I am a Professor in entrepreneurship and a head of Entrepreneurship research group at the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Turku. Between 2009-2019 I was appointed as a Research Director at the unit, while during 2010-2011 and 2012-2016 I acted as a Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Campus in Pori. 

_{My research focuses on entrepreneurship and particularly on researching entrepreneurship at the individual level. I have studied entrepreneurial identity construction and identity work in new ventures and family businesses. I am also interested in understanding gender in different entrepreneurial contexts. My research has also investigated policies supporting entrepreneurship development, most notably entrepreneurship education and incubators. Currently, I'm leading a research team in Turku investigating the role of high-skilled immigrants in business growth - either as entrepreneurs or as employees. Recently, I was leading a project exploring how to make Finland a more attractive country for highly-skilled internationals to work and do business in (www.hiwe.fi). The project was led by the University of Eastern Finland. I was also the team leader for an Erasmus + project aiming at developing new pedagogical models, approaches and materials for transforming entrepreneurship education to enact the ongoing crises and societal challenges. (transformingee.eu/). I have also experience from large scale EU project as I was also involved in a European Horizon2020 -research project DISCE (Developing Inclusive and Sustainable Creative Economies), www.disce.eu (2019-2022) as a Work-package leader.} 

_{I have nearly 30 years of experience from policy, practice-oriented and academic research projects that are conducted in continuous and active engagement with firms and other stakeholders, including European Commission and DGs, OECD, Ministries and regional authorities and decision-makers.}

I have taught entrepreneurship at B.Sc., M.Sc. and post-graduate levels. I'm currently responsible for the PhD studies in entrepreneurship at the Turku School of Economics.