The Young Researchers' Meeting at Turku attracted early career researchers from all EC2U universities – as well as from Lviv in Ukraine.
Early career researchers from all over Europe gathered at the University of Turku for the EC2U Young Researchers' Meeting in early April. The programme was organised by the School of Languages and Translation Studies and EC2U Project Coordinator Mikko Kukkonen.
The theme of the conference was Artificial Intelligence & Languages, Cultures and Education. The conference presentations handled the use of AI in different parts of the research process, such as data collection, analysis and discussion.
EC2U is an alliance between the University of Turku and seven other European universities, creating new forms of co-operation and free mobility. The University of Turku is involved in two EC2U master's degree programmes, and a third is currently being planned.
Antonella Orologiaio, who graduated from the shared master's degree programme of the Universities of Turku and Pavia last spring, travelled to Turku from Italy. She was one of the first to graduate from the EC2U Master's Degree Programme in European Languages, Cultures and Societies in Contact.
Orologiaio is currently working on a doctoral dissertation in political science at the University of Pavia. She is conducting an AI-assisted media analysis of political pluralism and social discourse on Italian television. She gave a presentation at the conference on the ethical and societal implications of AI.
“It's great to be back in Turku! The conference has been outstanding.”
Antonella Orologiaio, a graduate of the EC2U Master's degree programme, said she was excited to be back in Turku for a short while.
Orologiaio praises the conference, which was specifically aimed at early career researchers.
“As a doctoral researcher, you can often feel lonely and a bit lost, but I have had some great encounters here.”
The conference programme provided new ideas and interdisciplinary perspectives. The conference was not only about conducting research, but also provided an opportunity for peer support between early career researchers in the same situation. The meetings generated ideas for joint research projects, says Orologiaio.
“I feel less alone now.”
Peer support and interesting AI research
Petra Plavšić and Kerstin Lindmaier, doctoral researchers in physics education at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria, were also very satisfied with the programme specifically aimed at early career researchers.
In a small conference, it was easy to get to know others and have open discussions.
“It is important to be able to share the perspective of an early career researcher. You can hear that others have the same concerns as you. Everyone has their own individual stories, but with researchers from different disciplines, we have found that we share many experiences," says Plavšić.
“This is a really good opportunity to learn about the use of AI in research. We were able to share our own research and get comments on it. The conference has been motivating, and the atmosphere has been great," says Lindmaier.
Petra Plavšić, Zeynep Topdemir and Kerstin Lindmaier from Linz.
Plavšić and Lindmaier are not EC2U researchers themselves, but their department works closely with the programme. The duo were encouraged to attend by Zeynep Topdemir, a doctoral researchers at the same department, who gave a workshop on quantitative research methods at the end of the conference.
“I have learned a lot from how different researchers use AI. Now, I want to try out different programs myself and incorporate them into my teaching," she says.
Participants came from all eight EC2U universities and from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine, which is a strategic partner of EC2U.
In addition to the University of Turku, EC2U includes universities from Portugal, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Romania. From the beginning of May 2025, Umeå University in Sweden will also join the alliance.
Key note lectures were given by Kalle Konttinen (AI Tools for Education and Research), Outi Veivo (How Can AI-Based Tools Transform Language Teaching and Learning?) and George Gabriel Constantinescu (Using Artificial Intelligence and Mixed Realities to Create Educational Applications of the Future). The programme also included a presentation by Doctoral Researcher Hilla-Marja Honkalammi (Prompting for Spoken Conversation with a GenAI-Integrated Robot in L2).
Text and photos: Rosa Lampela
