Elections 2025

What kind of university would you like to see? Personally, I want to promote collaboration as well as smooth operations, research, and learning. Above all, I want the university to remain a place and a community where both staff and students feel inspired. This all builds the foundation for the university’s future.

Over the past 25 years, I have come to know the university from many different perspectives: first as a student, and later as an employee at the Turku School of Economics, the IT Department, and the TUCS Research Center. I have been working in Digital Services since 2009, advancing the university’s digitalisation as the Digital Architect. We might have met, for example, while developing the Digitalisation Programme, in steering groups, or at meetings between digital services and faculties.

My contribution to the Board is a grounded yet visionary perspective on digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and the utilisation of data in teaching, research, and administration.

I am a candidate for the University of Turku Board, listed as number 10. Teija Hurmerinta, candidate number 9, is running together with me in the Yhteistyöllä tulevaisuuteen (Together Towards the Future) electoral alliance.

Why am I a candidate?

I want to do my part to ensure that the University of Turku continues to exist in the future. In an increasingly competitive environment, driven by budget cuts and demographic changes, its existence is not a given. The significance of the University of Turku is enormous – not only for us, the university members, but also for the vitality of the entire Turku region. We also have global importance: world-class research is conducted at the University of Turku and in its networks. Together, let’s make sure that others also understand the university’s significance and secure the continuation of our operations.

To succeed in the competition, the university must also keep up with the times and respond to changes in its environment. Digitalisation, artificial intelligence, and the automation of operational processes are my areas of expertise, and even in my current role, I strive to stay up to date on these topics and to promote their utilisation within the university. However, achieving large-scale change requires the involvement of the entire university. Currently, we still lack effective operational models for smoothly implementing changes – slow progress causes frustration, hinders collaboration between organizations, and lets opportunities slip away. Too often, the smooth execution of change depends solely on the competence of individual people. If we want to succeed, this knowledge must be spread throughout the entire university.

In my work, I see how we could benefit from even closer collaboration: the key to success lies in working together, rather than individually or as separate units. The best solutions and most significant innovations arise through cross-boundary cooperation. Multidisciplinarity is the university’s strength, and I encourage university members to recognise the value of collaboration, while actively contributing to fostering smooth and effortless cooperation.

However, collaboration also requires time. In the midst of busyness and workload, it is often quicker to act alone. Excessive performance pressure and overly tight schedules kill creativity and enthusiasm. Work-related exhaustion is the main cause of absences among the university staff. It is critical to develop strategies that support the well-being of everyone at the university. Well-being is the foundation of a thriving community.

As a university, we can influence the direction in which our society develops – what issues we research, what we communicate, and what we teach onwards. And how we conduct ourselves: what kind of example we set. Sustainable development and democracy still need advocates, and without them, the university itself would lose its operational prerequisites.

For me, the university symbolizes faith in the future – otherwise, why would we teach new generations or explore the unknown? Through our actions, we shape the future. In an ever-changing world, we also represent continuity. Let’s keep the university, now over a hundred years old, a boldly contemporary and innovative community we can all be proud of!

What can I do on the Board to achieve these goals?

The Board members collectively define the objectives for the rector’s activities. The Board also decides on the university’s strategy – that is, the university’s goals, what is promoted within the university, and the focus areas of leadership. I will bring my perspectives to these discussions and already participate in strategy development through my current work. Additionally, I want to understand the views of university members as widely as possible and bring them into the discussions held in the Board. I want to increase transparency and the opportunities for individual members of the university to participate in decision-making. Leadership is most effective through continuous interaction, so from the perspective of university members working together, I also consider it important that the rationale behind decisions and policies is communicated to the university community to strengthen shared understanding.

The Board makes decisions on the university’s budget, i.e., where and with what emphasis money is spent each year. The Board also gives the rector guidance on budget formulation. Despite ongoing savings, there is always a choice about what will be done and what will be left undone. In my view, the university’s values provide a good guiding principle as the basis for these decisions and align with my own goals, and I want to promote actions consistent with these values. Budget preparation is also a collaborative effort in which the entire university participates. By thinking together, we find the best targets for limited resources from the university’s perspective and, with creativity and joint brainstorming, we can move in the desired direction even by utilizing existing resources.

The Board’s role is also to balance between the direction the state wants to steer universities via the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the direction the university itself wishes to develop. These views do not always meet, requiring creativity and the ability to find compromises – work that I already do in reconciling different needs. By leveraging networks and influencing decision-makers, we can bring these objectives closer, present our own viewpoints, and act proactively rather than only react and accept directives from above. University staff and friends of the University of Turku form a large and influential group, in addition to which universities and higher education institutions collaborate closely at various levels. For example, I am part of FUCIO, the network of IT directors of Finnish universities, and over my career, I have gathered informal contacts across Finland and internationally.

I know how to get things done and carry out changes at the university. I am familiar with the university’s organisation and operating methods. I enjoy meeting new people and listening to new viewpoints – and I am constantly amazed at how differently the same issue appears in different parts of the university. In the Board, I can leverage all this understanding to assess the most sensible directions for the university and the impacts that decisions will have. I want the university to be guided based on as comprehensive an understanding as possible, without forgetting the effects on individual university members.

What skills do I have for serving on the Board?

In my 25 years at the university, I have learned how the university operates and how to advance things here. I have learned that promoting matters at the university is not always easy or quick, but I have also found ways to facilitate progress. Project leadership has introduced me to the university, its processes, and people from many perspectives, including cooperation between digital services and faculties. At the University of Turku, I have worked not only in digital services but also at TUCS research center, the IT department as a grant employee, and at the Turku School of Economics’ IT Center.

I am familiar with strategy and strategic work: I have participated as a digital architect and as a member of the digital services management team in preparing the most recent strategies and created a digital program aligned with the strategy alongside university members. I am he preparer of the digital steering group that monitors the implementation of the digital program, and additionally, I promote the university’s strategic goals as a preparer for UTU AI groups and as the project leader for process automation. Related to these, I have also been involved in preparing the strategic funding application concluded with the Ministry of Education and Culture.

I have served in various positions on the boards of companies and organizations, including as chairperson and often as the person responsible for finances. I do accounting and consult company management through my own sole proprietorship. I hold a Master of Science in Economics from the Turku School of Economics and a Master of Science in Technology (Software Engineering) from the University of Turku.

Want to know more?

These are just pieces of my thoughts and experience. Would you like to know more? Offer new perspectives? Meet me on campus or send a message, and let’s continue the discussion!

Digital Architect

As a digital architect, my job is to advance the university’s digitalisation.

The ways I do this vary widely. I act as the preparer for the university’s Digitalisation Steering Group and the UTU AI groups, and I coordinate the implementation of the university’s Digitalisation Programme based on the strategy using the DOT operating model. I lead strategic projects: currently, my top priority is a process automation project, but I’m also conducting a study related to the risk management tools. I serve as an internal coach for the digital services management team and as a sparring partner for the digital director in the strategic development of digital services. Additionally, I promote collaboration between faculties and digital services. I publish a blog (digiblogi, in Finnish) through which I increase transparency regarding how digital development projects are carried out at the university.

Beyond my own development responsibilities, I also participate in other development work around the university, such as promoting the Information Management Act and AI Act at the university, and the development of digital service processes. In the future, when time allows, tasks on my agenda include developing the digital service architecture, clarifying digital service production processes and services, and promoting the development of digital skills among the university community. Alongside all this development work, I strive to keep up to date with new technologies and changes in our digital environment and society so that we can anticipate and respond proactively to changes and their impact on the university.

My personal agenda also includes streamlining university operational processes, enhancing collaboration, and improving the wellbeing of university members within the scope of my influence.

If my name sounds familiar, it might be from my work in these roles:

Coordinating the building of the Digitalisation Programme and launching the DOT operating model
Serving as a digital services faculty partner (tiku) at the Faculty of Technology, Faculty of Science, and Faculty of Humanities
Acting as technical project manager for the procurement and implementation of the partnership management system (CRM)
Operational contact person and other roles during the initiation phase of the Digivisio project
Member of the Accessibility working group
Project manager for the procurement and implementation of electronic signatures (UTUsign) and remote identification systems
Technical project manager for the university website renewal project
Project manager for the implementation of identity management and single sign-on systems along with various related development tasks

I also occasionally give presentations on relevant and timely topics. For example, I have spoken at universities’ IT Days about drafting and implementing the Digitalisatin Programme, agile project management, and lectured in Denmark about electronic remote identification. Digital development projects have also taken me to brief the university’s management team, the co-operation committee, faculties, and prepare materials for the university Board’s AI evening school. I am happy to exchange ideas on digital development topics and assist in their advancement!

Over the years, I have gained particular expertise in the following areas:

Strategic leadership of digitalization and change
Agile methodologies and SAFe
Service design
Procurement, tendering, and implementation of digital systems
Identity and access management (IAM)

In my free time, you’ll often find me reading books on psychology, sociology, and leadership of people. I also draw inspiration for my work from my hobbies in theatre and music. And maybe even dancing too! 🙂

Contact

Meet me on campus! You can find me on campus at least at the following times and places:

Mon 3.11. from 10:00 to 11:00 in the Educarium lobby
Tue 4.11. from 11:15 to 12:30 in the Main Building lobby
Wed 5.11. from 12:00 to 13:00 in the Calonia lobby
Thu 6.11. from 8:00 to 10:00 in the School of Business lobby
Thu 6.11. from 13:30 to 15:00 in the Agora lobby
Fri 7.11. from 8:00 to 10:00 in the Arcanum lobby

You can also reach me at:

elina.toivanen@utu.fi
Phone: +358 40 593 3513
Or send me a message on the university’s Teams!

You can also find work-related content on my social media channels:
Bluesky (elinatoivanen) and LinkedIn