e-mail: tapio.varis@uta.fi

Chair holder at the UNESCO Chair on "Global E-learning with applications to multiple domains" within the framework of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs programme.
Acting President of Global University System (GUS).
Professor in Hypermedia Laboratory and in Research Centre for Vocational Education, University of Tampere.
Docent at Helsinki University and Visiting Professor at Concordia International University Estonia.
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 UNESCO Chair of Communication studies at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain.
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 and a former Rector of the University for Peace in Costa Rica,
Professor of Media Studies at 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)