Heisi Kurig is the new head of Institute of Computer Science

The council of the Institute of Computer Science elected Heisi Kurig as the head of the institute at the meeting on 30 November. Her term of office will start on 1 January 2023.

The new head of the institute Heisi Kurig is a graduate of the University of Tartu, where she defended her doctoral thesis, “Electrical double-layer capacitors based on ionic liquids as electrolytes” in 2011. She has worked as a research fellow at the University of Tartu Institute of Chemistry and as the coordinator of academic affairs and research and head of academic affairs at the Institute of Computer Science. From 2017–2019, Heisi Kurig was the Vice President of the Estonian Young Academy of Sciences.

According to Heisi Kurg, the Institute of Computer Science has rapidly grown. “Therefore, it is necessary to rethink the management processes within the Institute of Computer Science, and I consider it one of my main tasks for the next three years.” Kurig also regards it as essential to increasingly highlight the value of university education and doctoral studies in society.

Since 2011, Jaak Vilo has been the head of the Institute of Computer Science. Over these 12 years, the institute has grown into the largest unit of the UT with more than 1,500 students and doctoral students. According to election regulations, Vilo could not run for the post of the head again, and he will continue work as a professor and head of the Chair of Data Science at the Institute of Computer Science.