Tiina Karihtala

Tiina Karihtala is a Lecturer and Research and Development Manager at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, serving as part of the Learning Development and Services Unit. She leads the University of Applied Sciences Student Selection Consortium (2025-2028) and has extensive involvement in national educational assessment projects. Her work focuses on digital learning environments, physiotherapy, health promotion, and optimizing student selection processes for higher education. She holds a Doctoral thesis (2025) from the University of Jyväskylä’s Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, examining workplace recovery and health behavior interventions for daycare personnel.

Her research integrates occupational health, physical activity, and educational policy. Key projects include developing national digital entrance exams for polytechnics and evaluating ethical competency assessments for healthcare applicants. She has contributed to professional guidelines on physiotherapy practices and fitness testing methodologies. Karihtala serves on the Finnish Physiotherapy Educators Association executive board and represents Metropolia in the Capital Region Sports Academy delegation.

Her academic outputs span peer-reviewed journals (BMJ Open, Nursing Ethics) and conference proceedings, with a focus on practical applications in healthcare education and workplace wellness. She actively participates in consortium-based initiatives to enhance admissions criteria and student success metrics in applied sciences education.