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Senior University Lecturer Virpi Roto is the first Finn to receive the international IFIP TC13 Pioneer Award awarded by the International Federation for Information Processing network (IFIP).

Roto is one of the world's most renowned user experience (UX) researchers and a highly cited figure in the field. She has been a key influencer in her career both as a researcher and a provider of UX resources for practitioners, and she has been a pioneer in the development of the field, according to the award citation.

"It's awesome to get recognition for my long-term work. I'm especially happy that my work to improve user experience has had a real impact", Roto says.

Roto's mission is to help technology-focused companies transform themselves into providers of meaningful experiences. As a researcher, she collects and develops methods for improving user experiences at different stages of service and product design.

Before joining Aalto University, Roto worked at Nokia Research Center. Her work on the award-winning Minimap browser improved the user experience of websites on millions of S60 phones and formed the basis for her doctoral dissertation in 2006.

Focus on the transformation of work and artificial intelligence

At Aalto, Roto has built research and teaching around experience design.

"I wanted to come to the Department of Design to develop methods for designing good user experiences right from the start of the design process", she says.

According to Roto, companies want to offer their customers good experiences, but few know how. 

"When designers set experience goals based on the basic psychological needs, it creates a whole new perspective on current efficiency-focused service and product design", Roto explains.

Currently, the experience expert's gaze is on the transformation of work brought about by artificial intelligence.

"I hope that artificial intelligence will take automation to the level originally expected, namely, the ability to decide for myself how much work I do. This requires interactive artificial intelligence that understands not only the technical content of the work, but also my basic psychological needs – and helps me thrive both at work and as a person", Virpi Roto says.

IFIP TC13 is an international network of experts focused on researching and promoting human-technology interaction.