Contacts and supervision

Board members 2018-2021

Director
Outi Vapaavuori, professor

Vice-director
Thomas Spillmann, professor

Members
Mari Heinonen, professor
Marja Raekallio, university lecturer
Päivi Rajala-Schultz, professor
Thomas Spillmann, professor
Tomi Taira, professor
Anna Valros, professor
Tiina Kaarela, doctoral student
Virpi Sali, doctoral student

Doctoral programme officer

The doctoral programme officer (former "coordinator")

• Contact person of the programme
• Administration and communication
• Planning the programme curriculum and other activities in collaboration with the board

You can make an appointment with the doctoral programme officer through e-form.

Dr. Liisa Uotila
Tel: +358-2941 24848
Mobile: +358-50-3789272
email: cvm-info@helsinki.fi
Office: Room 2801, Biocenter 3 (Viikinkaari 1)

• For more information about transferable skills courses (general competence studies): dshealth-office@helsinki.fi
• For more information about travel grants and their payment: dshealth-services@helsinki.fi
• For more information about admissions: phd-admissions@helsinki.fi
• For more information about pre-examination and approval of doctoral dissertations:
  • Viikki: viikki-phd@helsinki.fi
  • Meilahti: meilahti-student@helsinki.fi

More than 60 supervisors from 14 institutions are currently affiliated to CVM.
CVM supervisors affiliated with University of Helsinki can be found in the Research portal of the University of Helsinki.

Please note that the list includes both students and supervisors. If you're looking for a potential supervisor, look for people having 'Supervisor in doctoral programme' title.

Supervisors not affiliated to University of Helsinki in the list below.

University of East­ern Fin­land (UEF)

Jaakko Mononen
Heli Lindeberg
Leena Ahola
Heikki Roininen
Petteri Nieminen
Pertti Rannikko
Rauno Sairinen
Pekka Jokinen
Hannu Räty
Matti Kuittinen
Matti Tolvanen
Jussi Silvonen

Na­tional Labor­at­ory An­imal Centre (Kuo­pio)

Satu Mering
Timo Nevalainen

Cen­ter for Horse Man­age­ment (Hevosti­e­tokeskus) (Kuo­pio)

Minna-Liisa Heiskanen

Finnish En­vir­on­ment In­sti­tute (SYKE)

Taru Peltola

University of Turku (UTU)

Olli Koistinen
Juha Räikkä
Markku Oksanen
Elisa Aaltola

Åbo Aka­demi University (ÅAU)

Markku Suksi

Tampere University of Technology (TUT)

Jari Hyttinen

University of Oulu (UO)

Jukka Pennanen

Labor­at­ory An­imal Centre, University of Oulu

Hanna-Marja Voipio

MTT Ag­ri­food Research Fin­land (MTT)

Marketta Rinne
Hannu Korhonen
Satu Raussi
Jarmo Valaja
Ismo Strandén

Finnish Food Safety Au­thor­ity (EVIRA)

Liisa Sihvonen
Kimmo Peltonen
Saara Raulo
Sinikka Pelkonen
Annamaria Eriksson-Kallio

Private Sec­tor

Anssi Tast, Vethaus OY
Eija Helander, Suomen Rehu Oy

Su­per­visors in other countries

French Na­tional In­sti­tute for Ag­ri­cul­tural Research, France

Isabelle Veissier

In­sti­tut Su­per­iéur d´Ag­ri­cul­ture, France

Joop Lensik

Pa­cific Agri-Food Research Centre, Canada

Anne-Marie de Passillé
Jeff Rushen, PhD

University of Prince Ed­ward Is­land, Canada

David Sims

University of Copen­ha­gen, Den­mark

Jan Ladewig
Björn Forkman
Dvoralai Wulfsohn
Peter Sandoe

Research Centre Foulum, University of Århus, Den­mark

Lene Munksgaard

Tech­nical University of Den­mark

Henrik Madsen

Swedish University of Ag­ri­cul­tural Sciences, Sweden

Bo Algers
Stefan Gunnarsson

Teagasc Ag­ri­cul­ture and Food De­vel­op­ment Au­thor­ity, Ire­land

Anne Maria Mullen

Klaipėda University, Lithuania

Marija Eidukeviciene

The Nor­we­gian School of Veter­in­ary Science, Nor­way

Birgit Ranheim

Cath­olic University of Leuven, Bel­gium (M3-BIORES)

Daniel Berckmans
Jean-Marie Aerts

Es­to­nian University of Life Sciences, Es­to­nia

Väino Poikalainen

Finding supervisors willing to guide you through your thesis project is one of the most important steps when preparing your application. But it’s not always an easy feat. Here are a few tips on how to go about it:

• Start early. And when we say early, we’re talking about months rather than weeks. Finding the right match can be a time-consuming business.
• Do your research. You are more likely to get a positive response if the researchers you approach actually share your research interests. Think of approaching the prospective supervisors in a sense like you would applying for a job – sending the same generic message to various recipients is unlikely to provide the hoped-for results. Acquaint yourself with the supervisors' research profiles, and try to pick the people you approach based on actual mutual research interests.
• Pay attention to detail. At least one of your supervisors has to be in a permanent or long-term employment to the faculty awarding your prospective target degree, and at least one needs to hold the title of docent or similar scientific qualifications – i.e. be a senior researcher in your field. When you find potential supervisors, make sure in the further discussions that at least one of them fills these conditions.
• Be precise. Supervisors get a lot of email. When you approach a prospective supervisor, present your interest and motivation in a clear, succinct manner.
• Be patient and prepare for disappointments. In the process of finding a supervisor, you are likely to receive several negative responses – or, sometimes, no response at all. If you get a negative response, move on. Be also aware that, especially if your research interest is of a field that’s not widely represented here, it’s also possible that you will not find a supervisor.

Doctoral training related information are e-mailed by dpcvm-members@helsinki.fi email list for doctoral candidates and supervisors. To subscribe, send an e-mail from your helsinki.fi account to majordomo@helsinki.fi. Leave the subject-line empty and write in the message field: subscribe dpcvm-members

As a member of the dpcvm-members list, you are automatically added to the email-list of the Doctoral School in Health Sciences (dshealth-phd@helsinki.fi) that provides announcements of the courses in transferable skills and other useful information.