Ossi Naukkarinen appointed Vice President for Research

The Board of Aalto University has appointed Vice Dean for Research at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Professor Ossi Naukkarinen, as Aalto University’s new Vice President for Research. The five-year term of office will start on 1 November 2018.

Ph.D. Ossi Naukkarinen (born 1965) has worked at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in several positions, e.g. as Professor  of Aesthetics since 2016 and as Vice Dean for Education in 2012–2017. He was appointed Vice Dean for Research at the School of Arts, Design  and Architecture in 2017. He also serves as Director of the Doctoral Programme at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture and Chairman of the Aalto Studios infrastructure steering group.

‘Ossi Naukkarinen will be an excellent choice to facilitate and enable the core idea of Aalto University: ambitious, multidisciplinary research and artistic activities. The selection follows an extensive and thorough search and evaluation process, which involved a comprehensive spread of academic expertise from different areas of the university.    Ossi Naukkarinen made a strong impression with  his expertise, vision and personal qualities at every stage of the process. He has first-class academic leadership experience from Aalto University, strong academic merits in his field, and solid experience in building multidisciplinary co-operation. We wish him a warm welcome to his new position,' says Ilkka Niemelä, President of Aalto University.

'I am delighted to take on my new position at Aalto University. I look forward to listening to the research community and further developing the university together in coming years. I have been interested in how different disciplines come together over my entire academic career, and I have aimed to combine many kinds of perspectives and methods. By doing so, I have developed a deep appreciation of various areas of expertise and I hope to help all Aalto researchers and doctoral students achieve the best possible results in their respective fields. At the same time, I want to encourage multidisciplinary collaboration. It is important to me personally that, together, we build conditions of the highest quality for daily research work, such as funding, services and spaces. Through long-term work we can achieve exceptional results,’ Ossi Naukkarinen states.

Ossi Naukkarinen will report to Provost Kristiina Mäkelä.