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Scholars from Aalto and University of Helsinki got together for a common ICT Research Day

Published: 7.2.2024

Research Day, organized by HIIT – Helsinki Institute for Information Technology brought together researchers and students from three ICT departments to network and share insights to ongoing research

People following talk by Jukka Suomela in Dipoli, Otaniemi — Photos: Aalto University, Matti Ahlgren

ICT Research Day was held in Dipoli on the Otaniemi campus on Wednesday 31 January. The event attracted over 200 registered participants working on different fields of information and communications technology.

Building on a tradition of the annual CS Research Days organized by the Department of Computer Science at Aalto University, this was the first time that the event took place as a joint activity between the Departments of Computer Science and Information and Communications Engineering at Aalto University and the Department of Computer Science at University of Helsinki. The launch of new ICT Research Day was especially targeted for research groups combined by the umbrella organization of HIIT.

The focus of the event was to provide an opportunity to get to know what other researchers in the field are doing across the university boundaries as well as help master students connect with research groups they might be interested in.

Starting with lunch and continuing through afternoon filled with talks and research group presentations, the day culminated in a poster exhibition where academic discussions went on in a relaxed atmosphere.

Petri Myllymäki, Director of HIIT, opened the event in the Dipoli’s Kaleva hall, followed by greetings of the organizing team and the plenary talk by CSC Director of Science and Technology Pekka Manninen. Manninen was proud to shed light on the story, technical architecture and early scientific examples of the use of LUMI, ‘Europe’s flagship supercomputer’ whose high performance computing some research groups operating in Aalto have also already familiarized with. After that Heads of Departments Jussi Kangasharju (CS, University of Helsinki), Juho Rousu (replacing Janne Lindqvist of CS, Aalto) and Tapio Lokki (DICE, Aalto) gave short department presentations.

As the high point of afternoon, some 40 research groups showcased their research activity through a series of 3-minute elevator pitches.

While it is not always clear for researchers what people in other groups and departments are currently working on, the program allowed an easily approachable way to get an overview of the research carried out in the neighboring scientific units.

As such the Research Day was successful in reaching out to the local ICT research community. The event also helped build connections, promoting HIIT's mission of supporting research quality, visibility and impact – as stated by Professor Myllymäki in the opening remarks.