We are honored and excited to welcome the following keynote speakers and panelists to emma 2026.
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.
Ville Grahn
Ville Grahn is the head of the news media development unit of the Keskisuomalainen Media Group. From 2020 to 2025, he worked at the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) in roles related to digital content and development, and from 2005 to 2020, he was with the Keskisuomalainen Group, where his positions included journalist, producer, and digital development manager. The Keskisuomalainen Group is Finland's leading publisher of regional and local media. The group comprises approximately 80 news media outlets.
Mika Rahkonen
Mika is a long time Public Service Media veteran from Yle. He is a slowly recovering journalist having worked for 20 years in the news dept. in several roles. Mika is a co-founder of former Yle News Lab, groundbreaking youth operation Yle Kioski and EBU Digital Committee. For the past years he has been the Head of Strategy in Yle looking at the media landscape and its future from a corporate level.
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).
Please see the full program here (to be updated).
To be updated on week 21.
PhD Workshop
- Registration & Coffee
- Part I: Methods Session – From Digital Data to Meaningful Analysis by Jukka Huhtamäki and Maria Arango Kure
- Coffee break
- Part II: Feedback-Based Research Workshop
- Lunch at LUT Restaurant
- Tutors: Leona Achtenhagen, Tom Evens, Bianca Harms, Jukka Huhtamäki, Ari Jantunen, Minna Koivula, Maria Arango Kure, Mart Ots and Björn von Rimscha
Paper Development Workshop
- Lunch at LUT Restaurant
- Plenary Opening - Welcome, goals of the PDW & introduction to JOMBS (room 1247)
- Parallel Round 1 (3 parallel paper discussions)
- Coffee break
- Parallel Round 2 (3 parallel paper discussions)
- Plenary Closing - Key insights, publication advice & next steps
- Tutors: Leona Achtenhagen, Tom Evens, Bianca Harms, Päivi Maijanen, Mart Ots and Björn von Rimscha
Please note that both workshops are intended for participants who have submitted and registered at the events beforehand.
Welcome Reception at Kehruuhuone
- We invite all emma delegates to join us for the opening event on Wednesday evening at Kehruuhuone, where you can network with others, enjoy the music and get into the conference mood. The venue is located in the fortress close to the Lappeenranta harbor and it is easily accessible by foot from the city center.
- Food and drinks will be served.
- Address: Kristiinankatu 20, Lappeenranta, Google Maps
- Time: 19:00-22:00
Program
- Registration & Coffee
- Opening emma 2026
- Päivi Maijanen, Conference Chair, LUT University
- Leona Achtenhagen, President of emma
- Juha-Matti Saksa, Rector, LUT University
- Keynote by Nic Newman: Building Sustainable News Media in the Era of AI and Declining Trust
- Coffee Break
- Panel Discussion: Media Management and Trust in the Divided World
- Moderated by Ulrike Rohn, Tallinn University
- Panelists: Nic Newman, Mika Rahkonen, Laura Saarikoski, Olli Seuri
- Presentations of the Nominees for the emma 2026 Best Paper Award
- Lunch
- Parallel Paper Sessions
- Coffee Break
- Parallel Paper Sessions
- Dinner Cruise on M/S Camilla on Lake Saimaa
Program
- Registration & Coffee
- Parallel Paper Sessions
- Coffee Break
- Keynote by Outi Salovaara: Borderline Reality - Living Next Door to an Expansionist Neighbor
- Parallel Paper Sessions
- Group Picture
- Lunch
- Panel Discussion: AI, Media and Democracy
- Moderated by Kaisa Pekkala, LUT University
- Panelists: Ville Grahn, Ruggiero Lo Sardo, Mikko Salo, Päivi Tampere, Anna-Mari Wallenberg
- Parallel Paper Sessions
- Coffee Break
- 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.
The sightseeing tour leaves at 9:30 on Saturday morning. We will be back in Lappeenranta by 16:30. When coming back, the bus will first stop at the railway station and then at the city center near the hotels. You can take your luggage with you on the tour and then catch the train to Helsinki, which departs from Lappeenranta at 16:55.
If you will stay in Lappeenranta for the night, you are more than welcome to join us for the LUT Beach Sauna as well. After the tour, we will take the same bus directly to the venue, but it is also possible to join us later.