Heidi Kuusniemi

Twitter: @KuusniemiHeidi
GoogleScholar: Heidi Kuusniemi
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About me:

I am the director of the multi-disciplinary research platform Digital Economy at the University of Vaasa, professor in computer science focusing on positioning technologies and systems at the University of Vaasa as well as a part-time research professor in satellite navigation at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute of the National Land Survey of Finland. I have geospatial data related work experience from the governmental, academic as well as private sectors and international experience from the University of Calgary and Stanford University in addition to many significant positions of trust and expertise in the global scientific navigation community. During my career, I have led multiple research teams, have experience in being an academic manager and director, have developed academia-industry collaboration, have obtained research and development funding from various national and international sources, have productively authored and co-authored in numerous journals, conferences and books, have extensive knowledge of national and international networks, and have been a keen advocate of the wide utilization of resilient position, navigation and time (PNT). My scientific expertise and interests include Global Navigation Satellite Systems, especially reliability, estimation and data fusion, mobile precision positioning with applications, indoor localization and opportunities of PNT in new space. My other research interests also include sensors, IoT, autonomous transport, cyber security and the digital economy. I have worked in research and development within positioning technologies for over 20 years and am an Adjunct Professor in satellite navigation at Tampere University of Technology and Aalto University in Finland. I am also the president of the Nordic Institute of Navigation and a member of the working group of the European Commission related to the European GNSS Evolution. I have a M.Sc. degree in information technology (with distinction) from 2002 from Tampere University of Technology, Finland. My doctorate thesis "User-Level Reliability and Quality Monitoring in Personal Satellite Navigation" was examined in 2005 at Tampere University of Technology. Part of my doctoral research was conducted at the University of Calgary, Department of Geomatics Engineering. I have also completed the Aalto University business management training program, as well as the governmental leaders of the future training. In 2017, I was a visiting scholar at Stanford University's GPS Laboratory. I am active in the UN Women in Space network as well as the Women in Tech. In 2016, I was named as one of the top 50 inspirational women in the Nordic technology sector 2016. I was a member of the Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering at the Academy of Finland 2019-2021.