From Bangladesh to Vaasa: The multidisciplinary environment at the university inspires Anupam Dutta
Anupam’s journey to Vaasa starts in 2010 when he got a scholarship for an MBA programme in Spain. After completing his MBA, he started to look into different PhD programmes in Europe. He applied to several positions and got selected to three programmes, one in Vaasa, Finland, in Tallinn, Estonia and in Trento, Italy.
– The University of Vaasa offered a great scholarship and was the only university with the possibility to do the PhD in the field of statistics and that I really wanted to do. I also had found out that Professor Seppo Pynnönen at the University of Vaasa did a lot of financial statistics research. This made Vaasa the best option for me, and I have no regrets about this, he smiles.
Anupam has been working at the University of Vaasa since he completed his PhD in 2015, first as an assistant professor at school of Accounting and Finance and then in 2021 he was promoted to senior researcher (associate professor level) in accordance with theUniversity of Vaasa career model.
Award winning productive researcher
Anupam has received University of Vaasa’s research act of the year award. He has also received the Ostrobothnia Chamber of Commerce award and the Åbo Akademi award for most successful researcher at the University of Vaasa.
– I was feeling so lucky to receive the research act award in 2018 as it was the year when our university celebrated its 50th anniversary, and the award was given at a grand party. I am proud to have received these awards.
Anupam is also one of eleven university of Vaasa researchers ranking among the world’s top 2% of scientists in 2022.
His research interests include financial market volatility, asset pricing, and FinTech. He has published in many reputed business journals, including Journal of Empirical Finance, Journal of Futures Markets, International Journal of Finance and Economics, Economics Letter, Energy Economic, The Energy Journal, etc. His H-index has risen to 27 in five years.
– I was on the Stanford list also in 2021, so for two consecutive years now, as for the H-index, I have been busy and productive these past years, he smiles. University of Vaasa is very open to multidisciplinary research. Here you have a freedom to explore different areas of your research field, to broaden your portfolio and follow your interests. Also, the colleagues here at the university are nice and eager to help and cooperate. Supervisors are friendly, inspiring, and obliging and they want to work with you, this is a key factor if you want to succeed. You also need to read and keep up with new papers that are published.
The University of Vaasa is on a mission, to conduct research for a more sustainable future. Can this be seen in your research?
– Yes, recently my focus has been on sustainable finance and clean energy. I have published a lot in these areas, as they are a new trend in Finance. I love to work in these new areas for two reasons: my work will have societal impact and I get to be a pioneer in these new research areas and create and evolve my ideas. I love what I do, that’s my main inspiration.
Anupam also teaches 2-3 courses/year.
– The courses keep me busy for about 3 months and the remaining time I do research. I have got good evaluation from the students on almost every course. My research really helps my teaching because I can give the students examples from the real world. When you show real world data analyses to the students, it also motivates them more. They need to know how we can use this theoretical knowledge in practical life, it is very important to create a bridge between theory and practice.
The multicultural university
The University of Vaasa is an international university, a third of our academic personnel comes from other countries. Our personnel represent more than 40 different nationalities.
- In my department I think that over 50% are expats. When we have a meeting or when I go to the university, I mainly meet other expats.
Before Anupam arrived in Vaasa he did not know much about the university, other than some good research publications he had read from the university. Two things surprised him though, the number of expats, and the language, people in Finland are very good at English.
– There are two different perspectives on this. The good thing is that is that all your colleagues speak English and when you go to the supermarket, or anywhere all people speak English, this is a very good, you do not feel left outside. The bad thing is that you do not learn the Finnish language.
Vaasa is now the forever home
Anupam comes from Bangladesh, which has a very high population. He also spent time in Madrid, a city that never sleeps.
– When I came to Vaasa, I had a little bit of a chock, the roads were so empty of people and cars all the time. Now I love this city, wherever I go I want to come back home to Vaasa. The same goes for my family, my wife and daughter.
Anupam has now lived eleven years in Vaasa, he settled down with his family, bought an apartment in Palosaari. His wife has passed the YKI-test (National Certificate of Language Proficiency) and is now a Finnish citizen.
– My daughter was born in Finland, so both her and my wife are more and more Finnish. They both speak excellent Finnish and sometimes also speak Finnish to each other. My daughter is in Finnish speaking day care and my wife is studying to become a dental nurse in Finnish. It’s just me who still has not managed to find time to learn Finnish, since I’m always doing research.
Anupams brother, Probal Dutta came to Finland in 2018. He is a PhD student at the school of Accounting and Finance at the University of Vaasa and his dissertation is soon. The brothers have also written six research papers together.
– I feel good about this, because now my daughter has someone from her family here. They spend much time together and she is very fond of her uncle. It was very important to us to extend the family.