory course in the first week of studies: “You can study anything as your minor but geology. Rocks don’t think.”" 

Why did you choose to study cognitive science?  

"I have always considered myself more a generalist than a specialist. I would rather know a little bit of everything and see the big picture than dive deep into one single field. After high school I was interested especially in psychology, philosophy, computer science, biology and music. One day I was browsing through Wikipedia and found an article about cognitive science. It hit me instantly. A perfect mixture of the topics I was interested in, and there was a study program in Helsinki! I had to apply. I had a study right to psychology also, but choose cognitive science instead! No regrets.  

Unfortunately cognitive science bachelor’s program is no longer available at University of Helsinki. Luckily, you can still study many of the same courses."  

How does your work relate to your studies?  

"I am currently a doctoral candidate and an MEG-MRI researcher at Aalto University Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering (NBE). So technically, I’m still a student! We have a small research group focused in neurophysiological markers and structural changes in the brain related to healthy aging and age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.   

I started to specialize in cognitive neuroscience from early on in my studies, and got to play with MEG and other neuroimaging methods as a research assistant. So my work is very much related to my studies! Of course, cognitive science is so much more than just brain stuff. Cognitive modelling, artificial information processing systems, philosophy of mind, AI ethics… But even the topics that are not directly involved in my research, still hugely affect how I do science and understand the world. I wouldn’t be half the researcher I am without the philosophical mindset, great psychology courses, practical computer science and statistics skills, and design projects I have experienced and acquired during my studies."  

What skills have you gained during your studies that have helped you in your professional experience(s)?  

"Of course, during my studies I have acquired many practical skills that have proven very useful. Computer science and programming skills are vital, since I find myself writing code or analysis scripts nearly every day. And statistics and data analysis skills are, of course, core tools in every researcher’s toolbox. But in my opinion, the real value of cognitive science lies in the interdisciplinary nature of the studies. Thanks to cognitive science, I ended up having courses at all four campuses of the University of Helsinki, and even Aalto University.   

Working with students and lecturers from various backgrounds is eye-opening and allows you to extend your skillset beyond traditional discipline borders. For me, cognitive science courses have worked as a glue between these different disciplines and views. Ideally, cognitive scientists can act as a connecting bridge between experts of different fields. I think that is a major reason why many cognitive scientists make successful careers also outside the academic world." 

Was it hard to start your career after graduation?  

"Not really. But I consider myself one of the lucky ones. I got my first research assistant job at Aalto University NBE already after my second year of bachelor studies. I’ve had other jobs after that, both in research and start-ups, but always kept coming back to NBE. Very supportive work environment, the best colleagues, and endless opportunities to keep on learning. I conducted my master’s thesis study here, and continuing to doctoral studies was the natural next step. Thanks to my supervisor, I got a grant to get the research project up and running!" 

Is there something that stands out about your experience as a cognitive science student?  

"In cognitive science study track I was free to build my studies according to my interests. Naturally, there were compulsory courses, especially during the bachelor stage. But for the most parts, I was able to pick practically any course I wanted. I always felt I was personally in charge of the direction of my studies. Might not work for everybody, but for me it was perfect and highly motivating. I am all for academic freedom!"  

Do you have any advice or suggestions to give to prospective and/or current students in cognitive science?  

"University is the perfect place to meet new interesting people with similar interests. Cognitive science people (“konnarit“) have a tight and surprisingly active community in Helsinki. I encourage every student to be active and take part in student organizations and cognitive science social activities. Get to know cognitive science student organization Intelligenzia and the staff members. Hanging out with similar-minded people is great fun, and many of these people might as well be your future colleagues. The most important lessons are sometimes learned outside the lecture halls."  

Is there anything else you would like to share with us? Perhaps a memorable anecdote from your time at the University of Helsinki or from your work?    

"I still remember the first day as cognitive science freshman. We had a welcoming picnic at Kaisaniemenpuisto, and I immediately felt I was in the right place. For the first time ever I was surrounded by people who were interested in similar topics and were eager to discuss, debate, and share their opinions. I share my best student memories with these people, many of which are my close friends still today." 

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

I had finished my bachelor’s degree in religious studies at the University of Helsinki and had already started on my master’s studies on Theology when I applied to the LingDig programme. 

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

I graduated in 2024 from Digital Humanities study track. My other Master’s degree focused on Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern studies, so I did my LingDig my electives on Ancient Near Eastern Studies as well. They were actually an excellent, because during my studies I worked at the Ancient Near Eastern Empires Centre of Excellence at the university, where a lot of digital studies concerning Ancient Near East were done. 

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

I did my internship as part of my master’s degree in Theology and Religious studies at the Office of the Non-Discrimination Ombudsman. My main tasks there involved administrative tasks, mainly document and information management. So, because of this, I did not include internship to my LingDig degree. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

Already before I finished my LingDig degree, I had started working at the Prime Minister’s Office as an information management planner, and I am still there. The base of my work consists of information and document management tasks, which also includes shifts at the service desk of the Finnish government’s case management system. I also coordinate our robotic process automation of document registration, and occasionally I train officials on how to use the Government Project Register Hankeikkuna, which is gives information on current ministerial projects to the public. On my free time I work on my PhD studies at the Doctoral Programme in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Helsinki. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? (e.g., specific methodologies, tools, or theoretical frameworks you still use) 

At first, I thought my current work has no relation to my studies, but as I have acquired more responsibilities I have realized that my studies actually do benefit what I do. In Digital humanities we studied wide variety of things that relate to doing research digitally, especially the focus was on how we could act as translators between the people specialized in IT and those who are familiar with the substance of the research, meaning we had to learn quite a lot of different IT stuff and terms. This has helped me enormously at my work, because I also coordinate our robotic process automation on document registration. I am the link between the IT people and those who are experts on information management and all the laws and regulations that are involved. During my studies I also acquired good basic knowledge on AI, which is very useful in general, but because of this knowledge I have been able to participate in some AI related projects at work. 

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

I cannot think of a particular moment, but for example the courses I did on AI as part of my studies, have really been useful, especially now that AI is becoming more and more important on all fields. Also, my LingDig studies has guided me towards a career path that I find really interesting, and I hope that in the future I will be working even more at IT system management. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

I especially enjoyed Digital Humanities study track, because it can be integrated with everything. I was, and still am, interested in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern studies which I was able to connect to my digital humanities studies. So you can really focus on what you are interested in and just add the digital humanities methods and framework on that. So, if you are interested on Digital humanities even a tiny bit, I encourage you to take one course, and I guarantee you will be addicted! My advice to any students is: start writing your Master’s thesis as soon as possible, you can never start too early!

Tell us about your academical and professional background.  

"Both are quite strongly intertwined with the University of Helsinki and with digital humanities. I started my studies in history in 2015 straight after upper secondary school. I remember thinking already as a fresher that I don’t want to leave my natural science side undeveloped, because I had studied that a lot in upper secondary school. So, I started statistics as a minor, but got so excited about it that I started as mathematics major in 2017. In 2017-2018 I was basically doing both degrees at the same time.   

In 2018 I found digital humanities hackathon and through that, this digital humanities idea at the University of Helsinki. I started working alongside my studies as a research assistant especially in the Computational History Group. In 2020 I graduated as a master both from history and mathematics and in the fall 2021 I am continuing as a post-graduate student at digital humanities, which is in the intersection of my fields.  

So, I have an academical background from two sides and my professional career is in the intersection of them, right here in digital humanities."   

How did you find the hackathon and digital humanities? Did you get a tip from friend or how did you run into it?  

"That was quite accidental, actually. We had this work-life course, where people were pushed to think what they wanted to do after graduation. I had already had this idea that is there something that combines history and quantitative approach. The student-counselor of the course said to find someone who does what you want to do and write and interview about it. I found Mikko Tolonen. So, I was thinking “Okay there is this person at the University of Helsinki” and I asked if we could do the interview. Mikko recommended that I’d join the upcoming hackathon [Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon] to try if it seems interesting. And then it escalated from there really. I’d say that you should take the work-life courses seriously as well. That is a good chance to ponder these things and at least for me it worked out pretty well, heh."  

How did you end up at the Computational History project?  

"It started with the hackathon. They used Computational History (ComHis) group’s materials and I found the work interesting. The hackathon was during the spring and the fall following that I got a research assistant position, that is, a small piece of land of the ComHis work that I got for myself. After that I have worked part-time as a research assistant there and in fall 2021, I will start there as a post-graduate student."  

You have quite strong background also in relation to digital humanities, because it is in the middle of both of your fields. What benefits your degrees have then?  

"In a way I’d say that even though for example programming is not in the core of mathematics, statistics or history, still a big part of the principal level things relates to one of them. In historiology, criticism of sources is what makes it so distinctively its own field. Criticism of sources is emphasized in digital humanities strongly, because the materials are poorly known and not very strongly curated, like digital materials are. It is super important to understand what you are working with and how biased the materials are. And even though sometimes the materials are digital, you still need to integrate them to previous research tradition. It can be dangerous if the link between previous research and your research breaks and you end up in your own bubble. And from the quantitative side I would emphasize the importance of knowing what tools to use. Then you can know how to use them wisely and, in the context, you want to.   

Digital humanities fields are all still pretty new, so it is even more important that you don’t just use some cool tools without thinking about it. The way things are done in digital humanities is still, in a way, pioneering work. It is also what makes this so interesting to me due to my statistical background: I have the possibility to think from zero, or almost zero, what tools are suitable for this field."  

What is your role in the Computational History project?  

"I think everybody is working on developing the data towards research. So, we manually curate historical data and make it better. We do use algorithms as well to develop, parse and standardize the data. The work has also more and more going to the analytical side. For example, we take framing of a question or fields of question and try to find the quantitative and macro perspective to how we can bring out new points of view. The work is thus mainly handling the data, but it is going towards historical research complemented with these quantitative methods." 

What are you working on at the Computational History Group? What interesting projects do you have there right now?  

"Good question! There are few things I’m strongly tied up to. We have noticed that in British Library materials there are quite a lot of price information, which is a rare situation. This material seems to be bigger in size than any other equivalent. The British Library catalogue in itself might be the biggest Anglospehre data there is about intellectual and cultural history. Therefore, the price information is very promising material from an economic perspective as well.   

Price information is quite ideal for the history of quantitative analysis. They are important for social science history, but also for questions like does some kind of sphere of luxury printing, a data find, appear. We have also been presented a possibility for comparing different national materials. Right now, I have been comparing French national materials to the British Library catalogue. That way we can see how strongly the French authors are present in the British materials."  

What does the price information tell us? What kind of information can you get out of it? Why is it interesting?  

"We do have around 10 000 cases of price information dating from the 18th century onwards. What I’ve been doing is that I’ve created this mathematical model, that tries to understand for example how the physical features are related to the price. For example, the amount of paper in a work is important on the formation of the price. That might be the biggest thing, but also time and place of printing affect as well and we can research how the price was formatted in relation to time or place of printing. So, the model tries to illustrate how much the price is determined by the size of the work but also by the place and time of printing. We can for example research if there happened some changes in the availability of culture products in 18th century Britain."   

Super interesting! I have never even thought that you can research something like that.  

"Well, me neither, before we kind of figured out the size of the data. With modelling we can link the size of the data to the time and place or even the size of the work to the price. With the link the model makes between these things we can surpass the limitations the relative scarcity of price information presents."  

What was the topic of your master’s thesis? What was it like to write it?  

"Well, yeah, last year I did write two master’s theses. The one I wrote for history connects maybe more to digital humanities and it is about changes in printing production in 17th century England, during the civil war. It was a critical reading about the previous interpretations. With our data it was maybe easier to handle questions like how much does outbreak of a war affect the rise of printing quantities. For example, some book sellers started consciously save books and works from their time, because they understood the historicity of the moment. These collections later ended up in national collections and therefore increased the amount of works that has survived that era. If you put that without criticism to a timeline, it looks like there are more books printed then in total. I had the resources to think about the question that has there been changes in material sense (printing more) or has there just been a change in the focus of what was printed (from books to pamphlets). 

Writing my master’s thesis was a very satisfying experience. In general, I like these kinds of projects where you can focus on one thing thoroughly, but it demands that you schedule enough time for the process. I have noticed that for many writing their master’s thesis is difficult and it tends to become this forever project. When I compared my process to my friends’, I noticed that it affects a lot of much you emphasize the thought that it must be the most perfect version it can be. For me it was more like I set myself timeframes for both theses and then it is as good as it becomes within that frame and the work is non-negotiable after the timeframe has closed.  

It also has the practical benefit that it prevents you from doing the thesis over and over again or postpone it. The work is as good as it is in that time frame and then it can’t brother you anymore."  

Do you identify yourself as a humanist, generalist or something else?  

"Well to be honest I switch it depending on the discussion – the role changes in different situations. When I’m working alone, I don’t need a role and I don’t really think about if I’m a humanist or something else. If I’m working on a group where there are humanists who understand the subject better, but don’t for example code, then I quite consciously take the role of the IT expert and I can leave some of the questions to the others. Then in some cases I am the only humanist and others are statisticians and mathematicians then I can bring different perspective to that and it’s fine as well. It is context based."  

And what are the benefits of being both humanist and mathematician?  

"It leads to quite interesting intersections, and you can approach it from many different angles. If you think about the educating effect the university has. You have certain traditions in your head, for example about how to interpret humanistic texts, but those are rarely integrated to something else. I think this multidisciplinary background I have, has given me ability to see things from a broader perspective. I feel like people should clash their world views more. It can be difficult and lead to interesting dialogues within your own head, but in the end, it is for the good. Pragmatically you can think that it gives you good chances to move within the university but also outside of it. It broadens your chances in a way."   

If you could choose now, would you take digital humanities as your major?  

"I’ll answer maybe. If you want to get your hands on the intersection quickly, then it is probably wise and effective. But I do believe that in the future as well it is entirely possible that you get a base for example in history or in a technical field and then supplement your knowledge later. I think that digital humanities are a derivative of tools and backgrounds of several other disciplines and in that sense, nobody has to close any mental doors. Even if you start somewhere else, you can still end up here.  

Probably everybody experiences a lot of pressure at the university no matter what they study. I have tried to take the perspective that it is inevitable to make mistakes so you can’t treat that like a disappointment or that you have done something wrong. You can’t take the attitude that you’ll always suffer. You have to be merciful to yourself, it is mandatory, because otherwise you’ll make this intolerable. You will probably make decisions that you regret later or that are unsatisfactory, but that isn’t the end of the world by any means."   

Do you have any tips or advice on those who are thinking if digital humanities are their field?  

"I’d say that the Digital Humanities Hackathon in Finland is worth trying, because there you can see both the good and the bad. You can see that you can approach questions in very different perspectives, but you can see the everyday challenges in a multidisciplinary field when people from different backgrounds try to communicate with each other. Of course, in eight days you can’t sum it all up, but they are still in a good balance, and you get the idea if the field feels like you. Many have ended up in digital humanities from the hackathon, including myself." 

How did you end up as a post-graduate researcher?  

"Simply put, the research I was interested in was left unfinished. I also had the idea to become a researcher already when I first started to study at the university. In digital humanities I found a good intersection of my fields and I wanted to become a researcher, so I suppose I’ll become a digital humanities researcher. This path felt like the obvious one for me."  

Could you tell something about the process of becoming a post-graduate researcher?  

"You probably should view the process kind of like the process of writing your master’s thesis. Not quite, but it worked for me. I wrote the applications first as well as you can and then ask someone who isn’t afraid to give you their honest opinion for feedback. It is a project, and you can set a certain number of iterations you are willing to do and then do it as many times and then send it. Mine was iterated three times if I recall correctly. The first one I sent to the university and then I edited the same application for other places. It wasn’t horrifying. Writing your master’s thesis is a way longer text than the applications for post-graduate research."   

What is the topic of your doctoral thesis?  

"I’m researching 18th century North-Atlantic societal turning points in the light of bibliographic data analysis. It is a word monster, but we are trying to get a perspective how Europe started to slowly move towards the modern world in the breakage of 18th and 19th century. We can see the change in the level of thinking, but also in the development of economy and I’m interested in seeing if we can get historical macro perspectives through book descriptions in Britain, the Netherlands and maybe in France as well.  

I’m in civil service right now, so I’ll get to start this project in the fall 2021."   

Do you have any tips for those who want to write their doctoral thesis?   

"It helps a lot if your instructors are truly interested in the same subject. If you can find a group of people or even just one person who is in board with your idea, that it isn’t unimportant for them, it helps a lot. It is the benefit of the university because here you can find people who share the interests and are willing to spend their time to read through your applications or theses and grade them." 

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

I did my bachelor's in the Czech Republic in Brno at the Masaryk University, and I studied two majors, Dutch language and literature and Baltic studies... basically Finnish language and literature. I actually wanted to study fashion design most of my life, but then I had to give up my dream and I was very sad. I thought I'm going to study Finnish as like a joke, but then I realized I probably really want to study that. I got to Helsinki partly because of my degree in Finnish, but I got the job [in my gap year as a technical analyst] because of my degree in Dutch. 

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

I graduated in August 2024, and I did mostly sociolinguistics and sociophonetics. So, a big part of my study was in phonetics. My study was half sociolinguistics, half phonetics, basically. My thesis and my research that I was working on the whole two years was in accent bias. I felt much more at home in the phonetic department because it was so small... our master thesis seminars were so cozy, like 5 people. I had great people around me. I definitely recommend taking phonetic courses. 

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

I did an internship at the University of Helsinki in the Department of Languages, where I worked with Johanna Viimaranta. I worked on social media in the department, but also on research in corpus linguistics and it was about onomatopoeic interjections in Slavic languages. I focused on Slovak there. I did get my position because I spoke Slovak, which was probably the first time in my life where my native language came as an advantage. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

I wanted to do my PhD, and I wanted to do it. I really, really wanted to do it... it was my dream. I did not get funding... I was truly depressed at that point because I just got so many rejections. Then I randomly got a call from Allegro. They were looking for a Slovak linguist who speaks Polish at least a bit, and I was like, OK, yeah, that's me. I work as a language quality assurance specialist in Allegro, which is like Amazon, but in Central Europe. I'm actually really happy I didn't get a PhD. I get to use my degree in a real way, and I get paid for it in a normal way. I still teach [Dutch] every day before my normal big girl job and then during my lunch break and after work. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? 

I think the most important thing is this research mindset. Always being able to formulate what the research question is, what are the steps, how can I make experiments. And this is what I learned in Helsinki... cultivating this big picture mindset. You immediately think like what is my end goal? And then you think of what are the steps how I can get there. Also, I already learned how to use AI and how to utilize it in my everyday life. [Professors] were quite supportive of that and about us learning how to code. Those things really help... to have certain computational literacy in linguistics, to have some Python, some R. 

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

My colleagues ask about it very often, like how do you know how to write these reports? How do you know how to write this stuff? This is a part of sociolinguistic subjects that really helped me was the learning diaries, essays, projects, everything that we wrote that comes handy. Actually, sometimes I even use stuff from my learning diaries... I just copied it into the report. So, you do use stuff you learn, sometimes it comes very handy. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

Don't rely on your PhD... take Python courses, R courses, just some computational linguistics. Do think practically, you know, what will earn you money? Pick a subject for your master's thesis that you actually like and care about because you will spend so much time with it and if you hate it, you will detest it. Don't be afraid to think of your own methodology. Work with people who will support this creativity in research and experimental research. 

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

I obtained a B.A. in Spanish language and an Honors Degree from Oklahoma State University. During my bachelor’s degree, I studied abroad in Salamanca, Spain, and Valparaíso, Chile, and then completed my final exchange in Helsinki, Finland, from which I never returned. 

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

I graduated from the Linguistic Diversity and Digital Humanities program in 2024. I started when the program had a diversity linguistics track, and then ended up graduating from the general linguistics track. I obtained a minor in Finnish and Basque. 

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

We didn’t have a required internship; that said, I was involved in several research projects and was also selected for a marketing internship at the University of Helsinki. I was involved in the GrampAdapt project (ERC-funded project), the WECS to Minimal English project, and the language and well-being project. I also worked on the organizing committee of three conferences. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

Before graduating, I had already established my own company for sports coaching and consulting. I have continued doing this and also work as a project researcher in the Kone Foundation-funded Language Awareness and Ideologies in Finland research group located at the University of Jyväskylä and Helsinki. In my free time, I am also completing a business degree at Hanken School of Economics. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? (e.g., specific methodologies, tools, or theoretical frameworks you still use) 

Since I specialized in language attitudes and ideologies in my degree and thesis, it helped when the Kone Foundation selected the research project I’m working in for funding. I came in a year after the project started, already before graduating.  

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

Real-world moments are honestly just everyday conversations. Language is at the center of so much of the real world. Do I use semantic trees in daily life? No. But do I help people understand what language ideologies exist and how they shape the way we think? Absolutely. For example, asking why “pakkoruotsi” is such a strong concept in Finland, while “pakkoenglanti” isn’t, opens up interesting discussions and realizations. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

Think about your specialization early, even before starting the degree. I wish I had realized sooner that while, for example, Basque could be studied at UH, there wasn’t anyone actively researching it. Of course, no program can cover everything, but I ended up creating my own path within the available courses and opportunities outside of UH. 

I attended a language documentation summer school in the Basque Country, joined several research projects, and took courses outside the LingDig program to match my interests. A course in heritage languages helped me find my focus in Finnish as a heritage language, while a research project course on language and well-being helped me define the direction of my thesis. 

Since I didn’t want to focus only on Finnish as a heritage language or only on Basque sociolinguistics, I combined both. I published my first academic articles on Finnish as a heritage language and then wrote my thesis on Basque. By graduation, I had two publications and a third on the way. I also applied for my own research funding as an MA student and was fortunate to receive substantial support for fieldwork and publication work. 

I plan to apply for PhD study rights in fall 2026 and aim to complete an article-based dissertation within about two years. Thankfully, a significant part of that work is already done, which makes the process feel more manageable. 

I’d also like to add that you shouldn’t worry if you don’t feel like you fit the main research strengths of your study track. It’s absolutely possible to create your own path, and my trajectory is a good example of that.

The new Linguistic Diversity and Digital Humanities programme combines five study tracks: phonetics, language technology, cognitive science, general linguistics, and digital humanities. Why do you think it’s crucial to bring digital methods to humanities?  

"Only digital humanities and not digital humanities and social sciences (ihmistieteet in Finnish)? Language research is in a special position among these disciplines in that language technology is such an established field with a long history. There’s no such thing as, say, history technology. Other digital humanities and social sciences have a lot of catching up to do. But why, that was the question. Research data is increasingly digital and can’t be efficiently used, or even accessed, using traditional methods. On top of that, computational methods are capable of various feats that people aren’t. They can also be used to automatize data processing tasks – according to estimates, the portion of time in data-based research spent on processing the data can easily be as high as 90%."  

You work on the Language Bank of Finland (Kielipankki) at the CSC. What is CSC, and why is it important to develop platforms like the language bank? What kind of potential does it have for linguistics and non-linguistics research alike?  

"CSC is the Finnish supercomputing center that acts as the main centralized research infrastructure for most fields of science in Finland. The Language Bank of Finland offers corpora and services for using them, both of which are vital for researchers whose data is coded using natural languages. Most researchers prefer easy-to-use interfaces (such as the Korp corpus query interface, korp.csc.fi) but CSC also offers state-of-the-art supercomputing facilities for those with high performance requirements." 

It seems that your major studies have had a big impact on your career. Do you think there are some other factors, such as extra-curricular activities or minor studies, that have contributed to your path? 

"Like so many others, all jobs I’ve ever got all involved some kind of a personal connection. In terms of employment, I’d go as far as say that networking with the people you’re planning to end up in the same job pool with is the most important part of university studies."  

Do you have any tips for someone pursuing language technology on what they should study outside of their major?  

"The cliché answer is to study something related to your dream job, but it doesn’t always work out that way in the end. From a generic perspective, it’s a good idea to be aware what kind of computer science skills are in high demand on the job market and invest in those. Combined with the edge you get from a specialized field such as language technology, that should set you up for easy job seeking."  

Who do you think should choose language technology?  

"Myself, I chose language technology because I saw it as a modern variation of general linguistics and I have always been interested in languages in general. This was a misconception, of course, as the two fields are actually very different from each other, and you can easily be a successful language technologist by speaking only English. This may have changed since my days, though. I was, in fact, technically speaking the first language technology student in Finland because the subject changed its name from computational linguistics during the summer before I started, and I was the only major student starting that year. From my (possibly antiquated) perspective, I’d say that language technology is best suited for somebody looking for a specialized branch of computer science (bioinformatics being another good example)."  

Are there some interesting new advances in the Language Bank of Finland, or in language technology and digital humanities in general, that might interest our students?  

"As far as I know, all language technology students use the Language Bank in one way or another, so definitely. Unlike many other supercomputing-related services, ours has always been available for teaching as well, and there’s a strong bond between CSC and the universities. In fact, most people who work for the Language Bank are actually at U Hel." 

Is there something else you would like to tell us? Perhaps a memorable anecdote from your time at the University of Helsinki or from your work in the field of language technology?  

"My first job somehow related to my studies was during my first year as an IT support person at the Department of General Linguistics. My very first customer of my first day at the job was a researcher who came in with a huge pile of hand-written papers that she wanted to automatically translate from North Sami to Inari Sami. Unfortunately, language technology hasn’t advanced quite that far even today." 

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

Officially I started studying linguistics at the University of Helsinki in 2017, language technology was at that time embedded in a program that emphasized general linguistics. Before that I had studied Finnish through the open university. That is how I got to know about general linguistics, and became interested. 

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

During my studies I wanted to build the most complete understanding of language I could, and included perspectives from multiple fields: I took electives ranging from altaic linguistics and language philosophy to neuropsychology, and studied the basics of programming, linear algebra and probabilities at the Kumpula campus. I graduated as a master of arts in language technology in 2022. 

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

I did my internship in a KONE-funded media research project "Flows of Power", where I wrote my MA thesis on augmenting BERT with topics and html features to model remediation tactics. The work was focused on a website that is largely considered a weapon of information warfare. During this time I was also a student representative for the LingDig program. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

After graduation I got an offer to continue working on a PhD, where most of my time has been devoted to (linguistically informed) computational discourse analysis. I've studied an assortment of subjects from ideological fantasies to climate discourse. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? (e.g., specific methodologies, tools, or theoretical frameworks you still use) 

I would say all the courses I took were equally important, but notable benefits came from the linear algebra and probabilities courses I took from the maths program in Kumpula. These have to be highlighted as they are not included in the official program but they really gave me the intuition to understand how LT algorithms work at a deeper level. Not to mention the carryover to other subjects as well. The course on hfst and xfst with Mathias Creutz and Kimmo Koskenniemi was one of the highlights for sure. 

I also want to highlight a philosophical stance that I find important: the language technology track really taught the field from the ground up, starting from rule-based methods, sometimes having us write algorithms with pen and paper (thanks Yves...). 

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

In my current work as a researcher its daily that I leverage my studies in one way or the other, but also I have been asked to fix a morphological parser and syntax trees in a live-coding interview. I got an offer 100% because of the LT track in LingDig, so thats some concrete evidence for how good the program is even outside of academia. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

Take the time to learn the foundational skills, general linguistics, calculus, linear algebra, probabilities, programming. You need a solid core of both linguistics and maths to build LT knowledge on. Lots of people hate learning the more technical skills, but the payoff is worth it. And don't forget to follow your instincts, experiment and study weird courses!

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Natural Language Processing at the University of Stuttgart from 2017 to 2021.

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

I graduated in the spring/summer of 2024. My study track was Phonetics. I completed some elective studies in linguistics and language technology. I also spent a fair amount of time writing an article that resulted from a course project, which my co-authors and I were lucky enough to publish and present at the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences in Prague in 2023.

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

We did not have a mandatory internship as part of the degree at the time, but I did work as the LingDig Trainee in 2022, which was a fantastic experience and learning opportunity. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

As you’re all probably quite aware, the job market in Finland is pretty tough, so my first steps after graduation certainly reflect that. My initial plan was to pursue a PhD in Phonetics at the University of Helsinki, but I was not able to secure funding at the time. So I worked as an AI training data annotator/analyst for a year before making the switch to become an AI engineer for a company here in Helsinki called Vivicta, where I have been working since the spring of 2025. This has been quite rewarding, working for different clients on all sorts of projects to do with AI implementation. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? (e.g., specific methodologies, tools, or theoretical frameworks you still use) 

The basic methodologies like programming, working with LLMs, and so on have proven to be most useful on my professional path thus far. During my studies, I was most interested in speech synthesis, so I have always felt quite comfortable at the intersection between computational methods and more humanistically oriented questions. This is a balance that is still important to strike in my current role, where people from technical and non-technical backgrounds have to work together efficiently. In terms of specific frameworks or tools, I can’t really pinpoint anything that’s stuck around from studies to work. Everything in the AI space is moving so fast still, it’s barely even relevant today what was new six months ago. I do very much still enjoy playing around in Praat though, as any phonetician does :) 

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

Every day. The most important thing I learned during my time in LingDig was to work, plan, think, and execute independently. This is the most valuable “soft skill” you can have. I used to dread the feeling of looking at a blank page at the start of a new project, be it a course paper or a Python script, but just forcing yourself to do just that again and again is what makes you good at it. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

Enjoy the time as LingDig students and, if you can, take your time. Go to the extracurriculars, have the beer at Thirsty Scholar, and take the odd course that sounds cool but doesn’t really fit into your study plan. Getting a degree like LingDig offers is more than just a qualification on your CV; it’s your chance to exercise your academic freedom.

What was your academic background before your master’s studies in Helsinki? 

I did my bachelor’s degree in English studies at the University of Malmö. In addition to studying English literature and linguistics, I did a minor in creative writing. During my time there, we had an introductory course to phonetics and phonology. I did a small course project with a classmate on African American Vernacular English in the HBO show The Wire. It was a silly little assignment, but it really sparked my interest in speech and especially how sociolinguistic variation is presented in speech. 

When did you graduate, and what did you study (track, minors, electives)? 

I graduated in 2022 from the phonetics track. Phonetics research in Helsinki is quite technical and a lot of it deals with speech synthesis. I studied phonetics courses such as acoustics, speech analysis methods and speech synthesis. I complemented them with courses in statistics, language technology and general linguistics. These included, for example, mathematics, programming and machine learning courses for linguists. 

Where did you complete your internship during your studies? 

I did my internship in the LingDig programme with two other interns. Our main job was an overhaul of the programme’s website. This included mapping career paths for potential students as well as conducting questionnaires and alumni and student interviews. It was really interesting to get an inside look into how some things are done at the University and also useful for myself for planning my future career. 

How has your career journey looked after graduation? What are you doing now? 

After graduation I worked for a while as a freelancer in an AI radio project at the Finnish Broadcasting Company. The project produced radio feature dramas with synthetic voices and experimented using LLMs for scriptwriting. After that I worked for a while at the university’s IT services until I got a doctoral researcher position at the university’s Phonetics and Speech Synthesis research group. Right now, I’m finishing my PhD that deals with analyzing linguistic diversity with self-supervised speech models. Soon I’m about to pivot away from speech again when I start working as a researcher in digital linguistics at the University of Turku. 

How does your current work relate back to what you studied in Helsinki? (e.g., specific methodologies, tools, or theoretical frameworks you still use) 

It relates very closely. The knowledge I gained during courses in phonetics, statistics, mathematics, and machine learning come in handy every day in my PhD project. The questions I aim to answer are about language variation, so courses from general linguistics such as anthropological linguistics and sociophonetics have also been very useful for my current work. In my coming job, the skills I learned in the language technology courses will undoubtedly be even more important. 

I think for me the most valuable thing about the LingDig programme was that it combines such different fields of study. Having both a technical understanding of topics like machine learning as well as a background in humanities lets you positions yourself between various fields in a pretty agile way. 

Can you share a real-world moment where your degree came in handy? 

Well, I would never have been employed to any of the jobs I’ve had in the last four years (or my upcoming job) if I didn’t have my degree. 

Any other advice to share with current or prospective students? 

Take advantage of the possibility to study topics that you may have never even thought of before. I, for example, had no technical background before my MA studies. While it has sometimes been very challenging, it can be super rewarding to realize you can do all sorts of things you never expected.