Top research

Water is a critical natural resource, that is becoming increasingly difficult to manage as climate change progresses. The Digital Waters Flagship, coordinated by the University of Oulu, will enable digital modelling of entire water systems - the digital twins of water systems.

Modelling water systems improves the risk management of water resources and their use, and enables assessment of the impacts of decision-making on surface and groundwater. Digital water management also helps to balance the objectives of industry, energy, agriculture and forestry in a sustainable way. The water sector has a growing, multi-billion business potential.

Digital Waters Flagship

The University of Oulu is the home of the world's first 6G research centre, the 6G Flagship. Telecommunications technology, especially wireless telecommunications research, has been the strength of the University of Oulu since the 1st G in the 1980s. This has significantly impacted the kind of ecosystem of experts and companies that has emerged around the University of Oulu.

Generations of mobile technology develop in ten-year cycles. This means that the sixth generation, or 6G, will be introduced around 2030. The development of vertical applications for the future requires that the creation of information and the delivery of services be thought of anew.

6G solutions for data-driven society

The University of Oulu has a long tradition in Arctic studies. Currently, we are at the forefront of Arctic research throughout the northern research community. It is globally important to understand major changes in the North and deal with them sustainably.

Biodiverse Arctic and global resilience

The University of Oulu is among the most significant hydrogen research hubs in Finland. The exceptionally wide-ranging view into the hydrogen future is based on the University of Oulu’s multidisciplinary nature. We aim to solve the challenges of the hydrogen transition in hydrogen production, steel industry processes as well as hydrogen storage and transport.

Hydrogen future and sustainable steel

Sustainable use of the earth´s diminishing resources demands more efficient utilisation of waste and side products. Our vision in the inorganic circular economy research community InStreams Hub is to actively contribute to the move towards circular economy and clean production ecosystems of the future.

InStreams Hub focuses on inorganic materials research and engineering and the management and utilisation of inorganic side streams. It develops sustainable value chains and has a high interest in putting scientific research into practice.

InStreams Hub - Inorganic circular economy research community

Large data sets and dynamic modelling currently penetrate all areas of research. At the Dynamic data modelling research area we extend University of Oulu´s high expertise in multidisciplinary data science and AI to serve a broader range of disciplines, with a focus on Bayesian predictive analytics and machine vision. The research strongly benefits all our top research areas in their tasks to address global challenges.

Dynamic data modelling

As new technologies are rapidly developing and becoming more intelligent, invisible, and ubiquitous, the entanglement of these technologies with human everyday life presents a 21st-century challenge and transformation that will not exclude any individuals, communities, or processes.

Profile field’s research focuses on the co-evolution of humans and intelligent technologies. The aim is to renew and strengthen human capabilities and competencies in all walks of life.

Human-AI co-evolution and strengthening human capabilities

Fibrosis is a risk factor in the aetiology of complex chronic diseases and unhealthy ageing. Representing a continuum of 50 years of our strong world-class extracellular matrix research, FibroHealth is one of the University of Oulu´s interdisciplinary research areas integrating biomedical and human sciences.

FibroHealth - Combatting fibrosis in chronic diseases

Today, vast amounts of digital data are being generated at all levels of health-related research. Harnessing this data could make future healthcare more personalised and predictive. In the Digitalized solutions for future healthcare (DigiHealth) research area we focus on the development and validation of digital technologies for data-driven health applications, addressing bottlenecks in healthcare and services through wider adoption of eHealth solutions, interoperability and cost-effectiveness.

DigiHealth combines our strong expertise in medicine, wireless solutions, big data analytics and business.

DigiHealth research

The Research Council of Finland’s Flagship Programme is an instrument that supports high-quality research and increases the societal impact emerging from the research. In addition to the 6G and Digital Waters Flagships led by the University of Oulu, the university is actively involved in several other Finnish Flagships.

• The Digital Waters Flagship, selected to the Flagship Programme in the autumn of 2023, will enable digital modelling of entire water systems - the digital twins of water systems. The flagship is led by Professor Björn Klöve, University of Oulu.
• The 6G Flagship aims to understand and promote the 6G technology for wireless communications. The flagship is led by Academy Professor Matti Latva-aho, University of Oulu.
• The GeneCellNano Flagship seeks to speed up the introduction of new biological drugs for severe chronic diseases. The Flagship is led by Academy Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala at the University of Eastern Finland, with Professor Seppo Vainio from the University of Oulu as its deputy director.
• A significant number of artificial intelligence researchers from the University of Oulu collaborate with the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) Flagship of the University of Helsinki, Aalto University and VTT. University of Oulu researchers are involved in FCAI special interest groups related to computer vision, edge AI and AI in health.
• The University of Oulu researchers are partners also in the Flagships FAME (Flagship of Advanced Mathematics for Sensing, Imaging and Modelling) and FQF (The Finnish Quantum Flagship), coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland and Aalto University, respectively.

The Academy of Finland Centres of Excellence are internationally competitive first-rate research communities of Finnish science and research. Centres of Excellence strive for scientific breakthroughs, develop high-quality creative research environments and train talented researchers for the needs of academic research and industry.

Centres of Excellence coordinated by the University of Oulu researchers:

• Anssi Paasi: Centre of Excellence in the Relational and Territorial Politics of Bordering, Identities, and Transnationalization (RELATE) 2014-2019
• Kalevi Mursula: Centre of Excellence in Research on Solar Long-term Variability and Effects (ReSoLVE) 2014-2019
• Taina Pihlajaniemi: Centre of Excellence in Cell-Extracellular Matrix Research (ECM) 2012-2017

In additon, our researchers are involved as partners in the following Centres of Excellence:

• Centre of Excellence of Inverse Modelling and Imaging: Valery Serov´s group from the University of Oulu (coordinating: University of Helsinki) 2018-2025
• Centre of Excellence in Analysis and Dynamics Research: Maarit Järvenpää´s group from the University of Oulu (coordinating: University of Helsinki) 2014-2019
• Centre of Excellence in Laser Scanning Research: Juha Kostamovaara´s group from the University of Oulu (coordinating: Finnish Geodetic Institute) 2014-2019
• Centre of Excellence in Inverse Problems Research: Markku Lehtinen´s ja Valery Serov´s groups from the University of Oulu (coordinating: University of Helsinki) 2012-2017

Nordic Centres of Excellence (NCoEs) increase and facilitate cooperation between excellent Nordic researchers, researcher groups or institutions. The most important selection criterion is leading-edge research of a high international standard. The NCoEs are funded by the Nordic Research Councils, the Nordic Council of Ministers and NordForsk.

University of Oulu researchers are involved in the following Nordic Centres of Excellence:

• An Integrating nexus land and water management for a sustainable Nordic bioeconomy (BIOWATER): Björn Klöve from the University of Oulu, (coordinating: Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research), 2017-2021
• Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities (REXSAC): Hannu I. Heikkinen from the University of Oulu, (coordinating: Swedish Royal Institute of Technology), 2016-2021
• Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North - resilience, adaptations and pathways for actions (ReiGN): Simo Sarkki from the University of Oulu, (coordinating: Norwegian University of Life Sciences), 2016-2020

European Research Council (ERC) funds high quality investigator-driven frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence. Top researchers and their groups who have received the distinguished ERC grant have an important role in strengthening the science base of Europe. They are trailblazers who aim at scientific breakthroughs and open up new and promising areas of research.

Starting Grant

• Yang Bai: Unification of the best piezoelectric and photovoltaic properties in a single photoferroelectric material (UNIFY), 2022-2027
• Anna-Kaisa Salmi: Domestication in Action: Tracing Archaeological Markers of Human-Animal Interaction (DOMESTICATION), 2018-2023
• Nønne Prisle: The unexplored world of aerosol surfaces and their impacts (SURFACE), 2017-2022
• Simo Saarakkala: Development of 3D Histopathological Grading of Osteoarthritis (3D-OA-HISTO), 2014-2019

Consolidator Grant

• Caglar Elbuken: Particle distribution dynamics in nonlinear bifurcating networks (BiNet), 2022-2027
• Wei Cao: Cross-dimensional Activation of Two-Dimensional Semiconductors for Photocatalytic Heterojunctions (CATCH), 2021-2026
• Ville-Veikko Telkki: Ultrafast Laplace NMR (UFLNMR), 2018-2023

Advanced Grant

• Steven LaValle: Foundations of Perception Engineering (ILLUSIVE), 2021-2026
• Heli Jantunen: Printed Electroceramics with Ultimate Compositions (ULTIMATE CERAMICS), 2012-2017

Proof of Concept Grant

• Simo Saarakkala: Commercialization of 3D histopathological evaluation of osteoarthritis – new tools for therapy monitoring from preclinical testing to hospitals (MUOTO) 2020-2021
• Heli Jantunen: Fabricating Functional Components in Room Temperature (FUNCOMP), 2018-2020
• Heli Jantunen: Low Temperature Ceramics Applications (LTCeramics), 2015-2016

Synergy Grant

Ilya Usoskin: Geomagnetic Excursions and Reversals: Establishing their Atmospheric and Climatic Effects (GERACLE), 2025-2031. The project is led by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences and, in addition to the University of Oulu, involves research teams from the University of Helsinki and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna.

Academy Professors are internationally leading-edge researchers and recognised experts in their field who are expected to have great scientific impact in the scientific community and in society at large.

• Academy Professor Guoying Zhao´s (2021-2026) research interests include emotional artificial intelligence, machine learning and affective computing.
• Academy Professor Matti Latva-aho (2017-2021) is one of the world's top researchers in wireless radio data communications.

The title of Academician can be held by no more than 16 distinguished Finnish scientists and scholars at a time. The title of Academician of Science is awarded by the President of the Republic based on nominations by the Academy of Finland.

• Professor Heli Jantunen received the title of Academician of Science in 2023. Jantunen’s expertise is in the field of materials science and engineering.