Nordic-Baltic Meeting 2025

Maarja Grossberg-Kuusk (Estonian Academy of Science)

Toomas Vaimann (Estonian Young Academy of Science)

Keynote Eneli Kindsiko (Estonia) „Academic labour market struggles to cope with megatrends"

Abstract: This presentation explores the challenges faced by the academic labour market in adapting to key megatrends: an ageing, multi-generational workforce and shifting career values. It highlights the increasing diversity among PhD candidates in terms of age, discipline, language, and gender, and underscores the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all policies for Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Special focus is placed on Estonia, revealing structural and cultural factors contributing to delayed PhD completions among local students. The presentation calls for more nuanced, inclusive, and flexible career policies to ensure meaningful academic development within and beyond traditional academic trajectories.

Bio: Dr. Eneli Kindsiko is an Associate Professor at the University of Tartu. Her research focuses on organizational studies, academic labor markets, qualitative management research, and future studies, with a particular emphasis on the careers of PhD graduates. Through her work, she explores the evolving dynamics of academic and professional career trajectories, contributing valuable insights to both research and policy discussions. Abstract: This presentation explores the challenges faced by the academic labour market in adapting to key megatrends: an ageing, multi-generational workforce and shifting career values. It highlights the increasing diversity among PhD candidates in terms of age, discipline, language, and gender, and underscores the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all policies for Early Career Researchers (ECRs). Special focus is placed on Estonia, revealing structural and cultural factors contributing to delayed PhD completions among local students. The presentation calls for more nuanced, inclusive, and flexible career policies to ensure meaningful academic development within and beyond traditional academic trajectories.

Mai Beilmann (Estonia) “Everything Everywhere All at Once: The role and career opportunities of young researchers in the Estonian research system”

Abstract: My talk is based on a survey of young researchers in Estonia that was conducted in autumn 2024 and was commissioned by the Estonian Research Council at the suggestion of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences. This study pinpoints several shortcomings in the Estonian higher education system and career models for researchers at the beginning of their careers. These shortcomings, which are no news to early career researchers, include too high teaching load and too many administrative tasks at the beginning of the career, lack of mentoring, financial and job insecurity, difficulties finding work-life balance, dissatisfaction with work and management culture, etc. These factors combined create a work environment where early career researchers are under constant pressure to do everything everywhere all at once to survive in the academic jungle.

Bio: Mai Beilmann is an associate professor in empirical sociology at the University of Tartu. Her research interests include youth and child well-being, inequalities, vulnerabilities, participation, and social capital. Her recent research mainly focuses on the most vulnerable groups, like young people who are not in education, employment, or training. She is a member of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences and the President of the Estonian Association of Sociologists.

Tadas Kaliatka, Rūta Ubarevičienė (Lithuania) ”Organizing the Academic Career: Challenges and Opportunities for Early-Career Researchers in Lithuania”

Abstract: This presentation will explore key aspects of PhD studies in Lithuania, focusing on the current situation of early-career researchers within two distinct institutions: the Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences and the Lithuanian Energy Institute. Presenters will examine various factors influencing PhD students’ employment and working activities during their studies, while also addressing generational differences, particularly between Millennials and Generation Z. The presentation aims to provide a comprehensive overview of these themes, culminating in general remarks that summarize the opportunities and challenges for early-career researchers in Lithuania.

Bio: Dr. Rūta Ubarevičienė is a senior researcher with dual PhDs – one in Urban and Regional Geography (The Netherlands) and the other in Sociology (Lithuania). Her work is rooted in international collaboration and comparative research. Rūta’s primary research interests include spatial inequalities, social segregation, internal migration, housing, and depopulation. She employs advanced spatial analysis and statistical methods in her work. She is an active member and currently serves as Chair of the Young Academy at the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

Bio: Dr. Tadas Kaliatka has been conducting research and experimental development work at the Lithuanian Energy Institute, Laboratory of Nuclear installation Safety for more than 15 years. During this time, he has progressed through all levels of researcher positions and currently holds the position of Chief Research Associate. T. Kaliatka leads his research team, which conducts applied scientific research in the field of nuclear installations safety using numerical studies. He is member of Lithuanian Nuclear Energy association and Young Academy of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.

Maja Nordtug (Norway) “Betting on multiple horses – and ideally going all in on all of them”

Abstract: Only 1 in 5 postdocs in Norway would recommend a researcher career to others: the working days are long, the pressure is hard, and resources are scarce. Additionally, many temporarily employed academics either are burned out or worry about burnout. In this presentation, I will show my (possibly questionable) attempt to plan this (inadvisable?) career path. As a postdoc, my main goal is to secure a permanent job that I would enjoy, but the recommendations on how to best secure one pushes me to bet on multiple horses – and ideally going in on all of them.

Bio: Maja Nordtug is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Education at University of Oslo. She has a background in media studies, and her research interests include media use in relation to health, telepresence technology, and platformization of family life. She is a member of The Young Academy of Norway.

Stanislav Lomunov

Moderator: Miina Norvik (Estonia)

Panellists:

Adel Daoud (Sweden) is a Senior Associate Professor in Analytical Sociology, Linköping University, and Affiliated Associate Professor in Data Science and AI for the Social Sciences, Chalmers University, Sweden. He is a member of the Swedish Young Academy. He researches the determinants of global development, with a focus on poverty and inequality, and develops causal-inference methods to deepen this research area. He is leading the AI and Global Development Lab (www.aidevlab.org) and the creator of the podcast the Journeys of Scholars (The Journeys of Scholars - YouTube).

Maarja Grossberg-Kuusk (Estonia) is Tenured Full Professor at the Tallinn University of Technology in the field of optoelectronic materials physics. Her research and teaching activities are centered around the development of innovative materials and technologies for solar energetics focusing on sustainable materials and new applications such as building integrated photovoltaics. Maarja was the president of Estonian Young Academy of Sciences in 2021-2023 and was elected as a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in the field of technical sciences in December 2023. From 2023, she is also the Head of Department of Materials and Environmental Technologies at TalTech.

Tadas Kaliatka (Lithuania)

Rūta Ubarevičienė (Lithuania)

Sampsa Holopainen (Finland) is an Academic Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki and Docent in the field of Finno-Ugric languages in the University of Turku. Holopainen defended his thesis in the University of Helsinki in 2019 on the topic of Indo-Iranian loanwords in the Uralic (Finno-Ugric) languages. His research interests include etymology, loanwords and historical phonology of the Uralic languages, especially the Finnic languages, Saami languages, Hungarian, as well as Khanty and Mansi. Holopainen’s current work concentrates on the earliest Indo-European lexical influences in the Uralic languages. From 2021 to 2023 Holopainen was employed in the University of Vienna as an APART-GSK research fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Samuli Autti (Finland) is a Lecturer and EPSRC Fellow at Lancaster University in the UK. He completed a Ph.D. in the Low Temperature Laboratory in Finland in 2017, working on superfluid helium-3. Samuli was the receiver of the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize 2020 for a range of superfluid discoveries, and the 2023 Nicholas Kurti Prize for his work on low temperature physics. In addition to the dark matter, his work deals with the interfaces between classical and quantum physics, aiming to answer questions such as “what does it feel like to touch a quantum fluid” and “can we melt a time crystal, and whether the outcome is a time liquid”.

Helen Eenmaa (Estonia), Introduction

Keynote Margit Sutrop (Estonia), “AI Ethics and the Limits of Consensus”

Abstract: As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly autonomous, the challenge of aligning AI with human values grows more urgent. While technical solutions aim to encode values into machines, the deeper normative question—which values or whose values—remains unresolved in a world of moral pluralism and disagreement. Instead of seeking full agreement on what we want, we should begin AI value alignment by identifying what we do not wish to, embracing a pluralist ethics compatible with objective moral limits.

Bio: Margit Sutrop is Professor of Practical Philosophy and the founding Director of the Centre for Ethics at the University of Tartu. Since 2021, she has served as a Member of the Estonian Parliament and is currently co-Chair of the Education Committee of the Baltic Assembly. She is an elected Member of Academia Europaea. Her research focuses on the ethics of artificial intelligence, trust in science, moral disagreement, value pluralism, and the ethical implications of human genetic databases, e-health, and biometric technologies. Since 2004, she has served as an ethics expert for the European Commission.

Aksel Braanen Sterri (Norway), “Bridging AI ethics and policy”

Abstract: This talk explores the unprecedented acceleration of AI capabilities and how scaling laws provide a roadmap for forecasting future developments. The speaker addresses the critical ethical question of who gets to decide how AI is developed and deployed globally. Drawing on experience as Research Director at Langsikt, the presentation examines both the possibilities and challenges facing countries in Europe that navigate their role in the emerging landscape of AI governance.

Bio: Aksel Sterri has a PhD in philosophy and is the Research Director at Langsikt, a think tank dedicated to improving governance of vexed issues such as AI. In his research and policy work, Aksel is particularly interested in how markets can be designed and regulated to achieve fairer and better outcomes, from allocating organs, vaccines, and drugs to improving animal welfare and developing new technologies, including AI.

Saana Jukola (Finland), “AI Ethics in EU projects”

Abstract: This talk addresses some of the practical challenges related to AI ethics that arise in EU-funded research projects. In particular, it focuses on issues of applying AI ethics guidelines, e.g., the EU standards on AI ethics, and the role of independent ethics advisors.

Bio: Saana Jukola is an assistant professor for philosophy of health and technology at the University of Twente. Her research interests include philosophy of science, philosophy of medicine and social epistemology. In particular, she focuses on how epistemic and non-epistemic (e.g., social and institutional) factors intertwine in the production of evidence in health sciences. She is a member of the board of the Young Academy Finland.

Ignas Kalpokas (Lithuania), "Synthetic Dreams: Exploring the Biases in Generative AI"

Abstract: The popularity of generative AI tools necessitates a critical consideration of exactly what is depicted in its output. This presentation, therefore, overviews AI's propensity to amplify stereotypes and outlooks based on high-resource cultures and its ensuing impact on smaller languages and cultures, including in the Baltic-Nordic region. Likewise, generative AI is presented as manifesting conservative tendencies in the sense of prioritising already established views and theories at the expense of new and emerging ones.

Bio: Ignas Kalpokas is Associate Professor and Senior Researcher at Vytautas Magnus University where he also leads MA Future Media and Journalism. His research focuses on the societal, cultural, and political impact of emerging digital technologies, particularly AI, political communication, post-truth, and fake news, and media theory more broadly. He has published eight books and numerous articles in these areas.

Oskars Teikmanis (Latvia), "Imaginative AI in a World of Imaginative People"

Abstract: This talk examines the complex interplay between artificial intelligence and human creativity in an era when AI increasingly enters domains once considered uniquely human. This presentation explores how AI systems that optimise for efficiency may inadvertently diminish the essential human elements of artistic expression, while questioning whether AI's promise to “democratise" creativity actually delivers greater agency or merely convenient outputs.
Bio: Oskars Teikmanis, Chair of the Board of the Latvian Association of Young Researchers (LJZA), is a researcher at the Institute of Electronics and Computer Science (EDI), where his primary research interests lie in autonomous robotics and machine learning. In addition to his scientific work, he contributes to the activities of the Science Council at the University of Latvia. Outside his academic endeavors, he is actively engaged in music, with a particular passion for choral singing, which offers a creative counterbalance to his research activities. Currently serving his third consecutive term on the LJZA board, Oskars aims to foster a supportive environment for doctoral candidates and early-career researchers by strengthening cooperation with governmental institutions and cultivating a resilient and inclusive academic community. Furthermore, he seeks to employ innovative science communication strategies to enhance public understanding of emerging technologies and scientific developments

Vladimir Kuts (Estonia), “Digital Twins and Extended Reality for Human-Robot Collaboration in Industry 5.0 and Beyond”

Abstract: Digital Twins (DT), Extended Reality (XR), and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) are reshaping human-machine collaboration in Industry 5.0. This talk presents research on immersive teleoperation, adaptive XR interfaces, and Quality of Experience (QoE) in multi-robot control across manufacturing and healthcare. Alongside technical advances, ethical challenges emerge: ensuring accessibility and reducing skill barriers through human-centered design; maintaining human oversight to avoid over-automation; and addressing societal impacts such as shifting job roles and increased reliance on intelligent systems. By merging engineering with ethics, we aim to create responsible, inclusive, and safe environments for next-generation human-robot interactions.

Bio: Dr. Vladimir Kuts is an Assistant Professor of Digital Manufacturing at Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) and founder of its Industrial VR/AR Lab. His research centers on Digital Twins, XR, and Human-Robot Interaction within Industry 5.0. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, an MSc in VR/AR Software Design, and an MBA. Dr. Kuts has led international projects in robotics, factory telemetry, and immersive interfaces, and actively bridges tech and business. He is a member of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences, serves as co-organizer of the Advanced Manufacturing track at ASME, and leads the IEEE RAS/CSS/SMC Joint Chapter in Estonia. A former Marie Curie fellow at Ireland’s Confirm Center, his current work explores XR-driven robotic control for industrial and healthcare applications.

Moderator: Helen Eenmaa (Estonia)

Panellists:

Saana Jukola (Finland)

Ignas Kalpokas (Lithuania)

Vladimir Kuts (Estonia)

Patrick Munk (Denmark)

Aksel Braanen Sterri (Norway)

Oskars Teikmanis (Latvia)