“Researchers’ work is about brainstorming based on theoretical thinking. First comes an idea, and when it works on paper, you test it. Validated results create new research that benefits machine learning,” says Doctoral Researcher Thanh-Long Tran.
Tran works as a researcher and is writing his doctoral thesis in a collaborative project carried out by the University of Helsinki and Nokia Bell Labs, Nokia’s research and development arm. His topic, differential privacy, is a new research field in machine learning. It focuses on protecting privacy in the processing of large datasets, which can concern, for example, people’s health.
In practice, Tran investigates how techniques such as randomness and what is known as noise must be incorporated into computing systems to ensure that anonymised data cannot be later connected to individuals. In other words, the goal is to ensure that computers cannot retrace the same path of zeros and ones to indicate which details relate to specific individuals.
Tran finds it important for research to have significance for both himself and society, as well as the global field of machine learning. What fascinates him in research is the creation of new knowledge.
“New knowledge can be either incremental or revolutionary. Incremental refines prior research, while revolutionary discovers an entirely new method, for instance. That’s the ultimate dream, but it’s not easy to achieve.”
Thanh-Long Tran, born in Vietnam, was supposed to become a physicist. In 2020 the European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO) welcomed participants from around the world, and Tran took part while studying in general upper secondary school. He won a silver medal, which opened the door to studying at the University of Helsinki on a scholarship.
In Helsinki, Tran noticed that mathematical problem-solving was more fascinating than theoretical physics.
“My brain is fond of straightforward and transparent logic and probability theory.”
Tran completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in four years. In the summer of 2025, he started as a doctoral researcher under the supervision of Professor Antti Honkela and Senior Machine Learning Researcher, Docent Antti Koskela of Nokia Bell Labs.
Originally, Tran planned to find a job in the financial sector immediately after graduating with a master’s degree. However, Professor Honkela suggested embarking on doctoral research.
“I’ve noticed that research suits me. I have not yet decided what I will do after completing my doctoral education. I believe a doctoral degree will help me either find employment in the private sector or advance my academic career.”
The collaboration between the University of Helsinki and Nokia Bell Labs began in 2017, when the latter selected the University for its Distinguished Academic Partnership programme. For 90 years, Nokia Bell Labs has laid the groundwork for information and telecommunication networks and digital devices. Their research has garnered eight Nobel Prizes.
Tran believes that research collaboration is a concrete way of tackling global phenomena, in this case the reliability and safety of machine learning. It ensures the quality of research, its applicability to practice and, ultimately, user-friendliness. In practice, collaboration has meant bringing various ideas and mindsets together.
“Nokia Bell Labs researchers work in a different environment than we do at the University. When I end up at an impasse in my research, they often have another perspective on the matter. Together, we then solve the problem.”
A plurality of perspectives among researchers speeds up research as a process, and when breakthroughs occur, they directly enhance the ways in which data are processed and utilised in society.
“We only need one idea that works. If that happens, it’s a success.”