I am working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Aalto University School of Engineering. I research the flow of water and the transport of sediment and nutrients in rivers, streams and ditches, with a special focus on environmentally friendly solutions in river and agricultural water management. I am particularly interested in the complex interactions between flow, vegetation and riverine transport and retention processes.

My research falls into the fields of environmentally preferable river engineering and environmental hydraulics, which are one of the strategic focus areas of the Water and Environmental Engineering Research Group. The research is closely linked to other on-going projects supervised by Staff Scientist Juha Järvelä in the Water Resources Management team led by Professor Harri Koivusalo. Methodologically my research is based on experimental laboratory investigations (specifically at the Aalto Environmental Hydraulics Lab), field campaigns at sites where environmentally friendly river engineering solutions are applied, and modelling and model development.

I think it is the responsibility of the researchers to serve the society by sharing their research findings. I have mentored a one-year long exhibition at the Helsinki Airport where design students and researchers collaborated to visualize sustainable water solutions. My research has been featured to the general public in the main news broadcasts in TV, radio and online.

International collaborators:

• Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Professor Paweł Rowiński, Vice-president of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Assoc. Prof. Monika Kalinowska; Assoc. Prof. Robert Bialik): turbulent flow structure and transport processes in vegetated flows
• Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (e.g. Assoc. Prof. Un Ji): real-scale experiments in an outdoor laboratory channel (https://www.kict.re.kr/eng/060203) with natural floodplain vegetation (shrubs, bushes)
• Deltares (Dr. Ellis Penning): development of 3D modelling of vegetated floodplain flows with Delft3D FM model suite
• Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Assoc. Prof. Adam Kiczko): 1D-2D modelling of vegetated flows, uncertainty in discharge predictions

National collaborators:

• Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Freshwater Centre: field investigations into nutrient transport and management in agricultural channels using nature-based solutions (NBS) with Samassa vedessä project
• Field investigations in collaboration with the NutrinFlow project (at Hardombäcken Brook, Loviisa), the Nutrient Neutral Municipality project (at Topinoja Channel, Turku), and the KURVI project (at Ritobäcken Brook, Sipoo).
• Environmental authorities, cities, and consultancies participating in channel design and maintenance

Main scientific/academic merits:

• Since September 2018, I am Associate Editor (Hydrology) in Acta Geophysica (covered by the Science Citation Index-Expanded and Scopus)
• Member of International Scientific Committee for XXXVIII International School of Hydraulics, 21-24.5.2019, Lack, Poland, organized under auspices of The International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research
• I organized a Special Session entitled “Heat and mass transport under complex natural conditions” at the 5th IAHR Europe Congress, 12-14.6.2018, Trento, Italy, with Assoc. Prof. Monika Kalinowska (Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy of Sciences).
• 2017, award by the Foundation of Economic Education to the most distinguished doctoral theses on the building trade in Finland in year 2016 (from Oskari Vilamo Fund)

I participate in teaching by advising Doctoral, Master’s and Bachelor Theses at Aalto. I also give lectures and develop assignments (including experimental laboratory work) on Bachelor and Master level courses e.g. on the topics “Measurement and Uncertainty”, “Sediment Processes” and “Basic Hydraulics and Management of Pressure Transients”.

My doctoral thesis focused on enhancing the parameterization of natural woody and grassy riparian vegetation for flow resistance and sediment transport analyses in compound (two-stage) channels. Two-stage channels consisting of a main channel and a vegetated floodplain are an environmentally preferable alternative to conventional drainage and flood management practices, and the thesis aimed at providing knowledge for the application of such environmentally preferable channel designs.

For my doctoral thesis, I collaborated with the Technical University of Braunschweig (Professor Jochen Aberle, Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources), where I carried out laboratory flume experiments to develop the parameterization of drag and flow resistance of natural woody vegetation. I also conducted a field study at a two-stage channel (Ritobäcken Brook, Sipoo) located in Southern Finland to examine the effects of different types of floodplain vegetation (grasses, willows, unvegetated) on flow resistance and cohesive sediment erosion and deposition.

Past & ongoing research projects:

• Use of vegetation for reducing tranport of nutrients in rivers and streams, 2018-2019, funded by Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation

• Transport of substances in vegetated, heterogeneous channels, 2016-2019, funded by Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry.

• Ecohydraulics: measurement techniques and flow-sediment processes, 2014-2016, funded by Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry., led by Dr. Juha Järvelä.

• Flow­-vegetation-sediment interaction: physical, chemical and biological processes in environmental channels, 2009­­-2013, funded by Academy of Finland, led by Dr. Juha Järvelä. Additional funding has been provided by Maa- ja vesitekniikan tuki ry. and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
• Water and Climate Change in the Lower Mekong Basin, 2008­-2009, funded by Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, led by Prof. Olli Varis.

I am happy to have been supported by additional personal grants from the following foundations: Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Oskar Öflund Foundation, VALUE Doctoral Program, The Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion and Sven Hallin Research Foundation.