University of Oulu

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Future innovation is about seeking, utilizing, and applying new knowledge. The University of Oulu researches people and culture in a changing living environment and opportunities that new technology provides to improve people's wellbeing and the environment. The University of Oulu is a multidisciplinary expert in Northernness.
Founded in 1958, our research and education community is 13 500 students and 2800 employees healthy, and one of the biggest and the most multidisciplinary universities in Finland. The eight faculties, the many departments, and the University of Oulu's specialized research units create the foundation for multi scientific research, innovation, and training of experts for demanding professional tasks.
The organization of the University of Oulu consists of decision-making bodies on the university level and faculties with their research units.
The highest decision-making body in the University is the Board, which has 12 members. For example, the Board decides on the central goals, strategy, and direction of the University's operations and economy.
The University Collegium is a body with 24 members. For example, it decides on the size of the Board and the duration of its term, and the terms of its members. The Collegium also approves of the annual accounts and the annual report.
The Rector is in charge of directing the operations of the University. Each of the three Vice-Rectors is responsible for their area: education, research, or cooperation affairs.
There are eight faculties in the University of Oulu: Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Technology, Oulu Business School. Oulu Mining School and Oulu School of Architecture combined with the Faculty of Technology in 2018.
Environmental change, the growing global population, and rising wealth place ever greater demands on our planet's resources' sustainable use. Urbanization is challenging infrastructure and public services, both in expanding cities and in depopulating rural areas. Human life expectancy is increasing due to advancing healthcare and better living conditions. Digitalization continues to make the world more connected and is altering how we communicate, learn, work, and consume services. All these developments affect our way of life, our communities, and our cultures. We need new, research-based knowledge and well-educated people able to navigate in a changing world.
At the University of Oulu, we promote learning and carry out research that pushes the known boundaries. We use our full potential to solve some of the most significant global challenges, including sustainable resource use, responsible business, human wellbeing, lifelong health, intelligent systems, services development, and harnessing environmental risks.
The University's impact is based on excellence, high ambition, and productivity in all our activities. We are equally as proud of the scientific breakthroughs, new technology, and world-class innovation developed at the University of Oulu as we are of the impact that our 50 000 alumni have as well-educated citizens worldwide.
Our strategy is to enhance our significance in international research and secure our role alongside the world leaders in our focus areas. We are building a strong, distinctive scientific profile and plan to further develop our education programs and innovation activities as integral parts of a high impact university. Our high ambition level and open-minded and collaborative culture create a unique environment for our community members to grow and develop their expertise. Our two campuses provide unique possibilities for multidisciplinary research and education complemented by a welcoming atmosphere.
The research done at the University of Oulu benefits people living at all latitudes. However, our heritage as one of the Northernmost multidisciplinary universities in the world is invaluable now, when humanity's new growth frontier is to the North. The demanding conditions of the far North have always forced people to be inventive and resourceful. Many innovations that have changed the world have their roots here. We call this: "Science with Arctic attitude."
Our researchers contribute to solving global challenges by combining multidisciplinary approaches, high-level research, and fruitful collaborations in the following five focus areas:
We take a multidisciplinary approach to creating sustainability through the responsible and smart use of natural resources. We connect expertise to produce intelligent solutions. These range from raw materials science to the production and use of superior materials and (bio)catalytic systems, concepts of bio and circular economies, cleantech, and ICT and open data solutions.
We generate a more robust understanding of the factors that affect health during life and how this knowledge can be translated into lifelong health. We explore human life from fetal development to old age, including molecular and physiological properties and environmental, social, and psychosocial factors. Also, we promote learning into the possibilities of combining ICT with health and service research to create innovations in connected health.
We explore how digitalization can work for everyone, including sensing and ubiquitous wireless sensor systems, wireless communication, and other novel services and systems. The research targets future information infrastructures and integrates technology adoption aspects by complex human groups, communities, and societies.
We seek to understand how the Sun affects near-Earth space and the Earth's atmospheric regions. This research is carried out in Oulu and at the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory. This focus area also covers the Earth's changing environment from the point of view of, e.g., geology, ecology, and genetics, in the Arctic and boreal systems.
We explore the complex dynamics of global, digital, environmental, and economic change on current human interaction and on communities and cultures over time. Our research identifies and explains the reasons, processes, and practices involved in these changes and shows how humans adapt to them and predict the effects they will have on humanity in the future.
We aim to build research environments with critical mass, high ambition, and strong international networks. Many of our research units represent the international cutting edge in their fields. The University of Oulu has unique multidisciplinary strengths, and our researchers strive to recognize and develop new openings of international significance.
Our competitive research group structure includes researchers at different career stages, ranging from students through post-doctoral researchers to senior scientists. We support our talented researchers as they grow into stellar scientists. We will also use the tenure track procedure to recruit new principal investigators to strengthen our strategic research programs. The recruitment process enforces excellence as a selection criterion and fosters competitiveness in academic careers that, in turn, facilitates the commitment of talented researchers to our University.
We build and operate research infrastructures that allow our scientists to achieve breakthroughs. Emphasis is placed on pooling infrastructures into state-of-the-art service platforms. Several of our infrastructures can serve as demanding national and international customers. Cooperative alliances with our partners also include joint research infrastructures. Moreover, we coordinate several research infrastructures in the Finnish Research Infrastructure Roadmap and are responsible for some European infrastructures' Finnish coordination.
The University of Oulu emphasizes ethical principles in all research activities. We follow open access research principles and enable open access to research publications and research materials, including planning for promoting usability and making materials available to the scientific community.

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