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Mari Suoheimo
Associate professor
Biography
Mari Suoheimo is working as an associate professor of service design at the Oslo School of Architecture and design. Her research concentrates on how to approach wicked problems in service design. Wicked problems are diverse and can range from sustainability to the use of technology. Suoheimo´ s research interests are in the field of mobility and logistics, emerging technologies, public services, participatory design, design for policy, circular economy, design theories, decolonizing design and sustainability.
She is a Doctor of Service Design (2020), Master (2010) and Bachelor of Industrial Design (2008) -University of Lapland; Bachelor of Art Education (2015) – Centro Universitario Claretiano. Suoheimo has working experience in service, UX and product design, marketing and branding, e.g. in the development of the JEFFER.SON brand. At Grasp Ltd., she worked as a marketing analyst. At the Everest International School, she was an art teacher and the teaching language was English. In Brazil, Suoheimo also owned a micro-enterprise called Design District.
After returning to Finland from Brazil, Suoheimo began her doctoral studies in service design. Suoheimo graduated in three years and defended her thesis called “Approaching Wicked Problems in Service Design”. During her studies she published eight peer-reviewed scientific publications. In 2018 Suoheimo received one-year grant from the Lapland Cultural Foundation for her thesis. She has worked as a service design researcher and project manager at the University of Lapland for both LUX research group and Co-Stars Service Design research group.
Suoheimo has experience in research projects funded by EU (H2020, ESR/ESF, EAKR), Academy of Finland, Interreg Nord and Business Finland. At the Co-Stars research group she participated in applying successfully funding to start a new master’s degree program in service design called PAMA at the University of Lapland. Other successful funding calls have been SEEYouth (Trans-Atlantic Platform), Engage4BIO (Horizon), and Seed funding for Sino-Nordic research collaboration. Suoheimo has worked as a project manager at the following research projects “Muittut, muitalusat – The Story of the Sámi by the Sámi” (Interreg Nord), Smart Social Distancing (Business Finland) and FrEE – Framtidens EnergiExpert (ESF).
She has publications in the following journals: the Design Journal, Processes, the International Journal of Design Management and Professional Practice, and Revista Educação Gráfica. She is also part of the editorial board of The Design Journal.