Laura Huhtinen-Hildén

Dr. Laura Huhtinen-Hildén is a principal lecturer and researcher at Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, specialising in arts, health, and wellbeing. She leads Finland’s Cultural Wellbeing, Research and Education Centre (CuWeRE) and heads the transdisciplinary Master’s programme Creativity and Arts in Social and Health Fields, which she established. From 2007 to 2022, she led Metropolia’s BA programme in Early Childhood Music Education and Community Music.

Her research explores the intersections of creativity, arts, health, and wellbeing, with a strong emphasis on building inclusive, research-informed environments. As a scholar, she focuses on advancing higher education pedagogy, particularly through approaches that integrate critical reflexivity and transdisciplinary collaboration. She currently investigates the development of professional competencies essential to the cultural wellbeing sector, alongside learning experiences within transdisciplinary higher education. Central to her work is the intertwined nature of theory, research and practice–viewed as mutually reinforcing in both research and education.

Dr. Huhtinen-Hildén is also a prolific author of teaching materials, articles, and books on arts, wellbeing, and music education. She has contributed to international networks through board roles in the European Network for Music Educators and Researchers of Young Children and the International Society for Music Education’s Early Childhood Commission.