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Areas of expertise
Biography
As professor focused on innovation and project management, my research and teaching concentrate on industrial and knowledge-intensive firms and how they organize and steer their project business and innovation activities. I studied industrial engineering and management at Helsinki University of Technology and got my doctoral degree 1999. Before University of Turku, I gained over 20 years of academic experience as researcher at Helsinki University of Technology and as professor at Tampere University of Technology / Tampere University, in various research, teaching, leadership and administrative roles. Also, I have 9 years of industrial experience particularly in organization and process development in the metal and engineering industry. I am DIMECC-Fellow and EURAM (European Academy of Management) Fellow and act as associate editor at International Journal of Project Management.
Teaching
I teach at all academic levels: bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and continuing education. While my current focus is on teaching project and innovation management, I also have experience in teaching industrial service management, research methods (especially qualitative methods), individual and group assignments, and doctoral seminars. I have a strong background in thesis supervision and leading and developing doctoral education and doctoral programs.
Research
My research interests include: selecting and steering innovation project portfolios; program organizing of strategic change; front-end, autonomy, and control of projects; managing manufacturing and process innovations; and organizing and transformation of industrial service business. I focus on collaborative research with industrial and knowledge-intensive firms, through qualitative or mixed-methods research designs. I engage actively in international cooperation both in research projects and publishing research results.