Anne Ojala

Dr. Anne Ojala is a Senior Researcher at the University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences within the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. She leads multidisciplinary research on freshwater ecosystems, focusing on carbon cycling in lakes and rivers, particularly in the context of climate change. Her work integrates atmospheric physics, forest ecology, and limnology through field measurements at the SMEAR II station's Lake-SMEAR platform and collaboration with the European ICOS infrastructure.

Her research spans two main areas: 1) Quantifying carbon fluxes in freshwater systems using advanced methodologies, and 2) Investigating mixotrophy in algae and its implications for nutrient cycling and ecosystem dynamics. She pioneered micrometeorological river studies and applied quantum chemistry to limnological questions. She collaborates closely with Academy professors Timo Vesala and Markku Kulmala, as well as Professor Jaana Bäck (University of Helsinki) and Jukka Pumpanen (University of Eastern Finland).

• Supervises doctoral programs in Atmospheric Sciences and Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences
• Co-led the Cascading carbon flow in forested catchments (CASCAS) project
• Contributing to the Algological Research Laboratory (ALGOLAB) and AnaEE network

Scientific awards include the 2014 Department of Environmental Sciences' encouragement prize for exceptional work. She has supervised 6 PhD students, 1 licentiate, and 25 MSc students, with a teaching focus on aquatic ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry across academic levels.