New professors appointed to the School of Arts, Design and Architecture

Matti Kuittinen has been appointed Adjunct Professor of the Department of Architecture at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The professorship commences on 1 June 2019 in the field of Resource efficiency and environmental effects of construction.

Matti Kuittinen, DSc (Technology), is an architect specialising in material and resource efficiency of construction, and building life cycle assessment. He is also a teacher and researcher at Aalto University. In addition to the professorship, Kuittinen works as a Senior Specialist in the Ministry of the Environment.

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Miia Haavisto has been appointed Professor of Practice of the Department of Film, Television and Scenography at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The professorship commences on 15 August 2019 in the field of Film and television production. 

Miia Haavisto, MA (Law), BA is the founder and owner of Tekele Productions Oy. Haavisto has worked as a producer since 2011. Her productions include films such as The Unknown Soldier, Tom of Finland, Miami, Headfirst, Pixadores and Presidentintekijät (President makers), and several short films. Before setting up her own company, Haavisto worked as Managing Director and Producer in two different production companies and as Production Adviser in the Finnish Film Foundation. 

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Raija Talvio, DA, has been appointed Professor of Artistic Practices of the Department of Film, Television and Scenography at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The professorship commences on 15 August 2019 in the field of Film and television screenwriting.

Raija Talvio is a screenwriter, researcher, film editor and teacher of Aalto University. As a film editor, Talvio has been involved in all films completed by Aki Kaurismäki in the 1980s. As a screenwriter, Talvio has worked in television, films and the theatre. She has written Taru Mäkelä's first film Little Nurse (1999), for which Mäkelä and Talvio received the Suomi-palkinto (Finnish National Prize) in 2000. The premiere of August Fools, a film written by Talvio and directed by Mäkelä, took place in 2013. Talvio’s doctoral dissertation Film writers (2015) sheds light on the circumstances in which the profession of Finnish screenwriters began to form in the 1930s.

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Laura Beloff has been appointed Associate Professor (non-tenured) of the Department of Art at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The professorship commences on 15 September 2019 in the field of Visual culture and art practices.

Laura Beloff, PhD, is an artist and researcher working at the intersection of philosophical issues related to art, technology, biology and the manipulation of living matter. Beloff has previously worked as Associate Professor at the IT University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Visiting Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, and Professor of Art at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.