Senior Fellow, 1 August 2020-30 June 2021 (Kone Foundation Fellowship)
Office: Atalpa 214
Tel.: +358 50 318 6240
Email: pia.vuolanto@tuni.fi
Degrees
Docent (sociology, 2019)
PhD (sociology, 2013)
Master of Health Sciences (nursing science, 2004)
professional nurse (medical-surgical nursing, 1995)
Research interests
I am interested in controversies over legitimate knowledge, critiques of academic research and the societal status of research work. In particular, I study controversies related to health, criticism of medicine and knowledge production in different alternative health practices. I am interested in the boundaries of science and the status of experts and expertise in contemporary societies. In my research, I combine sociology and philosophy of science, medical sociology, science and technology studies and higher education studies.
Current project
My project at IASR concerns academisation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is a controversial topic that triggers heated social debate in the media, hospitals and healthcare centres. I explore how CAM – despite its controversial starting points – is academising through the establishment of research centres and through the production of publications on CAM treatments.
Selected publications
Vuolanto Pia, Kolehmainen Marjo (2020) Gendered Boundary-work within the Finnish skepticism movement. Science, Technology & Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243920947475
Vuolanto Pia, Bergroth Harley, Nurmi Johanna, Salmenniemi Suvi (2020) Reconfiguring health knowledges? Contemporary modes of self-care as ‘everyday fringe medicine’. Public understanding of science 29 (5), 508-523.
Vuolanto Pia, Nissilä Paula, Qadir Ali (2020) Social research on science and religion in Nordic countries. Zygon 55(1), 73-92.
Vuolanto Pia, Kemppainen Laura, Kemppainen Teemu, Nurmi Johanna (2020) Täydentävien ja vaihtoehtoisten hoitojen käyttö Suomessa. (Use of complementary and alternative medicine in Finland). Sosiaalilääketieteellinen aikakauslehti 57 (1), 44-56.
Laiho Anne & Vuolanto Pia (2019) Tieteidenvälisyys terveystutkimuksessa: Miten sukupuolentutkimuksen näkökulma ilmenee hoitotieteessä? (Interdisciplinarity in the Health Research Field: How Has Gender Been Outlined by Nursing Science?) Sosiologia 56(3), 243-265.
Brodin Danell Jenny-Ann, Danell Rickard & Vuolanto Pia (2019) Scandinavian research on complementary and alternative medicine: A bibliometric study. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.1177/1403494819834099
Brosnan Caragh, Vuolanto Pia and Brodin Danell Jenny-Ann (2018) Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Knowledge Production and Social Transformation. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Vuolanto Pia, Sorsa Minna, Aarva Pauliina & Helin Kaija (2018) Katsaus suomalaiseen CAM-tutkimukseen. (Review of Finnish CAM Research). Sosiaalilääketieteellinen aikakauslehti 55 (3), 243-259.
Kemppainen Laura, Kemppainen Teemu, Reippainen Jutta, Salmenniemi Suvi & Vuolanto Pia (2017) Use of complementary and alternative medicine in Europe: Health-related and sociodemographic determinants. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.1177/1403494817733869
Vuolanto Pia & Laiho Anne (2017) The Gender Perspective in Nursing Research: A Theoretical Treasure Chest or a ‘Thorn’ in the Side? Minerva A Review of Science, Learning and Policy 55 (3), 371-390.
Vuolanto Pia (2017) The Universities’ Transformation Thesis Revisited: A Case Study of the Relationship Between Nursing Science and Society. Science and Technology Studies 30 (2), 34-52.
Vuolanto Pia (2015) Boundary Work and Power in the Controversy Over Therapeutic Touch in Finnish Nursing Science. Minerva 53 (4), 359-380.