Department of Business Administration

Tarmo Koppel | AI-related courses and continuing education, presentations in champions’ workshops | Artificial intelligence is a highly important topic for society and education, and Tarmo Koppel has taken on an active leadership role in this field. His activities support the informed and responsible adoption of AI in education and contribute to shaping a future-oriented learning environment.

Aki Harima, Jaime Joel Rodriguez, Ekaterina Demiankova, Marianne Kallaste, Kristine Asu, Merli Reidolf, Olev Tõru, Tarmo Koppel, Ruzlin Akter | The Digital-Physical Hybrid Architecture of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem: Multi-Level Analysis | The project examines how digital and physical structures jointly shape the functioning of entrepreneurial ecosystems at the macro, meso, and micro levels. Supported by an ETAG personal research grant (start grant), which is awarded through exceptionally competitive selection in economics, the project develops theoretically and empirically grounded knowledge that supports the advancement of entrepreneurship, innovation, and policymaking. 

René Arvola, Koidu Saia, Olev Tõru | Team ÄKIline, composed of members of the Department of Business Administration, successfully finished the Ironman Tallinn Estonia 70.3 competition. Olev Tõru (1.9 km swim), René Arvola (90 km cycling), and Koidu Saia (21.1 km run) jointly completed this demanding challenge, demonstrating commitment, endurance, and strong team spirit.

Mari-Klara Stein, Merle Ojasoo, Mike Franz Wahl, Eliis Salm, Piibe Kirke Tops | Establishment of The Centre for Responsible Economics and ESG | The Centre brings together a wide range of stakeholders, including different university research groups as well as private and public sector organisations. Through joint research, development, and collaborative activities, the centre generates societal impact in a key area by promoting responsible business practices and the implementation of ESG principles.

Jaime Joel Rodriguez, Aki Harima | Creation of the Entrepreneurship Research Group LinkedIn profile and promotion of research activities | Through the Entrepreneurship Research Group’s LinkedIn profile, the group regularly showcases its activities, members, and research contributions, making research more visible, accessible, and applicable. The profile supports the development of new relationships with prospective doctoral candidates, students, and collaboration partners and has become an effective research communication channel, currently attracting approximately 1,400 followers.

Koidu Saia | Coordination of collaboration initiatives | Koidu Saia plays a central role in identifying and initiating collaboration initiatives. She actively identifies funding calls, brings together potential stakeholders, participates in discussions, and guides participants toward smooth and effective collaboration, often involving colleagues from other institutes. Thanks to her excellent overview of research potential and research interests, many initiatives are successfully realised that might otherwise remain unnoticed or fail to materialise.

Airi Freimuth | Visiting Lecturer | Airi Freimuth has taught undergraduate and master’s students for several years in both Estonian and English in the fields of e-marketing and digital marketing. She is characterised by a clear and accessible teaching style, strong professional competence, and thoroughness. Students value her communication skills, attentiveness, and dedication, which create a supportive and motivating learning environment.

Maddie Winter | Developer of academic writing | Maddie has actively supported the development of academic writing skills by organizing and hosting several focused writing events for PhD students. These writing off-sites combine structured goal setting, guided writing sprints, and peer interaction in a supportive and motivating environment. Her initiatives help Early Stage Researchers make progress on their work while encouraging a sense of academic community and good writing practices.

Artur Toikka | Active Contributor to the Doctoral Community | Artur Toikka is an active and dedicated representative of doctoral students. He contributes thoughtfully to discussions, engages constructively when needed, and effectively represents doctoral students’ interests, supporting a collaborative and well-functioning academic environment.

Aive Pevkur, Katrin Arvola, Tairi Tuulik, Virve Siirde, Marii Haak | TalTech’s student team of different specialisations participated for the first time in European Ethics Bowl (EEB), a Europe-wide student ethics debate competition. Participation in the EEB competition was also nominated as an anti-corruption act by Transparency International Estonia.

Tarmo Kalvet, Marek Tiits | The aim of TalTech Industrial, led by Tarmo and Marek, is to increase TalTech's research capabilities. Together with project partners from NESTA and others, they have organised several seminars and outreach events for our PhD students and other interested parties.​

Mari-Klara Stein, Margit Kull, Koidu Saia​ | A number of important steps have been taken to support doctoral students and early-stage researchers, contributing to their settling in, collaboration and successful completion of their studies (both formal and informal). Events for supervisors have also been organised. 

Marina Järvis, Koidu Saia | Cooperation with President Kaljulaid Foundation, whose main focus is domestic violence, was launched. This is an important issue, and it is good that we are thinking ahead and participating in the debate against domestic violence. 

Wolfgang Gerstlberger, Ulrika Hurt, Tarmo Tuisk, Tarlan Ahmadov, Margit Kull, Merle Küttim, Arseni Kotov, Vera Gerasimova, Gunnar Klaus Prause, Tarmo Kalvet, Marek Tiits, Tarvo Niine, Jelena Hartšenko, Jaana Merisaar | Circular economy is a topical issue at the moment, and the team has been able to actively raise awareness of the issue in newspapers, seminars, training courses and speaking at ministries. The staff of the Sustainable Value Chain Research Group has conducted several studies on the subject, organised and participated in various seminars, and written on the subject in newspapers. ​​  

Koidu Saia | Koidu has undertaken a wide range of projects that have increased the department's research capacity and visibility, as well as increased opportunities for collaboration. 

Piret Pert | Guest Lecturer of the Year | Piret is highly thorough and engaging when teaching marketing communication. Wanting to show the students the more practical side of the subject in real working life, Piret organised a visit to the corridors of power at Toompea as well as to the studios of ETV's most watched programme Ringvaade. 

Monika Nikitina-Kalamäe | Monika is a much-loved supervisor, and the theses she has supervised have received various awards and therefore brought attention to our department. A personal story about her also appeared in the Accounting Practitioner edition of Äripäev (newspaper).

Aive Pevkur | Lecturer of the year | Aive is described as an experienced lecturer who is systematic, dedicated, demanding, engaging, inspiring and open. The students rate Aive highly from semester to semester, characterising her as a highly motivated lecturer who puts her heart and soul into what she does; whose lectures are exciting, her materials relevant and her classes generate meaningful discussions. Aive is an advocate for her field, both in professional circles and in the wider public. 

Kristjan Jasinski | Guest lecturer of the year | Students have highlighted his vast experience, very strong integration of theory and practice and engaging teaching methods. Graduates of TATM and MAEM consider him to be one of the best lecturers in their programme. A very balanced and inspiring lecturer. His participation in the defence committee and his supervision of students also deserve recognition. Cooperation with the Programme Directors has always been synergetic.

Liina Randmann | Supervisor of the year | Liina received the highest number of votes for Supervisor of the Year. Liina is a supportive and emotional supervisor who wants to see high standards, scientific language and technical robustness in the graduates' work. Liina has many supervisees every year. It is important to her that the thesis contributes to the development of her field and, if necessary, she helps the student to come up with innovative topics. When supervising, Liina is constructive and helpful. 

Jana Kukk | Teaching innovation of the year | Jana was chosen for her problem and project-based Service Design course, which differs from traditional teaching and receives good feedback from students. The master’s students have shaped the customer experience of companies and organisations such as the National Library, Tallinn Airport, Swedbank or Eesti Energia. This gives the opportunity to learn by solving a concrete reallife problem. Students gain valuable experience by carrying out all the activities gradually and applying the knowledge they have learned right away. Organisations that have proposed their own problems have discovered new perspectives as a result. Jana is a brilliant lecturer who values continuous development and who deserves credit for sharing her knowledge with colleagues through the Learning Experience Design course.

Katrin Paadam | Mentor of the year | Katrin is described as a professional of the highest calibre who has supported and inspired many of her colleagues over the years. She is renowned as an expert in qualitative research methods, always immersed in the subject and willing to collaborate with researchers and academics from a wide range of disciplines. Doctoral students appreciate her because she explains qualitative research methods in a very engaging way, being more of a mentor than a lecturer. It is clear that the success of PhD students is very important to her. Katrin's comments are positive and constructive, and she is open to questions and willing to think about different issues. 

Mare Orav | Collaborator of the year | Mare, a long-time university employee who knows how to find answers where others struggle. She is always helpful and thinks ahead, finding quick and good solutions to problems. Mare listens and offers her support when needed. She has helped to organise many of the department's joint events.    

Eliis Salm, Susanne Durst | Opinion leader of the year | Eliis Salm can be found in various media outlets, Äripäev and Postimees newspapers, Vegan magazine, and she is active on social media. For years, she has been running various marketing activities, the Marketing Club, speaking at conferences, participating in information days popularising the university, giving public lectures and training on healthy eating. Eliis fights fiercely for our planet, as exemplified by the Sustainability Week she organised at TalTech in the spring. Susanne Durst is an influential researcher who successfully shares her knowledge with a variety of target groups, including Estonian business leaders at practitioner-focused seminars and in journals such as Director. She has been recognised by publishers as an outstanding reviewer and has received awards for her articles. She has gained the trust of doctoral students and colleagues, not only by organising meetings with supervisors but also by inspiring other professors with her initiatives. 

Merli Reidolf, Tarvo Niine | Contribution of the year | They led the launch of the department's new workflow for finding thesis supervisors for students. A solution that has brought students and staff closer together and has had a positive impact on graduation success. The development has been a team effort, but Merli's contribution has been the greatest, both as the author of the idea and as a facilitator, and Tarvo's enthusiasm in collecting and organising the data and keeping the topic alive has been noted. In addition, Tarvo also contributes a great deal to the communication with the students. 

Merle Ojasoo | Sustainability advocate of the year | She deserves the title both for her teaching ways in her subjects and for her personal example. Merle believes in the importance of social responsibility and fairness and ethical behaviour. She works to create an inclusive and equal atmosphere at the department, inspires colleagues and students by example, initiates debates and activities and speaks out in the media. She is our conscience. 

Tarvo Niine | Lecturer of the year | Tarvo is a very skilled, experienced and successful teacher. Moreover, he is always there for students' concerns and questions. This was highly important for the students, especially during the recent Covid-19 times. 

Kristjan Kolbre | Guest lecturer of the year | He is a very dedicated and bright-eyed guest lecturer - positive and helpful, always innovative, open and entrepreneurial plus student-friendly. Founded several start-ups himself, his teachings always have a credible effect. In addition, he has been cooperating with the university for a long time. According to the students, he is an extremely inspiring and positive teacher who is incredibly good at hiring, supporting and guiding people with enthusiasm, even on Friday evenings. He supports students in the learning process, is able to ask relevant questions, gives constructive feedback and keeps the main goal in mind, inspiring students to contribute more than necessary. 

Iivi Riivits-Arkonsuo | Supervisor of the year | She has high standards in her work and she also emphasizes that students would not only “do what is required” but that they actually develop their skills through the thesis writing process. As she supervises also a large number of students (and is the holder of the department record for “supervised students per semester”), then mathematically her total contribution is nothing short of outstanding. She is a supervisor who encourages students, involves them in research projects, is aimed at high quality, also focuses on students' development and promotes innovative topics. 

Katrin Arvola, Marianne Kallaste | Teaching innovation of the year | They are consistent users of educational innovations. Together, they apply the method of developing entrepreneurial competence and self-assessment developed in the „Success and Action“ program. As a result of the implementation of this method, in addition to the acquisition of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills (incl. business model and business plan), the development of students' entrepreneurship is actively supported. Both together and separately, they are always ready to look for something new, implement ideas and share their knowledge not only with students but also with pupils through various workshops. 

Susanne Durst | Mentor of the year | In a short time, she has created a new level of cooperation between colleagues. She has established permanent traditions of meetings and created new values for her team.  We all admire her persistence to improve previous approaches. It is not easy to be a newcomer. 

Sirje Vilba | Collaborator of the year | She is a worthy colleague who plays a major role in shaping the face of the Department of Business Administration. By always supporting others and creating good atmosphere in a determined and calm way, she is always present and positive, finding solutions, warm and friendly. If something needs to be done, it can be done. She is ready to look for a solution even if it is not immediately there and her maintained flower garden always receives positive attention from our guests. 

Paavo Siimann | Opinion leader of the year | He can be seen and heard outside the university - in the newspapers, magazines, radio programs and festivals (and in other public debates). Paavo performs on both youth and professional channels, a good example of which is appearing as the presenter at the Äripäev radio. He is also a recognized in-service trainer who, as an inspiring speaker, very successfully combines theory with practice. 

Merle Küttim | Contribution of the year | She has carried the weight of EFMD accreditation project for the last two years in addition to her daily researcher and programme head tasks. Even though the accreditation process will be formally finished next year, considerable work and effort have been made. It is mostly finished by now and she has contributed to it more than anybody else. 

Eliis Salm | Sustainability advocate of the year | In addition to participating in the ERS working group, she consistently implements various activities in cooperation with students. The "Drink tap water" campaign brought the tap water dispensers to the faculty. She participates in the completion of procurement for sustainable food provision and in organizing a sustainability week. Brings issues of sustainability and responsibility into her courses, involves field-related guest lecturers and sets an example by her behaviour.