Biography

Current position and professional experience

Ville-Valtteri Visuri is an Associate Professor and leader of the Primary Metallurgy Research Group at the University of Oulu. He also serves as the Deputy Head of the Process Metallurgy Research Unit—one of Europe's largest research units in steelmaking metallurgy, with nearly 50 employees—and as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Centre for Advanced Steels Research (CASR), Finland's national hub for steel research. Additionally, he is an Academy Research Fellow funded by the Research Council of Finland for the term 2023–2027.

Before his current roles, Visuri worked as a Research and Development manager at Outokumpu Stainless Oy (2020–2022), where he led a modelling department based in Tornio (Finland) and Krefeld (Germany). His earlier roles include Senior Research Fellow (part-time, 2020–2022), Postdoctoral Researcher (2017–2020) and Doctoral Researcher (2011–2017) within the Process Metallurgy Research Unit at the University of Oulu. He also completed research visits at RWTH Aachen University, spending a total of 1.5 years there during his postdoctoral (2019) and doctoral (2014) studies.

Educational background

He holds the Title of Docent in Process Metallurgy (2020), a doctoral degree in Process Engineering (2017), as well as master's (2011) and bachelor's (2009) degrees in Industrial Engineering and Management, all from the University of Oulu. He graduated with distinction for both his doctoral and master's degrees and was a member of the national-level Graduate School in Chemical Engineering during his doctoral studies. His academic journey also includes coursework at Aalto University, Technical University of Munich, University of Helsinki, and Åbo Akademi University, as well as the Science Leadership Programme (Class of ’21) at the University of Oulu. Visuri is qualified as a European Engineer (EUR ING) by the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI).

His professional working languages are Finnish, English, and German, for the latter of which he holds the C2-level Großes Deutsches Sprachdiplom from the Goethe-Institut Düsseldorf. He also speaks some Swedish and elementary Russian.

Research interests

His research focuses on the chemical and physical fundamentals of steelmaking processes, particularly electric arc furnaces, converters, and ladles, using mathematical modeling, computational thermodynamics, and high-temperature experiments. He has notably developed dynamic thermodynamic-kinetic process models and studied thermodynamic properties and equilibrium calculation methods. He has worked extensively on argon-oxygen decarburisation, electric arc furnace steelmaking, and hot metal desulphurisation. Recently, he has initiated research on hydrogen plasma smelting reduction. Visuri has published over 70 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

Engaging in collaborative projects with the metals industry and international research groups, Visuri has played a pivotal role in shaping research projects funded by both national and international bodies. In particular, he has contributed to several large Business Finland-funded consortium projects, most recently to Towards Carbon Neutral Metals 2. His research advances metallurgical science while supporting global sustainability goals by developing CO₂-lean technologies for the metals sector.

Visuri is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and symposia on metallurgy and sustainable steelmaking. In 2023, he co-chaired the 5th European Academic Symposium on EAF Steelmaking with Dr.-Ing. Thomas Echterhof. He has performed peer reviews for 25 scientific journals and serves as a member of the editorial board of the journal Materia (ISSN 1459-969) since 2024.

Teaching activities

Visuri's teaching focuses on master's level courses and doctoral education at the University of Oulu. He offers lectures on EAF steelmaking and converter metallurgy as well as on modelling and simulation of metallurgical processes. Furthermore, he has held guest lectures at several universities, including Aalto University and RWTH Aachen University. As for doctoral training, he has served as a principal or co-supervisor in over 10 ongoing or finished doctoral theses and about 30 master's theses. He has examined doctoral theses in Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, and Sweden.

Positions of trust and other activities

In addition to his research work, Visuri currently serves as a board member of the Finnish Association of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, an industry-wide association with approximately 2600 members. He is also a member of the management board of the University of Oulu Chapter and Deputy Member of the Union Council at the Finnish Union of University Professors. Additionally, he holds the position of Vice-Chairman of the Board at the University of Oulu Association.

His diverse professional engagements also include affiliations with three SMEs: Luxmet Oy, Teknoventure Oy, and Hannu Luukinen Oy. Most recently, he has served as an expert witness for a steelmaking company in the Court of Arbitration in Austria.