Sign up here - we look forward to seeing you in #emmalappeenranta at LUT Business School.
We are honored and excited to welcome the following keynote speakers and panelists to emma 2026 (more to be announced—stay tuned).
Nic Newman
Nic Newman is a Senior Research Associate at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University where has been the lead author of the annual Digital News Report (2012-2025), the world’s largest on-going study of consumer behaviour around news. He authors an influential annual report on media and technology trends and has published recent research on trust, paying for news, the changing nature of social media, and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on journalism. Before the Reuters Institute, Nic spent 20 years as a journalist mainly at the BBC. He was a founding member of the BBC News Website where he led international news coverage for 5 years before heading up technology and product development for BBC News for almost a decade.
Laura Saarikoski
Laura Saarikoski is the CEO of the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation that supports media research, quality journalism and freedom of speech. Saarikoski is an award winning journalist with a long experience in media leadership and US coverage, and has recently participated in a research about leading newsrooms with AI.
Mikko Salo
Mikko Salo is Founder and CEO to Faktabaari – Finnish 2014 established fact-checking and digital information literacy service run by an NGO for information resilience and integrity. He has also several roles in multi-disciplinary national and international networks tackling online disinformation. He is a former member of the 2018 European Commission’s (EC) High Level Group on Fake News and Online disinformation. He later continued as an independent expert to the EC expert group on media literacy and then as Co-Founder to European Digital Media Observatory Nordic hub - NORDIS. He has 30 years of work experience on the interplay of the EU, its member states and public, private, non-profit and academic organisations. Faktabaari also starts soon in Horizon Europe consortia called COMPASS (COuntering Manipulation while Preserving Authentic Speech and Society) with 5 research universities and 2 more practice-oriented organisations for EU level contributions. Salo serves also as part time LUT EU Senior Advisor.
Outi Salovaara
Outi Salovaara (M.Sc. (Econ.) & M.Soc.Sc) is an investigative journalist and non-fiction writer with a special focus on Russia. She has received two Snow Shovel awards for investigative journalism as well as The Finnish Association of Women Journalists' Trailblazer of the Year award for her journalism focusing on Russia. Her non-fiction book Ruplaruhtinaat (Ruble Princes) about Russian business activities, real estate transactions and networks in Finland, was published in June 2025. Salovaara's travel non-fiction book, Matkalla kadonneessa maailmassa (Traveling in a Lost World, 2023), about the countries of the former Soviet Union was awarded an honorable mention by Mondo travel magazine.
Ruggiero Lo Sardo
Ruggiero Lo Sardo is a Complexity scientist and researcher at Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Rome, where he is part of the Infosphere team investigating how digital media and technology shape social dialogue and online polarisation. His work combines network science, computational social science, and data analysis to study echo chambers, media trust, and the conditions for constructive public discourse. He holds a degree in Theoretical Physics from Sapienza University of Rome and a PhD in Complexity Science from the Medical University of Vienna, and has been a resident scientist at the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.
Olli Seuri
Olli Seuri (D.Soc.Sc.) is the Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Uusi Juttu, a new Finnish media venture, and a Docent of Journalism. He has been awarded both of the major journalism awards in Finland: the Bonnier Grand Journalist Prize for Journalist of the Year (2017) and the Suomen Kuvalehti Journalist Prize (2019).
Päivi Tampere
Päivi Tampere (PhD) works as the Head of the Technology and Scientific Development Branch at the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence. She has been with the COE since January 2025. She is currently on leave from his position as Head of Strategic Communications at the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland. Previously, he has served as Head of Communications at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats and as a Strategic Communications Expert at the Government Office of Estonia.
Anna-Mari Wallenberg
Anna-Mari Wallenberg is a Docent in Cognitive Science and a Philosopher of AI Research who works at the University of Helsinki in the Department of Digital Humanities. Anna-Mari leads the multidisciplinary AIDEMOC project, funded by the Strategic Research Council, which examines the impacts of AI on society, the information environment, and democracy. In recent years, she has also worked on the responsible and sustainable use of AI, the ethics of AI, and AI regulation (including the EU’s AI Act).
- PhD Workshop
- PDW – Paper Development Workshop
- Welcome Reception at Kehruuhuone
For more information about the PhD Workshop, please see "CFP, Submission & Registration" page.
- Opening
- Keynote & Panel: Media management and trust in the divided world
- Presentations of the Nominees for the emma 2026 Best Paper Award
- Paper sessions
- Dinner Cruise on M/S Camilla on Lake Saimaa
- Interview with Investigative Journalist: Russian businesses in Finland – risk for the Finnish security?
- Papers sessions
- Panel: Building trust in media with algorithms
- Paper sessions
- emma General Assembly
- Gala dinner at Lappeenrannan kasino
Life at the Border
On the post-conference day, Saturday, May 30, participants are warmly invited to join a relaxed sightseeing tour in South Karelia, a region shaped by its location along the Finnish–Russian border.
The excursion will take us from Lappeenranta to Imatra, where we will have lunch at the historic Imatran Valtionhotelli. During the day, we will revisit moments from the past and reflect on the present situation of a closed border. The excursion will offer local insights and perspectives together with regional delicacies.
The day will conclude with a sauna evening and dinner at LUT Beach Sauna (you are welcome to join the dinner without attending the sauna). Participants may join both parts of the program (sightseeing and beach sauna) or only one, but the price will remain the same.
More detailed information about the program will be provided later.