To be amended
Professor Sofie Pelsmakers (Architecture, Housing Design) was appointed as the new Director of Tampere Institute for Advanced Study in summer 2026.
“Throughout my work I seek out and thrive in truly collaborative environments that put diversity, equality, inter-disciplinarity and co-creation at the center. It is with this spirit that I intend to direct Tampere University’s multi-disciplinary Institute for Advanced Study with colleagues across the university and beyond (from August 2026-Dec 2028).
I am also an active researcher and (full) Professor of Sustainable Housing Design at the Architecture unit (Faculty of the Built Environment) where I co-chair the ASUTUT – Sustainable Housing Design research group. Together with colleagues, through our scientific work that also guides teaching, I strive to influence the real-world design of sustainable living environments and resilient communities now, and in the future.”
Juha Teperi was the first director of Tampere Institute for Advanced Study for the period 2021-2026 before retiring in summer 2026. Trained as a medical doctor and epidemiologist, his research has mainly dealt with health and care systems, health policy and health technology assessment. This has brought him several national expert positions in national health and social care policy processes.
Since the late 1990s, Juha Teperi has worked in research leadership and management. In order to develop the new role in the academic community, he has attained formal training in leadership and management in (then) Helsinki School of Economics. Later on, Juha Teperi has also coached future leaders as the director of an EMBA training programme. Since joining the University of Tampere in 2014, he has been director of School of Health Sciences, dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Tampere University Vice President for Research. He was appointed as the first director of the new Tampere IAS in August 2021.
Marjukka Virkajärvi is the coordinator of the Tampere Institute for Advanced Study. Her main responsibilities at the Tampere IAS are to provide administrative and organizational support to the director and the fellows, to organize and coordinate the IAS events and activities (workshops, lectures, conferences, academic symposia, visits by international researchers and scholars) and communications related to them, to prepare and facilitate administrative matters as well as to provide counselling to the fellows in matters concerning their fellowships in all their phases, including HR, research funds, travelling and communications. Her duties also include the Tampere IAS website updating and content provision. In addition, she provides support for the IAS recruitment process as well as advice to the applicants before, during, and after the annual Call for Applications.