Mikko Tikkanen received his Ph.D. from the University of Turku in 2009 and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher/experienced Marie Curie researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland in 2011 - 2012. After that he returned to the University of Turku and worked there as a postdoctoral researcher of the Academy of Finland and as a university lecturer and researcher and currently as an assistant professor.

Mikko has led the Learning led Research to business project by Business Finland and is currently leading the From light and CO2 to food and chemicals project by Technology Industries of Finland Centennial Foundation.

At the University of Turku, Mikko is a member of the Sustainable Development Steering Group, a member of the Sustainable Development Teaching Development Group, the Steering Group for KEKO Sustainable Development Studies and the UTU Scout . He is also one of the authors of the Science Wednesday blog on the website of the Finnish Association of Science Editors and Journalists, and otherwise tries to be as active as possible in society.

Mikko conducts basic research on the structure, function and regulation of the photosynthetic apparatus and applied research combining photosynthesis and AI research and IoT technology.

His basic research interests include mechanisms and interactions between different mechanisms controlling excitation energy, electron and proton transfer in the photosynthetic machinery. He is also interested in the mechanisms and physiological significance of photosystem I and II photodamage and, as a recent topic, the acclimation of PSII and PSI to photodamage. Mikko has authored more than 50 papers on different aspects of his research interests. In total, his papers receive about 400 citations per year.

Since 2020, Mikko has been establishing a new research line aiming at AI-based optimisation of indoor farming, plant phenotyping and interpretation of optical signals related to photosynthesis and, as a first step, developing technologies and data systems that enable such technologies. The research is also closely linked to the commercialisation of these enabling technologies, which are expected to facilitate the use of plant research knowledge in the development of better crop varieties and more energy- and resource-efficient agricultural practices.

https://scholar.google.fi/citations?user=-sulsbsAAAAJ&hl=en

www.utu.fi/plant-machine-interactions

Mikko is teaching in various courses from basic
plant anatomy to advanced photosynthesis and scientific communication. He has
also supervised/supervising several M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses.