Honorary doctors lecture at the School of Engineering

Professor Maria Luísa Coutinho Gomes de Almeida, Mechanical Engineering, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Luísa Coutinho is full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Lisbon and Executive Director of the European Welding Federation. She has several international awards and positions. As an active entrepreneur she was the founder of four industrial companies. The scientific experience includes coordination and participation in over 90 national and international projects, 74 of which involved the technology transfer to industries. She has written over 140 papers in international journals and at the national level has written short papers, journal articles and press releases. She has been interviewed by several national publications. She has been the scientific supervisor of 18 doctoral thesis and over 100 master’s theses. The collaboration with the European Commission started in the 1980`s as evaluator of proposals for scientific projects and more recently as external expert. She has been invited to give talks and lectures, including over 50 key note lectures in events around the world. 

Professor Luísa Coutinho has been a Member of Scientific Advisory Board of School of Engineering of Aalto University in 2016. She is a co-author in scientific publications produced in cooperation with Aalto University: one book, four papers in international peer reviewed journals and four papers in conference proceedings since 2013. She has had an active role in promoting the cooperation and sharing of students and researchers between the Departments of Mechanical Engineering of Aalto University and University of Lisbon since 2013.

Executive Vice President Juha Kostiainen, YIT group

Juha Kostiainen is YIT Group’s Executive Vice President, Urban Development. He has previously worked in the management of the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, as Director of Economic Development at the City of Tampere and as Managing Director of Finn-Medi Oy. 

Kostiainen earned a Doctor of Administrative Sciences degree in 2002. The topic of his doctoral thesis was the competitiveness of urban regions. He has authored dozens of scientific publications on urban development and housing. He has led several extensive urban development projects, researched the dynamics of the competitiveness of urban regions and applied research-based knowledge in practice. He actively takes part in public debate and has published more than 300 posts in his blog at nokkelakaupunki.fi. 

At Aalto University, Kostiainen has served as a preliminary examiner and opponent of doctoral theses and as a master’s thesis advisor for a large number of students. He has promoted the funding of several doctoral and other research projects, co-authored scientific articles and participated in research project management group. Furthermore, Kostiainen is a highly-esteemed lecturer in several courses taught at Aalto University. He holds the position of Adjunct Professor at Tampere University, specialising in the strategic development of urban regions.