Two New Academy Professors and Two FiDiPro Professors Appointed to the University of Turku
The Academy of Finland appointed five-year Academy Professorships to Johanna Ivaska, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology, and to Johanna Niemi, Professor of Procedural Law. The new FiDiPro Professors are Sociologist Lisa Adkins from Australia and Manuel Tena-Sempere from Spain who researches reproductive endocrinology.
The University of Turku had a great success in this year’s call for academy professors. Two of the altogether seven academy professorships for 2015–2019 were appointed to the University of Turku.
Nine FiDiPro (Finland Distinguished Professor Programme) Professorships were appointed, of which to the University of Turku one full-time professor (Tena-Sempere) and one part-time professor (Adkins) shared with the University of Tampere.
The Academy Professors Research the Mechanisms of Cells in Cancer Metastasis and Gender in Criminal Law
The purpose of academy professorship is to ensure that top researchers can carry out research full time. 
Professor of Molecular Cell Biology Johanna Ivaska
researches the changes that occur in cells with the development of cancer metastases.
Integrins are important cell adhesion receptors that regulate the division of cells and their movement in tissue. Changes in cell adhesion properties are a key factor in the formation of cancer metastases. The aim of Ivaska’s research is to reach a fundamentally new mechanical understanding of how integrins work in cancer cells and to produce a roadmap of integrin receptor operation and communication chains.
Professor of Procedural Law
Johanna Niemi was appointed to the Minna Canth Academy Professorship which is meant for research in equality and gender.
Niemi’s research combines attention to methodological questions of jurisprudence with the reconciliation of work and the family, criminal policy and crime investigation. She studies how changes in notions of gender are reflected in justice and in studies of law, and on the other hand how gender is involved in the traditionally male-dominated field of criminal investigation.
FiDiPro Professors Increase International Cooperation
Finland Distinguished Professor Programme (FiDiPro) is a joint funding programme of the Academy of Finland and Tekes, which enables the Finnish universities to recruit international top researchers. The goal is long-term research cooperation that improves scientific and technological knowledge.
The FiDiPro Professor appointed to the University of Turku, Spanish Manuel Tena-Sempere researches energy metabolism and regulation of reproductive development, two closely connected areas of research into reproductive disorders. Tena-Sempere has achieved many scientific milestones in both of these areas and has significantly contributed to the advancement of international research in the field.
The joint FiDiPro Professor of the universities of Turku and Tampere is Australian Lisa Adkins, who is an internationally renowned sociologist who in her research applies a unique approach to combine theories of the social sciences, feminist studies and economics. Most recently, Adkins has focused on financial crises and unemployment as societal phenomena.
There are altogether eight Academy Professors and seven FiDIPro Professors in the University of Turku.
>> The Academy and FiDiPro Professors of the University of Turku
Text: Tuomas Koivula
Photo: University of Turku
Translation: Mari Ratia