Pekka Tapio Varis

Immolantie 25 C

FIN - 00780 Helsinki

Finland

tel (home): +358-9-3859979

mobile: +358-50-5679833

University of Tampere: +358-3-2156111

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Currently Professor and Chair of Media Culture and Communication Education at the University of Tampere, Finland (Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Department of Teacher Education,with a research project at Hypermedia Laboratory), and Docent at Helsinki University and Visiting Professor at Concordia International University Estonia. I am consultant on new learning technologies for the Finnish Ministry of Education, and expert on media and digital literacy to the EC, Council of Europe, Nordic Research Councils, and many Finnish and foreign universities. Member of European Union's PROMETEUS Steering Committee and Adviser to several international organizations. In 1996-97 I was UNESCO Chair of Communication studies at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. I have also been a faculty member of the European Peace University (Austria), Communication and Media Scholar at the University of Helsinki and the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. I am a former Rector of the University for Peace in Costa Rica, and Professor of Media Studies in the University of Lapland, Finland.

In addition to Finnish I am fluent in English, Spanish, German, Swedish, and have a reading capability in a number of other languages.

I have published approximately 200 scientific contributions which are listed at http://www.uta.fi/~titava.htm with additional biographical information (in Finnish).

In 2001 I received The Rochester Intercultural Conferences 1995-2001 award as "an outstanding European scholar in intercultural and international communication."

Born: 17 June, 1946 in Ruokolahti, Finland

Academic background:

Professor and Chair of media culture and communication education, University of Tampere 1997 - present

Docent of media and communication studies at the University of Tampere since 1973 and the University of Helsinki 1977.

UNESCO-Chair, and Visiting Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and University of Santiago de Compostela 1996-1997

Director of the Centre for Continuing Education, University of Art and Design Helsinki, 1990-1995 - during 1992-1994 Professor and Vice Dean of Media Studies, University of Lapland

Rector of the University for Peace, created by the United Nations General Assembly in Costa Rica, 1986-1989

Visiting professor at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute for International Affairs in Helsinki, 1985

Director of the Tampere Peace Research Institute, 1979-1984

Lecturer and researcher at the University of Tampere and the Academy of Finland 1971- 1978

Visiting Professor in the University of California, San Diego, 1976

Course for international affairs, Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 1970

Research assistant, University of Tampere 1968-1970

Academic Degrees:

Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Tampere 1973 (Journalism and Mass Communication)

Licenciate of Social Sciences, University of Tampere 1972 (Sociology, and Journalism and Mass Communication)

Master of Arts, University of Tampere 1969 (Journalism and Mass Communication)

Selected recent publications:

A more comprehensive list of approx. 200 publications available at: http://www.uta.fi/~titava/julkaisut

Using broadband to close the digital divide. Intermedia April 2001, Vol. 29, No 2, (together with T. Utsumi, P. Knight, F. Method, and J. Pelton)

"Emerging global electronic distance learning" (EGEDL), Final Report to InfoDev (together with Takeshi Utsumi), http://www.uta.fi/EGEDL. December 15, 1999. Also available at http://www.friendspartners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/Final_Report/Tampere_Event/Final_Report.html

What is media competence and why is it necessary? Parliamentary Assembly Hearing, Council of Europe, 23 March 2000, Brussels.

Approaches to media literacy and eLearning", European Commission Workshop Ímage Education and Media Literacy´, November 16th, 2000, Brussels

Finland: Cultural challenges in the digital era. In Miguel de Moragas Spa, Carmelo Garitaonandia and Bernat Lopez (eds) "Television on your doorstep - Decentralisation Experiences in the European Union", University of Luton Press 1999, p.103 - 118.

Values and the limits of the global media in the age of cyberspace. In "Civic Discourse: Intercultural, International, and Global Media." Coedited by Michael Prosser and K.S. Sitaram.Ablex Publishing Co. 1999, p 5 - 18.

Communications in the future UN system. In Chadwick F. Alger (Ed.) The future of the United Nations system: Potential for the twenty-first century. United Nations University Press, Tokio 1998, p 357-382

Transnational communication and cultural industries (with Thomas Guback), in “The Political Economy of the Media.” Edited by Peter Golding and Graham Murdock. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited 1997 (reprint)

Finland´s route down the information highway.In "The North Calotte Library Conference Proceedings. Arctic Centre Reports No 15, University of Lapland 1996, p. 25-31.1997 In Spanish: Educar para la sociedad de la informacion. Nuevas necessidades, viejas estructuras. Telos (Madrid), No 48, 1997. p. 78-91.

Telecommunications, peace and media education. In "Essays on Human Communication Valeriana.” Krakow 1996, p.127-134.

Challenges to the policies of the information society. In "Steps Toward an Information Society -Policies to Achieve Benefits for All," edited by Anders Henten. Center for Tele-Information, Technical University of Denmark 1995, p.71-79. 1996

Trends in the global traffic of television programs. In "The International Market in Film and Television programs, edited by Eli M. Noam and Joel C. Millonzi, Ablex Publishing Corporation, New Jersey 1993, p.1-11.

The new media. Cultural identity and integration in the new media world. Edited by Tapio Varis. Publications of the University of Industrial Arts Helsinki, B 28, 1992

Cultural industries and the Post cold war. In "Cultural Industries: National Policies and Global Markets", Proceedings of a CIRCIT Conference held at CIRCIT, Melbourne, 10 December, 1992, June 1993,edited by Marcus Breen, ss. 18 - 25.