Senate

The senate is the university's academic decision-making body chaired by Rector Toomas Asser. It is responsible for the university's teaching, research and development activities and ensures their high quality. The senate adopts the statutes of the university and submits these to the council for approval. The senate has the power to exercise a one-time veto in respect of a council resolution by which the university's budget is adopted.

The senate is composed of the rector as its chair and of up to 21 members. The university's academic staff elect four representatives from each faculty. At least 1/5 of the senate members are students, elected by the Student Union.

Senate Chair

Toomas Asser
Rector of the University of Tartu
Professor of Neurosurgery

Faculty of Arts and Humanities


Raili Marling
Professor of English
College of Foreign Languages and Cultures

Ester Oras
Professor of Archaeochemistry
Institute of History and Archaeology

Pärtel Piirimäe
Professor of Intellectual History
Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics

Liina Lindström
Professor of Modern Estonian Language
Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics

Faculty of Social Sciences


Eva Piirimäe
Professor of Political Theory
Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies

Maaja Vadi
Professor of Management
School of Economics and Business Administration

Äli Leijen
Professor of Teacher Education
Institute of Education

Triin Vihalemm
Professor of Communication Studies
Institute of Social Studies

Faculty of Medicine


Anti Kalda
Professor in Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine

Kristi Huik
Associate Professor in Medical Microbiology and Virology
Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine

Anneli Uusküla
Professor of Epidemiology
Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health

Priit Kaasik
Professor in Functional Morphology
Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy

Faculty of Science and Technology


Krista Fischer
Professor of Mathematical Statistics
Associate Professor of Biostatistics
Institute of Mathematics and Statistics
Institute of Genomics

Hedi Peterson
Professor of Bioinformatics
Institute of Computer Science

Evelyn Uuemaa
Professor in Geoinformatics
Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences

Kristiina Tambets
Professor of Archaeogenomics
Institute of Genomics

Students

Ove Averin
doctoral researcher of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Maria Paavel
bachelor’s student of the Faculty of Social Sciences

Anet Ilustrumm
master's student of the Faculty of Science and Technology
Estin Rand
student of integrated bachelor's and master's studies in the Faculty of Medicine

Eneken Riin Salong
President of the Student Union



The mandate of the academic staff representatives runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2029. The mandate of the student representatives runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027.