“Doctoral researchers graduating from the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme will have exceptionally broad expertise and solid transferable skills,” Professor Päivi Eriksson says.
Launched in autumn 2022, Neuro-Innovation is a novel doctoral programme designed to support the research and other activities of the UEF Neuroscience Research Community. Already, the model has attracted interest from abroad.
The Neuro-Innovation PhD programme is international, and doctoral researchers and their thesis supervisors collaborate closely with various multidisciplinary projects. Indeed, a doctoral dissertation may have as many as five thesis supervisors.
“Multidisciplinary collaboration inevitably stirs new kind of conversation around research, and this benefits everyone involved. Doctoral researchers also have mentors outside the university, allowing them to explore diverse career paths beyond the academia,” Eriksson says.
Together with Professor Tarja Malm, she co-leads the Neuro-Innovation project, which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, training international experts and leaders in research into brain health innovations.
“Experts graduating from our programme will have the capacity to reform practices in their respective fields and to engage in collaboration that leads to innovation across sectoral boundaries. Our students will gain basic understanding of how innovations in research are made more widely available to society,” Malm notes.
Multidisciplinary career boost
In the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme, brain health innovations are approached from the perspectives of neurosciences, social sciences, management, law, computer science, and applied physics. Nine doctoral researchers have already started their work in Kuopio. In total, 14 doctoral researchers will be admitted to the programme.
Doctoral Researcher Melika Azim Zadegan is writing a doctoral dissertation in innovation management at the UEF Business School. She collaborates with a neurosurgery research team at Kuopio University Hospital to study the organisation of remote patient monitoring, and how it changes the work of health care professionals, as well as relations with patients and their families.
“In our study, there’s close collaboration between the university, the university hospital and technology suppliers, and our aim is to transfer theoretical knowledge to health services. I now have a unique opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary setting involving innovation management, technology transfer, and brain health research. I will be able to present the results of the study to different stakeholders and partners, which will contribute to my future career objectives.”
According to Azim Zadegan, UEF has strong expertise in innovation management and health sciences, and in collaboration between the two.
“The doctoral programme provides a valuable experience of interdisciplinary exchange of knowledge, and of mobility across sectoral boundaries. In addition, it is possible to establish networks with like-minded researchers.”
Completing their doctoral dissertations at A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, Doctoral Researcher Meheli Banerjee and Doctoral Researcher Shekhar Singh also regard multidisciplinarity as a strength of the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme. Banerjee studies the epigenetic mechanisms of epilepsy and novel epigenetic treatment pathways for the disease. Singh, on the other hand, develops in vitro models for research into progressive myoclonic epilepsy.
“In our group, people from different backgrounds conduct neuroscience research from a variety of perspectives, including information management, social welfare and health care, economic impacts, and law,” Singh says.
According to Banerjee, the broad expertise of the doctoral researchers and the diversity of the disciplines involved in the programme give new perspective to one’s own research.
“We are a close-knit unit, and support for our research from other disciplines is available even within our own unit,” says Banerjee.
A kick-off event was designed in collaboration between doctoral researchers
The Neuro-Innovation PhD programme has an extensive network of national and international partners, including universities, research institutes and cooperation networks, as well as large and small enterprises, especially in the fields of health and health technology.
The doctoral researchers work in Kuopio. According to Päivi Eriksson, this contributes to the activities of the multidisciplinary group. Indeed, working closely among themselves and with the programme’s Impact Manager Taru Kesävuori, the doctoral researchers organised a kick-off event in Kuopio on 27 October.
In addition to the doctoral researchers and their thesis supervisors, also mentors and partners attended the event. The programme featured career presentations by Associate Professor Alina Solomon and Mithilesh Prakash, and a speech by Neurocenter Finland’s Head of Services Kaisa Unkila, representing a mentor organisation.
News from the Neuro-Innovation PhD programme can be followed in the doctoral programme’s blog available at https://sites.uef.fi/neuro-innovation/blog /
Neuro-Innovation-tohtorikoulun ja väitöskirjatutkijoiden kuulumisia voi seurata sen blogissa osoitteessa https://sites.uef.fi/neuro-innovation/blog/
The main photo: According to Shekhar Singh and Meheli Banerjee, Kuopio provides a stimulating and multidisciplinary environment for doctoral research.
