I am the first in Italy to have completed a full academic career in Bioinformatics. As a Postdoctoral Researcher, I specialize in bioinformatics, data analysis, network science, and artificial intelligence. I focus on developing and applying machine learning to patient similarity networks for investigating neurological disorders, such as Simpati and StellarPath methods to study Alzheimer’s disease and Stroke. I am particularly interested in networks because they transform complex data into interpretable graphs (helping in pattern recognition), and offer an interpretable and explanative data structure for machine learning algorithms. My experience includes successfully solving real biological problems, collaborating with experts in various scientific fields, and self-learning mathematical and biomedical concepts.
Lukas Kohl ([email protected])
I am a broadly interested biogeochemist and environmental chemist. My current research studies the the role of boreal forests and peatlands in the methane cycle, and the nitrogen cycle in agricultural and natural environments. I also direct the SIG Stable Isotope Laboratory maintained by our group.
Lyydia Muurainen ([email protected])
I’m working as a doctoral researcher at the Inverse Problems Research group at the UEF. In my thesis, I work with machine learning-based surrogate modeling for risk assessment and water quality prediction at mining sites. Waste rocks at the mining sites cause an environmental problem as leaching releases acid and harmful substances from the rocks which contain elevated levels of heavy metals and at atmospheric conditions chemically reactive minerals. Current reactive transport models (RTMs) for leaching are computationally expensive, so we intend to replace those models with computationally cheaper models while utilizing machine learning.
My thesis is done in collaboration with Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) and University of Bonn.
Maarit Koponen ([email protected])
Maarit Koponen is Professor of Translation Studies at the University of Eastern Finland. After obtaining her PhD in Language Technology at the University of Helsinki in 2016, Koponen worked as a lecturer at the University of Turku and a post-doctoral researcher for the MeMAD Project at the University of Helsinki.
Koponen leads the research group Translation and multilingual communication in digital society (TraDiSoc), and is the PI of the UEF sub-project Linguistic barriers, algorithms and epistemic capabilities of the research consortium Democratic epistemic capacities in the age of algorithms (DECA, 2022-2028), funded by the Strategic Research Council established within the Research Council of Finland. She collaborates also with the University of Turku research project Narrative Text, Translator and Machine. Her research focuses on translation technology, particularly the use and impact of automatic translation and multilingual generative AI both in professional translation workflows and in non-professional settings.
Koponen is the academic head of the Master’s Degree Programme in Linguistic Data Sciences and minor in Translation Studies. Her teaching focuses on theoretical and practical aspects of translation and technology. She supervises Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations on topics related to translation technology.
Maarit Sireni ([email protected])
I am a Senior Researcher and Adjunct Professor at the Karelian Institute, University of Eastern Finland. My research focuses on rural societies, everyday wellbeing, social inclusion, safety, place attachment, and rural transformation. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from human geography, rural studies, and sociology, I examine how social, cultural, material, and environmental factors shape everyday life in rural communities.
My recent work has explored topics such as rural safety and insecurity, access to services, social inclusion, health and wellbeing, community resilience, and the meanings people attach to places. I am particularly interested in how rural residents experience societal change, including demographic shifts and service centralization. I have also contributed to research on place attachment, affective experiences, and rural identities through studies of how landscapes, memories, emotions, and cultural narratives shape people’s connections to places. My work seeks to advance understanding of rural lived experiences and to contribute to more inclusive and sustainable rural development policies.
Research interests: social inclusion, wellbeing, safety and security, place attachment, affective geographies, community resilience, rural development, and qualitative research methods.
Courses: Rural Geography, 5116228, 5 cr (lectures in Finnish).
Mahidere Ali ([email protected])
A doctoral researcher, MD, MPH, in the field of epidemiology. Current research focuses on exploring the risks, consequences, and pathological reversal mechanisms of obesity.
Currently working under the urFITchild Research Group
Research group description: UndeRstanding FITness and Cardiometabolic Health In Little Darlings (urFIT-child) is a multi-disciplinary and multi-collaborative research group in cooperation with renowned global experts across several continents, viz; Oceania, North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia founded with the objective of maximizing evidence in order to improve cardiovascular and metabolic health of children and adolescents.
Research group Website https://urfit-child.com
Mahnaz Khalili ([email protected])
My PhD work focuses on characterization of water-saturated aquifers using seismic methods. This research project is done under a Collaborative agreement between the University of Eastern Finland and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. The main supervisor to this study is Timo Lähivaara.
Maija Dahlberg ([email protected])
LL.D Maija Dahlberg works at the UEF Law School as an Associate Professor of Public Law. After defending her PhD on the judicial legitimacy and legal argumentation of the European Court of Human Rights, Dr Dahlberg has moved onwards by developing legitimacy questions further in the EU human rights law context as well as broadened the research area on comparative transparency questions. Her previous research funded by the Academy of Finland focused on legitimacy and transparency of constitutional interpretation and constitutionality review more broadly.
Beyond academic scholarship, Dr Dahlberg has also been regularly consulted as a constitutional law expert at the Constitutional Law Committee of the Parliament.
Dr Dahlberg teaches courses on Constitutional Law (human rights, European Constitutional Law, law drafting and control of legality) at the University of Eastern Finland Law School. Teaching consists of both public lectures and seminars.
Research projects:
Principal investigator in the project funded by the Finnish Research Council (9/2025-8/2029): Courts as Protectors of the Rule of Law: Early Signs of Rule of Law Erosion and Repair Kit from Legal, Philosophical and Political Perspectives (‘CoROL’).
Together with Örebro University, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (8/2021-8/2024): Nordic CONREASON Project: Nordic exceptionalism? Mapping constitutional reasoning in the Nordic countries.
Finnish Research Council (8/2020-8/2023): In search of a more complete understanding of constitutional interpretation: the legitimacy and transparency of constitutionality control (‘ConstControl’).
Maija Marushchak ([email protected])
My research focuses into carbon and nitrogen cycling in Arctic soil, and into related fluxes of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
In the recent years, my main research interest has been in nitrogen cycling processes in permafrost-affected soils. This research field is still poorly covered, despite the fact that the intensive warming in the Arctic together with permafrost thaw may greatly improve nitrogen availability in the high latitude ecosystems, with great consequences for redistribution of nitrogen between soil, vegetation, water systems and the atmopshere.
Maija Moisio ([email protected])
I work as a researcher in labour law and write my doctoral thesesis on individual participation within an employment framework and the employee protective principle. Also, I work as a teaching tutor and I´m involved with a project concerning persons with memory disorders within an employment framework.