Aaro Tupasela
Adolf Lindforsin tie 3 B 78
00400 Helsinki
Finland
Mobile: 045 677 4246
Email: aaro.tupasela@helsinki.fi
http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/staff/tupasela/english.htm

Born: 28.4.1972
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

EDUCATION

2008    D.Soc.Sc in Sociology
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

2000    M.Soc.Sc. in Sociology
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

1996      BA in Political Science
             BA in Sociology
State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, USA

1991        International Baccalaureate
United Nations International School, New York, USA

 

RESEARCH PROJECTS

2013-2014 Patients, business and the state - translating health information into sustainable benefits. Funded by Tekes.

2010-2012 Constituting Difference Through Genetics - From Historical to naturalistic Explanations of Population Variation. Helsinki Finland.  Post-doctoral research project funded by the Academy of Finland

2006-2009 Reconsidering Patient Participation in Biomedical Research, Helsinki, Finland
A two-year research project funded by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation (Tekes).  The project looks at the perceptions of the Finnish population concerning the biomedical use of tissue sample information andd patient information and explores new ways in which patients and patieent organizations and influencing the development of research.

2001-2006 Rights and Responsibilities in Biotechnology, Helsinki, Finland
A four-year PhD research project with Karoliina Snell funded by the National Technology Agency (Tekes).  The focus of my research is on the emergence of human tissue collections as an important resource in the production of biomedical knowledge.  The research attempts to connect micro-level practices in biomedical research to macro-level developments and changes in science, technology and health policy in Finland since 1990.

1999-2001 The Privatization of Public Knowledge, Helsinki, Finland
A master’s thesis component of a larger research project, Innovation Policy and the new Action Logics of Universities, headed by Dos. Marja Häyrinen-Alestalo.  The project analyses the ability of three universities in the Helsinki region to adapt to the pressures of national innovation policies that strive to utilize university research with increased intensity in commercial applications and services.  Funded by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, 1998-2001

2000-2002 Tracing Knowledge Flows in the Finnish Innovation System – Capturing and Capitalizing Interaction in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Otaniemi, Espoo
 Assisting in a project headed by Prof. Erkko Autio and Martin Meyer at the Helsinki University of Technology.  The goal is to compile a national database of patenting activities of Finnish university researchers and their patenting activities in the US.  The data will serve as a basis from which more detailed interviews will be conducted with university researchers, as well as companies utilizing university research.  Funded by Tekes and Sitra, 2000-2002

PUBLICATIONS

Tupasela, A. (2012) Uusi biopankkilaki ei ratkaise vanhoja ongelmia - kansalaisten tasavertaisuus kudosnäytteiden käytössä. Suomen lääkärilehti. (forthcoming)

Snell, K. and Tupasela, A. (2012) Puhetta biopankeista: potilaiden ja tutkittavien näkemyksiä biolääketieteestä ja tiedon tarpeista. Sosiologia. (forthcoming)

Snell, K. and Tupasela, A. (2012) Miten suomalaiset suhtautuvat biopankkeihin. Duodecim. (forthcoming)

Tupasela, A. and Snell, K. (2012) National Interests and International Collaboration: Tensions and Ambiguity Among Finns Towards Usages of Tissue Samples. New Genetics and Society (forthcoming)

Tupasela, A. (2012) Governing Hereditary Disease in the Age of Autonomy - Mutations, Families and Care. In
Vermeulen, N., Tamminen, S. and Webster, A.  (eds.) Bio-objects: Life in the 21st Century. Ashgate.

Tupasela, A. (2011) From Gift to Waste: Changing Policies in Biobanking Practices. Science and Public Policy 38(7): 510-520. 


Tupasela, A. (2010) Semantic interoperability and biobanking - The politics of setting technical standards in tissue economies.
In  Bammé, A., Getzinger, G. and Wieser, B. (eds.). Yearbook 2009 of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology & Society. Pp.143-164. München, Wien: Profil. Pre-publication version.

Tupasela, A. (ed.) (2010) Consumer medicine.  TemaNord. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.

Tupasela, A. (2010) Introduction - Consumer medicine. In Tupasela, A (ed.) Consumer medicine. TemaNord. Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen.

Tupasela, A., Sihvo S., Snell, K., Jallinoja, P., Aro, A.R., and Hemminki, E. (2010) Attitudes towards the biomedical use of tissue sample collections, consent and biobanks among Finns. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 38: 46-52.

Hemminki, E., Tupasela, A., Jallinoja, P., Aro, A.R., Snell, K. and Sihvo S. (2009) Finnish people's attitudes towards biomedical research and its sponsorship. Genomics, Society and Policy 5(2): 67-79.

Tournay, V. and Tupasela, A. (2009) Guest editorial: Making a Diffuse Group Consistent and Substantial: Toward a Sociology of Social Texture. Science Studies 22(2): 2-6.

Tupasela, A. (2009) Foreword. K. Prpic, L. Oliveira and S. Hemlin (eds.) Women in Science and Technology. Institute of Social Research and ESA/SSTNET, Zagreb.

Tupasela, A. (2008) Consent Practices and Biomedical knowledge Production in Tissue Economies.  Academic Dissertation.  University of Helsinki, Department of Sociology. 

Tupasela, A., Snell, K., Sihvo S., Jallinoja, P., Aro, A.R., and Hemminki, E. (2007) Väestön suhtautuminen lääketieteellisten näytekokoelmien uudelleen käyttöön ja biopankkeihinSuomen lääkärilehti 62(51-52), 4780-4782. (In Finnish)

Sihvo, S., Snell, K., Tupasela, A., Jallinoja, P., Aro, A.R., Hämäläinen, A. and Hemminki, E. (2007) Väestö, biopankit ja lääketieteellinen tutkimus.  Suomalaisten suhtautuminen lääketieteellisten näytteiden käyttöön.  STAKESin Työpapereita 18.  

Tupasela, A. (2007) Re-examining Medical Modernization - Framing the Public in Finnish Biomedical Research Policy. Special issue of Public Understanding of Science 16(1): 63-78. 

Tupasela, A. (2006) Kudostalous ja kaupalliset mallit - Biolääketieteellisen tutkimuksen muuttuvat ehdot. [Tissue economies and commercial models - The changing terms of biomedical research]. Tiede&edistys 31(1), 105-118. (In Finnish)

Tupasela, A. (2006) When Legal Worlds Collide: From Research to Treatment in Hereditary Cancer PreventionEuropean Journal of Cancer Care 15(3), 257-266.

Tupasela, A. (2005) Locating Tissue Collections in Tissue Economies - Deriving Value From Biomedical ResearchNew Genetics and Society 25(1/April), 33-49.

Tupasela, A. (2004) Ihmiskudoksen lääketieteellinen käyttö Suomessa [The medical use of human tissue in Finland].  Suomen Lääkärilehti 43, 4162-4164. (In Finnish)

Tupasela, A. (2003) Book review: National Innovation System - Scientific Concept of Political Rhetoric by Reijo Miettinen. Science Studies 16/1, 71-73.

Tupasela, A. (2002) Meeting Governmental Demands? Research Groups as Economic Engines. Technology, Society, Environment 2, 33-46.

Tupasela, A. (2001) Tiedon teosta ja omistuksesta. [On the production and ownership of knowledge] Tieteessä tapahtuu 3, 69-70. (In Finnish)

Tupasela, A. (2000) Intellectual Property Rights and Patenting: Can Centralized Technology Transfer Save Public Research? Science Studies 13/2, 3-22.

Tupasela, A. (2000) Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Helsinki, September 2000
The Privatization of Public Knowledge – Innovation Policy and Intellectual Property Rights at the University of Helsinki.  117 pages.

 

EMPLOYMENT

1999-  University of Helsinki, Department of Sociology, Helsinki, Finland
Researcher Group for Comparative Sociology; Research done on intellectual property rights, innovation policy and universities as producers of knowledge, biobanking, biomedical policy, public perception of biomedicine and biobanks.

2000-  Science Studies, Helsinki, Finland
Working as the Associate editor/Assistant Editor of a journal devoted to publishing articles on science and technology issues.  Published by the Finnish Society for Science Studies.  Main duties include proofreading, overseeing the publication process, marketing and customer relations.
 

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS AND VISITS

1.1 - 30.6.2008 IAS-STS Visiting Research Fellowship. Graz, Austria.

1.3 - 30.7.2003  Marie Curie Research Fellowship
Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU), Department of Sociology,
University of York, UK.  

Spring 1995   Semester abroad
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa


ELECTED POSITIONS

2008- Nordic Committee on Bioethics.  Finnish representative for the committee. Chair in 2011

2003-   European Sociological Association's (ESA) Sociology of Science and Technology Network (SSTNET).
Chair of network's coordination board  2007 - 2011.

2005-2011  Finnish Society for Science and Technology Studies
Member of society's coordinarion board.

LANGUAGES

Fluent in English and Finnish (reading and writing)
Working knowledge in French
Basic Swedish

MILITARY SERVICE 

1991-1992  Finnish Navy, Upinniemi, Finland
Rank: Sergeant

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Updated 24.11.2008