Key Research Area: Digitalisation and AI
Digital technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and mobile communications are cut through the whole society.
Research & Art
High-quality research. A unique combination of science, art, technology and business.
At Aalto University, we create the conditions needed for innovation, economic growth, employment and wellbeing. Our research focuses on seven key areas combining four core competences in the fields of digitalisation, materials, arts, design and business together with three grand challenges related to energy, living environment, and health.
Key research areas
Key Research Area: Materials and natural resources
Materials research ranges from physics, nanotechnology, mechanics, performance and design to biomaterials and sustainable resource use.
Key Research Area: Arts and design
Art and creativity enable looking at the grand challenges of our time from a new perspective. Look past the imaginable and join us in changing the world in arts and design.
Key Research Area: Business and economics
Research related to business and economics include the areas of business, economics, industrial engineering and management.
Key Research Area: Energy solutions
The main focus in energy research and teaching are energy sciences, multidisciplinary energy technologies, and sustainable energy solutions.
Key Research Area: Living environments
We are developing interdisciplinary research to enhance planning and engineering, architecture and design for better living environments.
Key Research Area: Health and well-being
Aalto University’s expertise in health and well-being is broad-based, with strong clusters of research groups such as in medical devices, health AI, neuroscience, and care-facility architecture.
Quicklinks
Excellence in research
Research carried out at Aalto University is of high quality, as demonstrated by our researchers success in obtaining external research funding. Get to know our most notable recognitions, funding awards and projects!
Join Aalto - Interested in starting a career with us?
Read more about our doctoral programmes and tenure track career system! And get to know our university teaching.
How to apply for doctoral studies?
Find out what is required of applicants and what can our doctoral studies offer!
Tenure track
Aalto University’s tenure track career system offers a well-supported and clear career path for professor-level academics towards a permanent professorship.
Lecturer career system
Aalto lecturer career system is intended primarily for individuals conducting teaching. The lecturer career system supports individual development and career advancement through clear principles and systematic evaluation criteria and allows Aalto teachers and lecturers to advance in their careers with teaching-focused merits. Teachers and lecturers have the opportunity to advance within the career system, from the university teacher level to the university lecturer level, and further to the position of a senior university lecturer and principal university lecturer. This page contains principles of the lecturer career system, levels in lecturer career system, generic time allocation in lecturer career levels as well as descriptions of recruitment and advancement processes.
Tenured Professors' Installation Talks
In the short videos, the new tenured professors present their own field and research.
Delve into our research – find the people behind it!
Ilkka Niemelä, PresidentScience and art help us make sense of our complex world and, at the same time, challenge our own ways of thinking.
Read the latest research news
The exhibition "Our land, for all" explores personal and national identity
The 20th anniversary exhibition of the Association of Finnish Fine Arts Foundations, opened at Kunsthalle Helsinki, asks: whose stories is Finland built from? The exhibition has been curated by PhD, docent Annamari Vänskä.
Decoding the chemistry of space with machine learning
Astronomers can detect complex chemical fingerprints in stardust – but many of them remain unidentified. The SpaceML project combines machine learning and computational chemistry to simulate how molecules form and evolve in space, helping researchers decode these signals.
Catalysis in a new light: Microscale interactions could enhance clean energy technologies
A new study provides a more detailed view of how catalysts function during chemical reactions. The discovery could help develop more efficient materials for applications such as green hydrogen production and a more sustainable chemical industry.
Physics Days 2026 gathered Finnish physicists to Aalto
The 2026 edition of the annual conference featured talks on moiré matter, women in physics and paper cuts.Key figures of 2024 and annual reports
On this page, we present key figures of 2024 and the Annual Board Report and Financial Statements.
Campaigning for a better future
Aalto’s research and innovations impact your everyday life. Whether it’s a breakthrough in detecting memory disorders, a sustainable alternative to cement, or turning ideas into startups, you too are connected to Aalto – and have many reasons to donate.
Platforms and other collaboration units
Many scientific and societal challenges require systematic and integrative approaches that are beyond the capabilities of a single discipline or department. We believe that collaboration both within Aalto as well as with external stakeholders is key in order to gain the best possible impact.
Aalto Networking Platform
The Aalto Networking Platform brings together research expertise across departments, supporting collaboration both inside and outside of Aalto.
Research and learning infrastructures
Our research and teaching infrastructures are a prerequisite for world-class, cutting edge research. They offer opportunities for collaboration and foster the local innovation ecosystem growth. The large infrastructures are open for all Aalto and external users.
Responsible research
Open science and research
The principle of openness is the key principle of science and research. At Aalto University, the most visible forms of open science are open access publications, open research data and metadata, and combining openness and commercialisation.
Research assessments
Aalto University regularly assess the quality of its research and artistic activities, and its societal impact. The assessment is based on internationally agreed best practices and peer review.
Research Ethics and Research Integrity
Aalto University is committed to following the guidelines for research ethics and integrity. You will find help and advice on questions on research ethics and intregrity.
Management of research and art
Research at Aalto University is conducted by faculty and staff based in the departments. The role of the university management is to ensure the long-term preconditions for conducting high-quality and high-impact research and art.