People

Tuomo works as Professor of English Language and Digital Humanities (2024–) in the Department of Languages at the University of Helsinki, where he leads the Multimodality Research Group. He received his PhD in English Philology from the University of Helsinki in 2014. He also holds a Title of Docent in Multimodality Research and Digital Methods at the (2022). He has over 15 years of experience in researching multimodality in diverse domains ranging from everyday documents to diagrams and information graphics. Most recently, he has focused on developing novel computational methods for building and analysing multimodal corpora. In 2023, he was awarded an for developing empirically-founded theories of multimodal communication.

Anna-Kaisa is a postdoctoral researcher in the project. She received her PhD in Finnish language from Tampere University in 2024. She has experience in using multimodal conversation analysis to investigate how multimodal resources, especially bodily-visual cues, are employed to maintain mutual understanding in face-to-face interactions. In the FOUNDATIONS project, she focuses on the development of theoretically-motivated annotation tasks for multimodal documents. On parental leave during the academic year 2026-2027.

Henna Paakki is a postdoctoral researcher in the project. She received her PhD in Computer Science from Aalto University in December 2024. Her research interests are centered around computational linguistics and computational methods for the study of communication. In her PhD, she examined what communicative strategies make online trolling identifiable, and how trolling could be detected using computational modeling. In the FOUNDATIONS project, she will be focusing on developing computational methods for the analysis of multimodal communication.

Laura is a postdoctoral researcher in the project. She is also affiliated with the , where she works in the research group. Laura received her PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki in 2023. Her current work is focused on algorithmic governance, with an especial focus on digital platforms and user agency. In the CROWDINFRA project, she examines the role of microwork in the production of AI and related epistemological and ethical challenges. Laura aspires to work with various methodologies, viewing digital data and algorithms as not just objects but also tools of critical research.

is a postdoctoral researcher and teaching staff at the University of Helsinki, specializing in natural language understanding and processing (NLU & NLP) through data-driven methodologies. Raúl's research advances span uncertainty modelling, hallucination detection, and representation learning in neural language models, with key contributions in modular translation architectures, multilingual benchmarks for hallucination detection, and methods integrating decision-theoretic principles with uncertainty quantification.

Aatu is a postdoctoral researcher in the project. He received his PhD in English Philology from the University of Helsinki in 2022. His research focuses on computational and statistical methods of linguistic analysis as well as big linguistic data. His interests also include register analysis, functional approaches, and the language of social media. In the CROWDINFRA project, his work revolves around computational detection and analysis of discourses on social media.

Helmiina is a doctoral researcher in the project. Her main research interests include natural language processing and multimodal machine learning. In her work, she is interested in identifying and studying the limitations of using large language models and foundation models for tasks that rely on human inference and interpretations of multimodal documents.

Timo is a doctoral researcher in the Multimodality Research Group. His work explores the transfer of meaning between semiotic modes and changing contexts. His doctoral research provides a multimodal perspective to the transfer of information between nurses in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) environment.

Rosa is a doctoral researcher in the and projects. Her work critically evaluates the use of microtask crowdsourcing for complex annotation in research. She investigates how tasks that typically require expert knowledge can be decomposed into smaller units carried out by non-experts, as well as how task design and platform structures influence how the work is organized and completed. In 2025-2026, she was awarded the to develop a framework for using crowdsourcing in research.

Huang is a postdoctoral researcher in the FOUNDATIONS project. He received his PhD in Signal Processing and Machine Learning from Tampere University in February 2026. His research focuses on multimodal machine learning and audio understanding. In the FOUNDATIONS project, he will focus on developing computational methods for processing and interpreting audiovisual data.

Idastiina Valtasalmi is a postdoctoral researcher in the FOUNDATIONS project. She received her PHD in Finnish language from Tampere University in 2024. She specializes in morphology, morphosyntax and semantics of standard Finnish, easy Finnish and bias-free language. Her background is in English translation and easy language adaptation. She has experience in using corpus analysis, semantic analysis, surveys and empirical tests to study texts and language production and reception. In the FOUNDATIONS project, she will substitute Anna-Kaisa during the academic year 2026-2027 and focus on the development of theoretically-motivated annotation tasks for multimodal documents.

Minerva is a research assistant in the Multimodality Research Group. She started in the Master’s Programme in Linguistic Diversity and Digital humanities in the fall of 2024. Her main research interests include multimodality, natural language processing (NLP) and its applications in multilingual settings.

Rasmus was a research assistant in the Multimodality Research Group. He started in the Master’s Programme in English Studies in the fall of 2024. His main research interests include multimodality, sociolinguistics and Victorian literature.