Kairi Kreegipuu continues as Head of the Institute of Psychology

At the meeting on 27 May, the council of the Institute of Psychology re-elected the current head of the institute and Professor of Experimental Psychology, Kairi Kreegipuu, as the head of the institute. Her previous term of office started in 2021. 

When Kreegipuu started in this position, the institute’s activities were gradually expanding, and one of the tasks of the new head was to successfully utilise the growth space of the small but potential institute. In the meantime, the institute has opened a new curriculum, implemented new forms of teaching, received funding for the induction year in a new specialisation, and contributed to the creation of the Centre of Excellence for Well-being Sciences. Changes have been made in the employees’ workload calculation and remuneration system, as well as in the management of the institute. 

Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences Margit Keller wishes her colleague good luck. “During the first term of office, Kairi was very bold and initiated a number of changes. The Institute of Psychology maintains a very high quality of education, and the demand for school psychologists is high. They also carry out outstanding large-scale research projects, such as the only European Research Council grant project of our faculty, and lead the Centre of Excellence for Well-being Sciences. So, there is really much to do, and the head’s task is to figure out how to carry this responsibility in such a way that people are cared for and the workload is reasonable. The fact that Kairi was re-elected for the second term shows that she is a leader who can do it. The dean’s office cooperates closely with Kairi and his team. I appreciate Kairi’s exceptional working capacity and her good sense of humour,” said Keller. 

Kairi Kreegipuu recognises her colleagues who have shown that excellent teaching and research are done at the Institute of Psychology.  She also hopes that the university will support the institute’s efforts to organise professional training for psychologists and help solve the ventilation and radon problem in the academic building. Kreegipuu believes it is important that the staff of the Institute of Psychology have a sparkle in their eyes, as this is for the benefit of students, who will, in the future, contribute to the whole society as experts in their field. 

Kairi Kreegipuu earned her PhD in psychology at the University of Tartu in 2004. Since 1998, she has worked at the University of Tartu Institute of Psychology. She has supervised seven doctoral theses and is currently supervising seven more doctoral students. From 2014 to 2018, Kreegipuu was president of the Estonian Union of Psychologists. She has been a visiting professor at the Dalian University of Technology in China and the University of Latvia, and from 2017 to 2019, she held the post of vice dean for research and development in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Tartu. Kreegipuu is currently an ethics advisor in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her research focuses on attentive and pre-attentive information processing processes and their links to the person’s condition, environment, and mental well-being. Kairi Kreegipuu belongs to several professional associations and is a member of the Estonian Female Students Society. 

Heads of institutes are elected at the university for three years. Kairi Kreegipuu’s term of office as the head of the Institute of Psychology runs until 30 June 2027.