Sasu Tarkoma

I have served as Dean of the Faculty of Science since March 2022. Based at Kumpula Campus, the Faculty is a global hub for science and technology, with around 1,400 staff members and 6,000 students.

Together with the faculty leadership team, staff and students, I work to strengthen research environments, education, international partnerships and research-based innovation.

I aim to give academic communities the conditions to do good work, through openness, participation and clear decisions.

Since January 2026, I have also held a Rector-appointed mandate to support University leadership in the development and use of AI.

2018–2022

Director, Helsinki Centre for Data Science (HiDATA)

2016–2017, 2018–2021

Head, Department of Computer Science

2009–present

Professor of Computer Science, University of Helsinki

Faculty leadership and responsibilities ↗

My research spans distributed systems, publish/subscribe communication, mobile computing and the Internet of Things. Current work focuses on AI agents, edge intelligence and AI-native communication systems.

I lead the NordForsk-funded Nordic University Cooperation on Edge Intelligence (NUEI, 2024–2028) and the AgentFormers Research to Business project (2025–2026). I also co-lead the University of Helsinki contribution to the REINFORCE consortium (2025–2027).

I have received 13 Research Council of Finland (RCF) project grants, including consortium-lead roles in CUBIC (mobile crowdsensing, 2014–2017) and PADS (privacy-aware data science, 2016–2018). I also led the Business Finland-funded MegaSense consortium (2019–2021), connecting computer science, atmospheric science and geoscience through urban sensing.

Earlier work includes leading the Helsinki contribution to Carat, a joint smartphone energy analytics project with UC Berkeley. Long-term research partnerships include Nokia, Aalto University and Intel.

I am the author or co-author of four research books. Work with students and colleagues has received the ACM SenSys Test of Time Award (2023), for transportation-mode detection, and the IEEE PerCom Mark Weiser Best Paper Award (2015), for mobile energy modelling.

• Publications and projects at UH ↗
• Google Scholar ↗

I have supervised or advised 19 completed PhDs (as of July 2026), including through joint supervision. Supporting doctoral researchers and early-career colleagues is a continuing part of my work.

Former doctoral students now in professorial roles include Aaron Yi Ding, Senior Associate Professor at TU Delft; Ella Peltonen, Associate Professor at the University of Oulu; and Tong Li, Professor at Hunan University.

Recognition for researchers I have supervised includes the University of Helsinki Excellent Dissertation Award to Eemil Lagerspetz (2015), and the Best Student Paper Award at IEEE ICDCS to Yasith R. Wanigarathna in the Doctoral Consortium (2025).

Ella Peltonen was named among N²Women’s Rising Stars in Networking and Communications (2017) and received a Nokia Foundation Jorma Ollila Grant (2018).

My teaching and open education work includes the Core 5G and Beyond course and contributions to Ethics of AI and Cyber Security Base.

Selected current board and committee roles

• Helsinki Institute for Information Technology (HIIT) — Board Chair. The board also serves as the board of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI).
• Finnish Quantum Institute (InstituteQ) — Steering Group Chair.
• Scientific Advisory Board for Defence (MATINE) — Member, 2025–2028; previously Chair, 2019–2021 and 2022–2024.
• Nokia Foundation — Board Member, 2022–present.
• Helsinki Institute of Physics — Board Member.
• Faculty of Natural Sciences, Aarhus University — Advisory Board Member, 2026–2028.
• City of Helsinki–FCAI Coordination Group — Chair.
• 6G Finland — Member of the Secretariat.