The incoming professors will strengthen research in international law, sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, environmental policy, metabolic regulation, zoonotic virology, and atmospheric physics and chemistry.
The Research Council of Finland has granted the University of Helsinki €15 million in total to support the recruitment of high-level researchers from outside Finland.
Six researchers, invited from universities abroad, will take up professorships and set up research groups at the University in 2026.
The professors and their groups will work within university-designated that were previously developed with Research Council funding. This funding call supports institutional profile-building by facilitating the recruitment of international researchers to Finnish universities.
The researchers recruited to the University of Helsinki are as follows:
Charles Brenner has spent decades researching the impact of metabolic disorders, driven by environmental factors and the genome, on health and disease. He is particularly well known for his ground-breaking research into nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), the coenzyme that serves as a central catalyst in metabolism. His research on the rare condition citrin deficiency will also find a new home at the University.
Brenner arrives from the City of Hope institute to take up a professorship in metabolic regulation, held jointly by the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HiLIFE).
Halley Froehlich has joined the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences as Professor of Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture. Most recently based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Froehlich researches the ecological effects of aquaculture and its wider impact on the food system. Her interdisciplinary research integrates ecophysiology with population and climate modelling, social sciences, as well as data science. Froehlich will strengthen the University's research and teaching in ecophysiology, ecology, and fisheries and aquaculture.
has taken up a professorship in zoonotic virology, jointly hosted by the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Medicine. Her career has been devoted to zoonoses (diseases transmissible between animals and humans) with a particular focus on Africa and Asia. Most recently, she was based at Uppsala University and the Swedish Veterinary Agency.
Matthieu Riva's professorship in atmospheric chemistry and physics centres on the ways in which human impact is felt in natural systems. Among his research interests are organic compound emissions in the Arctic and in thawing permafrost zones. Riva arrives at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Science from the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), where he has concentrated particularly on the oxidation chemistry of organic compounds and their contribution to aerosol formation.
Professor of Environmental Policy David Schlosberg studies innovative and experimental democratic movements and governance in response to climate turbulence and breakdown. His position is shared by the Faculties of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Social Sciences. Schlosberg joins the University of Helsinki from the University of Sydney, Australia, where he is Director of the Sydney Environment Institute. He will bolster the University of Helsinki's multidisciplinary expertise around the intersection of diversity, resilience, justice and climate solutions.
René Urueña will strengthen the University of Helsinki's profile in the legal and governance aspects of international law, global governance and the Global South. He comes to Helsinki from the Columbian Universidad de los Andes, where he serves as Professor of International Law, directing the postgraduate programme in international business law, and is a Max Planck Fellow in Law.
University of Helsinki claims 30% of total funding pool
The Research Council of Finland awards Profi funding to support and accelerate strategic profile-building at Finnish universities, with the aim of improving research quality.
This round saw the universities share a total of €50 million in funding, of which the University of Helsinki received €15 million, representing a 30% share.
"I am delighted that these outstanding researchers are joining us, allowing us to further strengthen research across the University of Helsinki's profile-building areas. The University also performed exceptionally well in this funding round overall," says Anne Portaankorva, Vice-Rector for Research.
While the Research Council of Finland's funding is provided for a five-year term, the professors will take up permanent positions at the University of Helsinki.
