Aalto AI Talks: The future of AI in research - 4.11.2026

Description

What have we learned from the AI-driven transformation in research - and what should we prepare for next?

Who can participate?

This event is free and open to anyone to join in person or remotely. Please note that some examples and tools are primarily relevant to those working or studying at Aalto University.

Preliminary program
 

• 12:30 –13:00: Coffee/tea
• 13:00 - 13:05: Welcome words — Enrico Glerean, moderator

• 13:05 - 13:35: Opening the theme - Heikki Mannila, Associate Vice President, AI Strategy and Adoption
  Aalto AI strategy, what are the challenges in research and higher education?

  Prof. Mannila will talk about the Aalto AI strategy and how AI can be adopted responsibly in the future of research and higher education.

• 13:35 - 14:00: Pia Fricker, Professor, Architecture
  Green Intelligence: Designing with AI, Nature, and Change

  Synopsis: How can artificial intelligence help us understand and design with environments that are continuously changing? As climate change transforms our cities and landscapes, computational design is opening new ways to investigate the complex relationships between ecological processes, spatial dynamics, and human interventions. Drawing on research ranging from melting glaciers to climate-adaptive urban ecologies, this talk explores how machine learning, environmental data, and computational simulations can reveal emerging patterns and inform new approaches to design. It considers how AI can expand our capacity to investigate environmental change, while challenging us to rethink the relationship between human creativity, computational intelligence, and living systems.

• 14:00 - 14:15: Break

• 14.15 - 14.45: Jukka Suomela, Professor, Computer Science
  AI can solve our research problems — what next?

  Synopsis: In theoretical computer science, AI is already solving some of our most important research problems autonomously. If computers can do all that with little human intervention, what bigger things could we achieve through human–AI collaboration?

• 14:45 - 15:15: Emrecan Gulay, Postdoctoral researcher, Management studies
  What does it mean to do your own thinking when you work with AI? 
  
  Dr. Emrecan Gulay will discuss AI’s place in qualitative research and the questions it raises about interpretation and authorship. He will explore how people understand their own contributions and how implicit dynamics emerge in conversations with AI. He will also examine how companies, institutions, and publishers shape what researchers can do and what they are expected to take responsibility for.
   
• 15:15 - 15:30: Open discussion (and more coffee/tea)

The program may be updated.

Schedule and location

The workshop will be held at the Aalto University 1199 TU6, Maarintie 8, Espoo (display on a map) and on Zoom (link will be sent to registered participants). The room might change depending on the number of registrations. You will receive detailed information a few days before the event.

Organisers

Dr. Enrico Glerean, Staff Scientist & Data Agent, School of Science & Aalto Scientific Computing

Krista Jäntti, Business Advisor, Aalto Startup Center

Martti Rahkila, Development manager, Aalto IT Services CDO Office

Jannika Rinnejärvi, Customer relations manager, Aalto IT Services

Kristian Hentula, Digital Workplace Lead, Aalto IT Services
 

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