Tua is one of the co-founders of Aalto University Design Factory, a multidisciplinary experimentation platform in Aalto University, and strives for research projects which have immediate theoretical and practical implications for development efforts. She leads research projects investigating turning ideas into improvements in product design, entrepreneurship, management, and teaching.

Tua combines engineering and design perspectives with psychology to understand how to better sustain innovation and idea advancement efforts in organizations. She has a DSc degree in industrial engineering and management from the Aalto University School of Science and an MA degree in cognitive science from the University of Helsinki. Tua has also worked in the Center for Design Research at Stanford University in the United States.