Anu-Katriina Pesonen is professor in experimental mind and brain research at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki.

Her scientific background is in developmental psychology and sleep research, and she leads an interdisciplinary Sleep & Mind Research Group, combining methods and designs from psychology, medicine, and brain research. The team studies sleep structures, and develops experimental interventions to explore how sleep affects cognition, emotions and well-being, specifically in youth. 

Professor Pesonen is currently leading two research projects – one is related to REM sleep and emotion regulation, funded by the Academy of Finland, and the other is about the relations between physical activity and sleep in the late adulthood, funded by the Ministry of Education.  The group utilizes a variety of methods, spanning from cohort studies to experimental designs. The core concepts in her research are sleep, physical activity, learning, and stress. Her group is familiar with physiological stress measurement methods, quantifying physical activity with accelerometers, and measuring sleep with sophisticated EEG algorithms. Her group constantly develops novel approaches and algorithms for investigating health-related behaviors. The width of used methodologies and their development, combined with a developmental psychology perspective to the study of sleep and health, are corner stones of her scientific activity.   

Professor Pesonen leads the BA and MA programs of Psychology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, since 2016. 

Academic milestones

2004 PhD in Psychology, University of Helsinki

2006 Title of Docent (corresponds to adjunct professor) in educational and developmental psychology, University of Helsinki

2008 Title of Docent (corresponds to adjunct professor) in personality psychology, University of Tampere

2009 Speciality in Clinical Child Psychology and Educational Psychology, an academic, clinical diploma

2015 Professor of clinical and developmental psychology (6-year position), University of Helsinki

2020 Professor of experimental mind and brain reserarch, University of Helsinki