Center of IT Impact Studies
About us
About us
Center of IT Impact Studies was founded in 2015 by Mihkel Solvak and Kristjan Vassil at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu. The core idea of this center is to use big data generated by various Estonian public e-services (like internet voting, mobile parking, e-health, digital ID, e-residency, etc) to estimate the impact those services have economically, politically and socially. In doing so, CITIS focuses on quantitative research methods and econometric modelling. Its team values measurement, precision, accuracy, and high scientific standards. Through the creation of new courses and various teaching activities, CITIS researchers also contribute to the development of a new generation of analysts and scientists, dedicated to understanding and improving the way that public e-services impact the daily functioning of the state.
Mihkel Solvak
PhD (Political Science)
Associate Professor of Technology Research
One of the co-founders of CITIS, Mihkel is currently serving as the Vice Dean for Research and Development in the University of Tartu’s Faculty of Social Sciences and Associate Professor of Technology Research in the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. His research concerns how people adopt and use digital public services. He has published widely on internet voting, covering its effects on turnout and what drives confidence and trust in the system. At CITIS he steers research and applied projects and designs methodology for data-driven digital tools.
+372 737 5338
mihkel.solvak@ut.ee
Kristjan Vassil
PhD (Political and Social Sciences)
Professor of Applied Technology Studies
Kristjan is a co-founder of CITIS. He is Professor of Applied Technology Studies at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and the Faculty of Economics and Business, and served as the University of Tartu’s Vice Rector for Research from 2017 to 2023. His research concerns the societal impact of information technology, and how a mature digital state turns data, trust and institutions into economic value. His work in CITIS has spanned internet voting, energy economics, the long-term development of the e-state, and health technologies.
+372 737 5338
+372 56 84 4856
kristjan.vassil@ut.ee
Andres Võrk
MA (Economics and Business Administration
Analyst and Lecturer in Econometrics
Andres is a longstanding analyst at CITIS and heads the Chair of Economic Modelling in the University of Tartu’s Faculty of Economics and Business, where he also teaches econometrics. He is a researcher and leading national expert on health economics, labour economics and applied microeconomics. Andres has worked on tax-benefit and social policy analyses and microsimulations, and co-authored analyses on the sustainability of Estonia’s health system. At CITIS he works on impact evaluation and the econometric side of applied projects, having been central to the centre’s long-running work with the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, from designing risk models through to evaluation of labour market services and policies.
+372 737 6347
andres.vork@ut.ee
Taavi Unt
MSc (Financial and Insurance Mathematics)
Data Analyst
Taavi is a seasoned data analyst at CITIS, where he works on the statistical and machine learning side of the centre’s applied projects. He holds an MSc in financial and insurance mathematics from the University of Tartu. His work at CITIS has included designing and developing Töötukassa unemployment risk models, impact evaluation work for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, profiling and forecasting energy consumption for Eesti Energia, among others.
Annegrete Molloka
MSc (Financial and Insurance Mathematics)
Data Analyst
Annegrete is a data analyst with a passion for turning complex data into clear, useful insights. She has worked on projects across a wide range of fields, from credit scoring in finance and predicting solar park production in the energy sector to analyzing the impact of diseases in healthcare. Her broad experience and strong statistical background help the team build predictive machine learning models and develop tools for monitoring and understanding data. While there are many interesting and rewarding aspects of working with data, the one closest to her heart is data visualization — making complex results easy to understand.
Peeter Leets
MA (Politics and Governance in the Digital Age)
Scientific Programmer
Peeter is a scientific programmer at CITIS, where he builds the tools the centre’s applied projects deliver. His expertise spans full-stack development, data engineering and machine learning, natural language processing and LLM applications. He has worked on in the centre’s partnership with the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund, developing NLP-powered methods for matching jobseekers to vacancies; developing experimental applications for the University of Tartu and tools for profiling energy consumption.
+372 53 40 9629
peeter.leets@ut.ee
Gregor Nepste
MSc (Data Science)
Data Analyst
Gregor is a data analyst at CITIS, where he works on the data and language model side of the centre’s applied projects. He holds an MA in data science and a BA in politics and government, with a major in international relations and a minor in economics, from the University of Tartu. His work at CITIS has included designing a methodology for evaluating how well open-weight language models can analyse text in public sector settings, as well as statistical analyses, impact assessments and data management plans. He also supports report preparation and procurement bids.
