The little ones are counting the days to the arrival of Santa. The DePsy group is counting the days to our move from Siltavuori to the Meilahti campus. In less than 20 days – starting from January 2017 – Psychology at the University of Helsinki will be part of the Medical Faculty. Our physical move into the Meilahti campus and Haartman Institute (H3) is scheduled to take place in the fall of the forthcoming year. Our research laboratories will move a bit later – but no later than early 2018.
For over 10 years, Psychology was part of the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences, and before that we were part of the Faculty of Arts. While we enthusiastically look forward to moving into our new home base, we will of course miss our own old faculty, our Jugend-style brick building, and many colleagues who won’t be joining us. DePsy group has many fond memories of the times as part of the Faculty of Behavioral Sciences – countless hours at our desks, written manuscripts, grants, dozens of publications, first accepted publications on the path towards a PhD, PhD defenses, and studies planned and conducted at the Siltavuori Psychologicum premises.
Many may wonder why Psychology is making this move and why now. Many, however, think that this is an excellent step forward. Psychologists themselves took the first initiative. This initiative was inspired by the profiling action of psychological and philosophical sciences in Finland that was undertaken by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture last year. Psychology in Helsinki is heavily leaning towards life sciences. Hence, the hop to Medical Faculty seems very natural. It strengthens our already existing profile in behavioral life sciences and integrates training of health care professionals into one single unit. There certainly exist many pros – and very few cons.
(photo: Veikko Somerpuro)
DePsy will continue fruitful research collaboration with old friends in the Medical Faculty and hospitals of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District, and in the other universities and hospital in Finland. DePsy also welcomes new collaborations and collaborators on board. At the same time, DePsy wishes to thank the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences and wishes the best of luck to colleagues in Educational Sciences – Yet, we wish to point out that we are still physically very close to each other– only a 15-minute tram ride from Siltavuori to Meilahti.
DePsy also wishes to thank the international and national collaborators of contributions during the year of 2016 – the journey has been, and continues to be, very exciting. Most of all, however: if we didn’t have the dedicated pregnant moms, dads, newborns, toddlers, children, adolescents, their parents, caregivers, kindergarten and school teachers, 
young and middle-aged adults, and the elderly participating in our studies, none of the research that we do would be possible. Thank You All! DePsy whishes You All a Happy Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year!
/Katri Räikkönen