Kristina Mullamaa

Kristina Mullamaa is a Lecturer in English and Swedish language at the University of Tartu's College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Institute of Germanic, Romance and Slavonic Languages and Literatures, Department of English Language and Literature. She also serves as the Head of the Scandinavian Studies Department. Her academic career spans over two decades with a focus on Scandinavian languages, cultural communication, and educational methodologies.

Dr. Mullamaa earned her Doctoral Degree in 2006 from the University of Tartu with a dissertation titled "Towards a dynamic role conception of liaison interpreters: An ethnographic study of self-descriptions of practising liaison interpreters in Estonia," supervised by Krista Vogelberg and Stig Örjan Ohlsson.

Her research interests focus on Scandinavian Studies, Language Teaching, Cultural Communication, Educational Leadership, Bilingualism, and Interpreting Studies. Dr. Mullamaa has extensively examined the nuances of Estonian-Swedish cultural communication patterns, Nordic business cultures, and student-centered teaching approaches. Her work bridges linguistic theory with practical applications in language education and cross-cultural understanding.

Dr. Mullamaa has secured significant research funding, including the ETF post-doc grant (2011-2015), Kultuurimälu grant (2015), and as Principal Investigator for projects such as "Teacher training programme and web-based materials pool for teachers of Swedish as the general language in Estonia and on Iceland" (2019-2022) and "The development of dialogue interpreting in Estonia: reflections of a transition society" (2012-2015). Her publications reveal a consistent focus on educational innovation, cultural communication patterns between Nordic and Baltic countries, and language teaching methodologies.

Her scientific contributions include numerous publications in international journals and conference proceedings, with recent work examining empathetic leadership across Nordic and Baltic countries, online language learning approaches, and cultural consciousness in educational settings.

Dr. Mullamaa has supervised Master's students, including Inna Leiman's research on "Bilingualism And Interpreters: The Influence of The First Language on Bilingual Interpreters." She has also contributed to international academic cooperation through her work with Stockholm University's Translation Institute as a guest researcher (2010/2011).