People

received his PhD in 1997 from University of Helsinki under the guidance of Prof. Markku Leskelä. During 1998 - 2003 he worked at University of Helsinki, first as a postdoctoral researcher and then as an Academy researcher, the latter granted by Academy of Finland. In 2003, he was appointed as Academy research fellow by Academy of Finland. In July 2007 he was nominated as a professor of green chemistry at University of Helsinki. During his PhD studies and later career, he has been actively collaborating with Prof. Bernhard Rieger in Technical University of Munich.

His research is focused on the development of inorganic/organometallic chemistry, green chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, especially catalyst development for major chemical transformations including oxidation, reduction, C-H activation, and C-C coupling applied for small molecule activation and biomass valorization.

received her PhD in 2015 from the University of Jyväskylä, where she worked in the group of Prof. Heikki Tuononen studying reactivity of novel main group compounds. After defending her doctoral thesis, she relocated herself to the UK to work as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Simon Aldridge at the University of Oxford. In 2021, she was awarded the prestigious Academy of Finland Research Fellow grant and she is now establishing her own research group in Helsinki. Her main research focus is on experimental and computational investigations of main group and organometallic complexes and their unusual reactivity with small molecules.

My main focus in teaching and research is chemical crystallography, structural chemistry, and X-ray structure analysis, showing the influence of the structure in the solid state, but also in solution, on the chemical and physical properties. This covers a wide area of inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, organic chemistry and supramolecular chemistry.

Since 1994 I’m a Docent for Crystallography at the University of Joensuu and in 2011 I was appointed as a Docent in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Helsinki.

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received her PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Tehran (2021). After the defence, she worked as a process engineer for an oil & gas company in Iran (2021-2023). Currently, she is a post-doctoral researcher in CatLab supervised by Prof. Timo Repo. Her research is focused on Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) by superbase containing compounds. 

Dr. Pasi Vikberg received his Ph.D. in 2021 from the University of Turku, where he conducted research on transition metal-catalyzed oxidation reactions under the supervision of Dr. Ari Lehtonen. In 2022, he joined the University of Jyväskylä as a postdoctoral researcher in a Research Council of Finland-funded project, “Bridging Solutions for Increasing Blocking Temperature in Molecular Nanomagnets,” under the guidance of Assistant Professor Jani Moilanen. His work at Jyväskylä focused on the design, synthesis and characterization of organometallic rare-earth complexes for the investigation of single-molecule (opto)magnetic properties.

In 2023, Dr. Vikberg began a Post-Docs in Companies (PoDoCo®) postdoctoral research project, “SLS 4D-Printed Scavengers for Rare-Earth Element Sequestering,” at Weeefiner Ltd. in Jyväskylä. This project involved developing new methods for the isolation and refinement of rare-earth elements from secondary sources such as industrial wastewater.

In 2024, Dr. Vikberg joined the University of Helsinki as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Dr. Petra Vasko. He is currently leading his first independent postdoctoral research project, “Heterobimetallic Lewis Pairs in Nitrogen Activation and Green Synthesis of Ammonia,” which focuses on the development of novel bimetallic catalysts based on transition metals and rare-earth elements for sustainable nitrogen fixation. Pasi excels in synthetic organic/ organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis-based research and enjoys teaching in the chemistry laboratory. 

Jahir Uddin Ahmad received his PhD in 2012 from University of Helsinki under the guidance of Prof. Markku Leskelä and Prof. Timo Repo. During 2012 - 2013 he worked at Catlab as a postdoctoral researcher. Currently, his research is focused on activation of air oxygen catalyzed by organo-molecules in water which composes as an environmental begin system. He is also interested the synthesis and characterized of Nano catalysts for oxidation of alcohols in water as a solvent.

received his PhD, titled “Structural and Functional Studies on Multidimensional Coordination Polymeric Networks”, in 2020 from the Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (AcSIR), India, conducting his doctoral research primarily at the CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSIR-CSMCRI) under the guidance of Prof. E. Suresh. Following his PhD, from 2021 to 2022, he worked as a CSIR-Research Associate at CSIR-CSMCRI on a project, “Application of Mixed-Linker MOFs Towards CO2 Sequestration and Chemical Sensing of Pollutants”, funded by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR-India).

Subsequently, between 2022 and early 2025, he worked in Japan at Kyushu University and The University of Tokyo, holding positions first as a JSPS Postdoctoral Fellow and later as a Research Assistant Professor on projects, “Creation of MOFs Upconverting Near Infrared Light to Visible Light” and “Realization of multi-exciton control based on rational molecular design”, both funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS-Japan).

In 2025, he joined Prof. Timo Repo’s Research Group at the University of Helsinki, Finland, as a Postdoctoral Researcher focusing on rare earth element (REE) recycling. His research interests include developing multifunctional coordination polymers (CPs), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), MOF-based nanocomposites, and organic macrocycles for applications in environmental remediation (such as sensing/encapsulation of pollutants, CO2 sequestration, catalysis, water splitting, and REE recycling) and photonics (including triplet fusion, singlet fission, photogenerated spin qubits, and quantum information science (QSI)). Furthermore, he possesses expertise in small molecule crystallography and identifies as a chemical crystallographer.

My research focuses on the liquid organic hydrogen carriers that could be used for transportation and storing of renewable energy.

My aim is to develop methods for environmental hydrogen production, preferably from water. Research is focusing on complex synthesis and their evaluation for water splitting properties (production of hydrogen and/or oxygen).

I am also known as great t-shirt designer and tea ceremonial leader at our research group.

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is working on carbon dioxide capture, to lower the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  Current research is regarding the use of amidinium and guanidinium superbases to capture CO₂ for either storage or further use in subsequent reactions.  Characterisation of the chemical species will allow for further understanding and tunability for improved performance that can supersede current industrial technologies.

My research work consists of two parts. One is aimed at searching for the reaction mechanism when catalyzing six carbon sugars, then exploring how the coal is formed via chemical reaction. The other is searching for the missing tool for biorefinery, chemicals and materials from renewable feedstock, namely lignin.

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Joseph Install completed his undergraduate studies at the Department of Chemistry at The University of York (UK) before moving to the University of Helsinki to begin Ph.D. studies in 2021. His research interests are green and sustainable approaches to modern chemistry for a circular economy, including green process design. Also work on lab automation techniques and integration into chemical research.

received her Bachelor's (2018) and Master's (2020) degrees in chemistry from Aarhus University in Denmark. In August 2020, she joined the CatLab supervised by Timo Repo for her PhD studies. Liselotte’s research focuses on the activation of CO2 catalyzed by transition metal complexes and its application in fine chemical synthesis. 

In November 2020, she was elected Student Representative on the Steering Committee for NordCO2.

 did her Bachelor´s and Master´s Degrees in the University of Oulu. She is currently doing her PhD in the University of Helsinki focusing on catalytic modification of hemicellulose into polymer raw materials.

is Academy Research Fellow, Dr. Petra Vaskos first PhD student. His PhD focus on main group and transition metal-containing heterobimetallic complexes in small molecule activation and catalytic applications. 

My studies focus on development of novel Frustrated Lewis Pairs concepts. The aim is to activate H-H bonds for development of novel metal based and particularly metal-free hydrogenation catalysis and hydrogen storage concepts.

Kati Meriläinen focuses on natural material characterization and plasticization. 

Her PhD is in collaboration with . 

graduated from the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University (2020) and also worked at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Science in the Laboratory of Molecular Design and Synthesis (2017-2020). In the fall of 2020, he joined to the CatLab for obtaining a PhD.



His main research dedicated to the development of new FLP applications in organic synthesis.

 completed her undergraduate studies at the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg before starting her Ph.D studies under the supervision of Dr. Petra Vasko at the University of Helsinki. Her research focus on the synthesis and characterisation of a library of new Frustrated Lewis Pairs based on resorcinol and related backbones, and to study their properties in catalytic applications, especially in hydroamination reactions.

received his master's degree in chemistry in April 2022 and immediately started his PhD studies.

Jukka aims to provide the synthetic community with practical methods for the utilization of carbon dioxide in fine chemical synthesis. His current work focuses on synthesizing carbamates, ureas and other related compounds from CO₂. Apart from utilization of CO₂, his future aspirations also include the utilization of other carbon chalcogens, namely carbonyl sulfide (COS) and carbon disulfide (CS₂), for the preparation of a number of exciting carbonyl and thiocarbonyl compounds.

Apart from research, Jukka is involved in teaching inorganic and organic chemistry laboratory courses to undergraduate students. He is also part of the team involved in coaching talented Finnish high school students to compete in the annual Nordic Chemistry Olympiad (NChO) and the International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO).

received her Bachelor's degree (2021) and Master's degree (2024) from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She then joined the Catlab group as a PhD student, where she is developing green and sustainable methods for metal recycling from WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment), with a focus on gold, palladium, and rare earth elements (neodymium and samarium).