People

This page lists TaSTI's personnel and all those who do research and/or operative tasks somehow related to TaSTI.

Eeva Heikkilä

Project Coordinator
Project Management Office
Tampere University of Applied Sciences
+358503182139
eeva.e.heikkila@tuni.fi

About me

A professional in R&D activities.

Responsibilities

I am involved in the implementation of TAMK's various projects. My aim is to make sure the projects are being delivered with high quality, in accordance with TAMK's strategic goals and that they are producing desired results. I am especially involved in international projects (Erasmus+, Interreg, Team Finland Knowledge), but also in national ones. I am also involved in managing TAMK's mobility projects.

Field of expertise

Implementation of projects and development of R&D activities. Building domestic and international R&D networks.

Project links

Mika Kautonen

Senior Research Fellow
innovaatiojärjestelmät ja innovaatiotoiminnan tutkimus
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358503186116
+358405519282
mika.kautonen@tuni.fi

Mianna Meskus

Professor
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358504377511
mianna.meskus@tuni.fi

More information

About me

I work as Professor in Sociology at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Tampere University (TAU). I am also Director of TaSTI (Tampere Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies). My research contributes to interdisciplinary studies on knowledge production, technologies and valuation regarding health, biomedicine, gender, and embodiment. My work has focused on scientific and technological modification of reproduction and aging; for example, through prenatal screening, genetic testing, IVF, biological medicines, and stem cell-based delaying of aging. I explore the societal implications of these practices particularly from the perspectives of biopolitics, bioindustrialization, feminist new materialism, and speculative futures. Methodologically, my work ranges from historical sociology to multi-sited ethnography with emphasis on combining different types of qualitative materials.

I am engaged in the popularization and public dissemination of my research in various ways. I have been invited to talk about the ethics and societal effects of biomedical technologies in various public events as well as training events for clinical staff in University Hospitals and patient organizations. I have written about my research in blog texts published for instance in Alusta! and Ilmiö online medias.

I hold a DrSocSc in Sociology from the University of Helsinki, where I worked as Academy Research Fellow (2015-2018) and University Lecturer in STS (2015). I have been a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics, King’s College London and University of Cambridge.

Further information from personal site.

Research profile:

sociology, science and technology studies, gender studies, social theory, power analytics, materialisms

Projects:

VALDA - Valuating Lives through Infertility and Dementia: Science, Law and Patient Activism, funded by the Academy of Finland (2017-2022). More information on the project here.

ReproFutures - Reproductive Futures, funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation (2019-2022), led together with Dr Riikka Homanen. More info on the project's own website and social media @reprofutures

A New Agenda for Understanding Industrialised Tissue-Based Products, funded by the Wellcome Trust (2019-2021), led by Dr Neil Stephens, Brunel University London.

Books:

Meskus, Mianna (2018) Craft in Biomedical Research: The iPS Cell Technology and the Future of Stem Cell Science. Basingstoke & New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Irni, Sari, Meskus, Mianna & Oikkonen, Venla (eds.) (2014) Muokattu elämä: Teknotiede, sukupuoli ja materiaalisuus. [Molded Life: Technoscience, Gender and Materiality]. Tampere: Vastapaino.

Meskus, Mianna (2009) Elämän tiede. Tutkimus lääketieteellisestä teknologiasta, vanhemmuudesta ja perimän hallinnasta [Science of Life: A Study on Medical Technology, Parenthood and the Government of Heredity]. Tampere: Vastapaino.

Selected publications:

Hautamäki, Lotta & Meskus, Mianna (2024) Living temporality: Speculative engagements with elderly people on bioscience and the body. Time & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X231215719.

Homanen, Riikka & Meskus, Mianna (2023) Population anxieties in constituting Nordic welfare state futures: Affective biopolitics in the age of environmental crises. BioSocieties, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41292-023-00300-3.

Meskus, Mianna (2023) Speculative feminism and the shifting frontiers of bioscience: envisioning reproductive futures with synthetic gametes through the ethnographic method. Feminist Theory, 24:2, 151–169.

Meskus, Mianna & Tikka, Emilia (2022) Speculative approaches in social science and design research: Methodological implications of working in ‘the gap’ of uncertainty. Qualitative Research, https://doi.org/10.1177/14687941221129808.

Meskus, Mianna & Oikkonen, Venla (2020) Embodied material encounters and the ambiguous promise of biomedical futures: The case of biologically derived medicines. New Genetics and Society, DOI: 10.1080/14636778.2020.1778459.

Meskus, Mianna, Marelli, Luca & D’Agostino, Giuseppe (2017): Research misconduct in the age of open science: The case of STAP stem cells. Science as Culture, 27:1, 1-23, DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2017.1316975

Jauho, Mikko & Meskus, Mianna (2017): Tieteen- ja teknologiantutkimuksen näkökulma terveyteen. In Sakari Karvonen, Laura Kestilä & Tomi Mäki-Opas (Eds.) Terveyssosiologian linjoja [Science and Technology Studies Perspective on Health]. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

Ketokivi, Kaisa & Meskus, Mianna (2015) The dilemma of ’the capable actor’: Relational persons and the imperative of individual agency. Contemporary Social Science, 10(1), 39-51.

Meskus, Mianna (2015) Agential multiplicity in the assisted beginnings of life. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 22(1):70–83.

Meskus, Mianna (2014) Technoscientific shaping of human nature – but what does nature stand for? Origins: Finnish Studies in Art Education, 3, 1-6.

Meskus, Mianna (2012) Personalised ethics: the emergence and the effects in prenatal testing. BioSocieties, 7(4): 373–392.

Meskus, Mianna (2009) Governing Risk Through Informed Choice: Prenatal Testing in Welfarist Maternity Care. In Bauer, Susanne & Wahlberg, Ayo (eds) Contested Categories. Life Sciences in Society. Farnham & Burlington: Ashgate, pg. 49-68.

Meskus, Mianna (2005) To Exclude or to Enclose? Medicalisation of Abortion in Finland, 1900-1950 . Scandinavian Journal of History, 30(1): 45-60.

Venla Oikkonen

Associate Professor (tenure track)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358504377616
venla.oikkonen@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8613-0428

More information

About me

I'm a science and technology studies (STS) and gender studies scholar. I'm the PI of the project Gendered Chronic Disease, Embodied Differences and Biomedical Knowledge (GenDis), funded by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation. My Academy Research Fellow's project (2018-2023) explored cultural debates about vaccines and changing ideas of immunity and risk.

Research topics

vaccine debates, vaccines in culture

chronic pain, gendered chronic illness

population genetics, ancient DNA, genetic ancestry tests

evolutionary theories in culture and society

intersectionality, affect, narrative

Research fields

Science and Technology Studies

Gender Studies

Cultural Studies

Research career

Associate Professor, TaSTI, Tampere University (2022-)

Academy Research Fellow, Tampere University (2018-2023)

Core Fellow, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2016-2018)

Docent in Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (since 2015)

Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher (2012-2016)

University Lecturer, Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (2011-2012)

Kone Foundation Postdoctoral Researcher (2011)

PhD, Gender Studies, University of Helsinki (2010)

Selected publications

Books

Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction in Evolutionary Narratives (Routledge 2013)

Population Genetics and Belonging: A Cultural Analysis of Genetic Ancestry (Palgrave Macmillan 2018)

Recent open access articles

Conceptualizing histories of multispecies entanglements: Ancient pathogen genomics and the case of Borrelia recurrentis (Journal of Social Archaeology, 2021)

Embodied Material Encounters and the Ambiguous Promise of Biomedical Futures: The Case of Biologically Derived Medicines (with Mianna Meskus; New Genetics and Society, 2020)

The 2009 H1N1 Pandemic, Vaccine-Associated Narcolepsy and the Politics of Risk and Harm (Health, 2020)

Entanglements of Time, Temperature, Technology, and Place in Ancient DNA Research: The Case of the Denisovan Hominin (Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2019)

Jaana Parviainen

Senior Research Fellow
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358504106764
jaana.parviainen@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7838-592X

More information

About me

I hold a PhD in philosophy (1998) from University of Tampere and received the title of docent in philosophy in 2002. My current research interests include ignorance studies and social epistemology relating to expertise and the politics of digitalisation in the post-capitalist society. My philosophical expertise covers social epistemology, the philosophy of technology and the phenomenology of embodiment.

Responsibilities

Research and leadership in research

Field of expertise

The Philosophy of Technology, Social Epistemology, Phenomenology, Ignorance Studies, Body Studies

Research topics

The Philosophy of Technology, Social Epistemology, Phenomenology, Ignorance Studies, Body Studies

Research unit

TaSTI: Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies Tieteenalat

Research career

My dissertation in philosophy (Bodies Moving and Moved, 1998) was a pioneering research focusing on contemporary dance within the context of the philosophy of the body. In my postdoctoral research, I have evolved a phenomenological approach to the technology of philosophy, published in several articles and as the monograph, Meduusan liike (2006). My aim has been to rethink the theoretical foundations of human-technology interaction from a phenomenological perspective and body studies. Drawing on the philosophy of technology, critical theory and phenomenology, my recent research on the philosophy of technology has focused on virtual environments, wearable technologies, big data, the digitalisation process of schools, smart cities, artificial intelligence and care robotics.

Since 2008, I have led five research projects to develop theoretically and epistemologically relevant conceptualization and approaches to understanding embodied capabilities and competences required of professionals in post-capitalist economies. In the research project ‘The Working Body in the Post-industrial Economy’ (WORKBOD, 2011-2014), funded by Academy, in collaboration with co-researchers we used various case studies and theoretical frameworks to outline a detailed and more general view of how digitalized work cultures modify the conditions for working bodies in the 2010s.

Throughout my research career, I have focused special attention on how researchers in empirical sciences and philosophy can cooperate in studies to develop research questions, frameworks and outcomes that are practically, empirically, theoretically and/or methodologically ambitious. Approximately half of my published books, papers and scientific articles are collaborative efforts. I have co-written research papers and articles with about 40 researchers in various disciplines, including management studies, education, sociology, information sciences, engineering, media studies, social policy, cultural anthropology and political sciences.

Project links

Top achievements

I have published about 80 blind peer-reviewed articles and/or papers, three monographs and five edited books. I have supervised four doctoral dissertations and worked as an opponent in ten public defenses. My work has earned two research awards. I was also elected a member of the Board of the University of Tampere (2013–2018) as a representative of teachers and researchers. I have led a number of interdisciplinary research projects funded by the Academy of Finland, Kone Foundation, the Ministry of Education, the Finnish Work Environmental Fund, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Tekes, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Wihuri Foundation and Gyllenberg Foundation.

Funding

Mission statement

My ongoing research project "Democracy, Language and the Politics of Algorithms Steering Vulnerable Citizens in Society" (DIG1t0, 2022-2025) concerns the automation of public administration and digital services and its impact on the conditions for democracy, especially from the perspective of vulnerable citizens. We are seeking answers to the questions what kind of epistemic (in)justice automated systems and digital services provide to vulnerable citizens and how such politics of algorithms transforms the conditions of democracy in society. In particular, we will focus on the complex role of language as part of using and designing public digital services.

This project utilises the methodology of citizen science. Three experts by experience from Mielen ry contribute to the scientific process by gathering data and generating results in collaboration with professional researchers. This multidisciplinary project creatively combines empirical linguistic studies and social science research with AI ethics, philosophical epistemology and political theory. Utilising diverse qualitative data, the project relies on multimodal interaction analysis, document analysis and argumentation analysis in its methodology. The results are disseminated to the public through a live science theatre performance, bringing researchers and citizen researchers on stage.

Main positions of trust

Selected publications

Parviainen, J. & Coeckelbergh, M. (2024) Sophia the Robot as a Political Choreography to Advance Economic Interests: An Exercise in Political Phenomenology and Critical Performance-Oriented Philosophy of Technology. In: Diachronic Perspectives on Embodiment and Technology: Gestures and Artefacts (Eds.) Thiemo Breyer, Alexander Gerner, Niklas Grouls, Johannes Schick. Springer, pp. 57-66

Jensen, R., Jonasson, C., Gartmeier, M. & Parviainen, J. (2023) Learning from errors in digital patient communication: Professionals’ enactment of negative knowledge and digital ignorance in the workplace. Journal of Workplace Learning https://doi.org/10.1108/JWL-12-2022-0177

Kinnunen, T., Parviainen, J. & Haho, A (2023) The Skills and Ethics of Professional Touch: From Theory to Practice. Palgrave Macmillan

Parviainen, J. (2023) The politics of imaginary technologies: Innovation ecosystems as political choreographies for promoting care robotics in health care. In: Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence, ed. Simon Lindgren. Edward Elgar, 793-803. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803928562.00080

Parviainen, J. & Koski, A. (2023) ‘In the future, as robots become more widespread’. A phenomenological approach to imaginary technologies in healthcare organisations’. In: The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenologies and Organization Studies, eds. François-Xavier de Vaujany, Jeremy Aroles, and Mar Perezts. Oxford University Press, 277–296.

Sendra, A., Torkkola, S. & Parviainen, J. (2023) AstraZeneca vaccine controversies in the media: Theorizing about the mediatization of ignorance in the context of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Health Communication https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2171951

Sendra, A., Torkkola, S. & Parviainen, J. (2023) Non-knowledge in medical practices: Approaching the uses of social media in healthcare from an epistemological perspective. Journal of Digital Social Research 5(1): 70-89. https://doi.org/10.33621/jdsr.v5i1.152

Parviainen, J. Koski, A., & Alanen, P. (2022). Tackling the Corona pandemic: Managing nonknowledge in political decision-making. In M. Gross & L. McGoey (eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies (2nd edition) (pp. 211–220). London: Routledge

Auvinen, P., Parviainen, J., Lahikainen, L. & Palukka, H. (2021) Discussion protocol for alleviating epistemic injustice: The case of community rehabilitation interaction and female substance abusers. Social Sciences 10(2), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10020045

Parviainen, J. & Koski, A. & Torkkola, S. (2021) ‘Building a ship while sailing it’. Epistemic humility and the temporality of non-knowledge in political decision-making on the COVID-19. Social Epistemology: A Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Policy 10.1080/02691728.2021.1882610

Parviainen J., Ridell S. (2021) Infrastructuring Bodies: Choreographies of Power in the Computational City. In: Nagenborg M., Stone T., González Woge M., Vermaas P.E. (eds) Technology and the City. Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol 36. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52313-8_8

Parviainen, J. & Coeckelbergh, M. (2020) The political choreography of the Sophia Robot: From robot rights and citizenship to political performances for the social robotics market. AI & Society. DOI: 10.1007/s00146-020-01104-w

Van Aerschot, L. & Parviainen, J. (2020) Robots responding to care needs? A multitasking care robot pursued for 25 years, available products offer simple entertainment and instrumental assistance. Ethics and Information Technology Available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-020-09536-0

Parviainen, J., Van Aerschot, L., Särkikoski, T., Pekkarinen, S., Melkas, H. & Hennala, L. (2019) Motions with emotions? A phenomenological approach to understand the simulated aliveness of a robot body. Techné: Research in Philosophy and Technology, 23(3): 318–341. https://www.pdcnet.org/collection/show?id=techne_2019_0023_0003_0318_0341&file_type=pdf

Parviainen, J. & Lahikainen, L. (2019) Negative expertise in the conditions of manufactured ignorance: Epistemic strategies, virtues, and skills. Synthese, pp. 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02315-5

Latest publications

AstraZeneca Vaccine Controversies in the Media: Theorizing About the Mediatization of Ignorance in the Context of the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign

Sendra Toset, A., Torkkola, S. & Parviainen, J., 2024, julkaisussa: HEALTH COMMUNICATION. 39, 3, s. 541-551

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Robotics

Laitinen, A., Parviainen, J., Sahlgren, O. & Rantala, J., 2024, Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics in the Social Sciences. Takala, T. & Häyry, M. (toim.). s. 181-187 (Elgar Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series).

Tutkimustuotos: Ensyklopedia-artikkeli › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Sophia the Robot as a Political Choreography to Advance Economic Interests: An Exercise in Political Phenomenology and Critical Performance-Oriented Philosophy of Technology

Parviainen, J. & Coeckelbergh, M., 2024, Diachronic Perspectives on Embodiment and Technology: Gestures and Artefacts . Breyer, T., Gerner, A., Grouls, N. & Schick, J. (toim.). Springer, s. 57-66 10 Sivumäärä (Philosophy of Engineering and Technology; Vuosikerta 46).

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Datafication in public self-services – Hidden agendas on data providing systems in employment services: Paper presentation

Teräsahde, S., Parviainen, J., Rantala, J., Kuusipalo, P. & Koski, A., 7 kesäk. 2023.

Tutkimustuotos: Other conference contribution › Scientific

Dosentit - yliopiston merkittävä voimavara

Juuti, R. (toim.), Aspatwar, A. (toim.), Björkman, J. (toim.), Bärlund, M. (toim.), Juuti, P. (toim.), Nikunen, M. (toim.), Parviainen, J. (toim.) & Pessi, T. (toim.), 2023, 94 Sivumäärä (Tampereen dosenttiyhdistyksen julkaisuja; nro 4)

Tutkimustuotos: Kokoomateos › General public

In the Future, as Robots Become More Widespread: A Phenomenological Approach to Imaginary Technologies in Healthcare Organizations

Parviainen, J. & Koski, A., 2023, The Oxford Handbook of Phenomenologies and Organization Studies. de Vaujany, F-X., Aroles, J. & Pérezts, M. (toim.). Oxford University Press, s. 277-296 20 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Latourin toimijaverkostoteoria tutkijan matkaoppaana

Teräsahde, S., Parviainen, J., Alanen, P. & Rantala, J., jouluk. 2023, julkaisussa: Sosiologia. 60, 3-4, s. 166-178 1.

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Learning from errors in digital patient communication: professionals’ enactment of negative knowledge and digital ignorance in the workplace

Jensen, R., Jonasson, C., Gartmeier, M. & Parviainen, J., 2023, julkaisussa: Journal of workplace learning. 35, 5, s. 432-449 18 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Non-knowledge in Medical Practices: Approaching the Uses of Social Media in Healthcare from an Epistemological Perspective

Sendra Toset, A., Torkkola, S. & Parviainen, J., 12 huhtik. 2023, julkaisussa: Journal of Digital Social Research. 5, 1, s. 70-89

Tutkimustuotos: Artikkeli › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

The politics of imaginary technologies: Innovation ecosystems as political choreographies for promoting care robotics in health care

Parviainen, J., 24 marrask. 2023, Handbook of Critical Studies of Artificial Intelligence. Lindgren, S. (toim.). s. 793-801 9 Sivumäärä

Tutkimustuotos: Luku › Scientific › vertaisarvioitu

Ali Qadir

Professor
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358401901351
ali.qadir@tuni.fi

Mondays, 10-11 (Pinni B 3020)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6419-4524

More information

About me

Professor of Sociology , Faculty of Social Sciences

Research unit

Unit of Social Research, Tampere research group for Cultural & Political Sociology

Research fields

Global & Transnational Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Knowledge

Funding

Main positions of trust

Hanna Rautajoki

University Lecturer
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358503186198
hanna.rautajoki@tuni.fi

Lilli Aini Rokkonen

Grant Holder, Post Doc Research
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358505699208
lilliaini.rokkonen@tuni.fi

Maria Temmes

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358504427631
maria.temmes@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4348-2260

More information

About me

Maria Temmes has a PhD in Comparative Gender Studies (Central European University, 2018). Her research is on feminist science and technology studies, focusing especially on sociological, historical, and philosophical aspects of biomedicine. She works as a postdoctoral researcher in the project Gendered Chronic Disease, Embodied Differences and Biomedical Knowledge (GenDis), funded by the Academy of Finland and Kone Foundation.

Research topics

Biomedical research on endometriosis, migraine, and fibromyalgia

Systems medicine

Personalised and precision medicine

Research fields

Gender Studies

Science and Technology Studies

Cultural Studies

Research career

PhD, Comparative Gender Studies, Central European University (2018)

Instructor, Asian University for Women (2018–2019)

Assistant Professor in Comparative Gender Studies, Asian University for Women (2019–2021)

Postdoctoral research fellow, Tampere University (2021–2025)

Pia Vuolanto

Academy Research Fellow
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358503186240
pia.vuolanto@tuni.fi

Email: pia.vuolanto(at)tuni.fi

More information

Responsibilities

I work as a Academy Research Fellow at the Tampere University Research Center for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies. My Academy of Finland fellowship project explores the development of complementary and alternative medicine as a research field. I am Project Coordinator in the EU-funded research project VAX-TRUST, which focuses on vaccine hesitancy. I co-lead a research project on criticism of medicine, Health, Knowledge and Expertise with Dr Johanna Nurmi. I am an active member of STI Tampere Network, which gathers Tampere University people interested in science and technology studies and innovation studies.

Field of expertise

My research concerns scientific controversies, criticism of science and the societal status of science. 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, science and technology studies and higher education studies. I also focus on sociology of health, especially the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in Finland and Europe and health care professionals' perceptions on CAM. I am conducting research on vaccine hesitancy among the general public and health care professionals.

One of my research projects deals with knowledge production in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). I analyze the transformation of the research system and how CAM is challenging and questioning the field of conventional medicine. I have edited the volume Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Knowledge Production and Social Transformation with Jenny-Ann Brodin Danell from Umeå University and Caragh Brosnan from Newcastle University, Australia (2018).

Research unit

Tampere University Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI)

Research fields

science and technology studies, sociology, medical sociology, higher education studies

Selected publications

Valtteri Vähä-Savo

Grant Holder, Post Doc Research
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358401901347
+358503298821
valtteri.vaha-savo@tuni.fi

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5641-0952

More information

About me

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Tampere Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies , Tampere University. I am currently working on my project Evaluating Inner Truth: Technologies of evaluation and testimonial practices in assessing the “inner truth” of individuals, funded by the Kone Foundation (2021-2024). I have been a member of the Tampere Research Group for Cultural and Political Sociology (TCuPS) for several years. I am also a board member of the European Sociological Association RN-15: Global, transnational and cosmopolitan sociology. I also belong to the Research Group for Epistemic Matters (REM). My research interests include science and technology studies, sociology of valuation and evaluation, gender studies, sociology of associations, analytics of governmentality, global and transnational sociology, global governance, cultural studies, and neo-institutionalist sociology.

Project links

Selected publications

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri, Joa Hiitola, Tuuli Innola, Anna Rönkä, Helena Louhela, Sanna Mustasaari & Seija Jalagin (in print) Syljen jäljistä varjosukupuihin: tutkimus kaupallisten DNA-teknologioiden vaikutuksista moninaisiin suhteisiin [From traces of spit to shadow family trees: Study on the effects of commercial DNA technologies on multiple relationships]. Sosiologia.

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri & Venla Koivuluhta (in print) Building belief in belief – Navigating moral tensions through category work while assisting converted asylum seekers in Finland. In Lena Rose & Ebru Özturk (eds.) Asylum and Conversion from Islam to Christianity in Europe: Interdisciplinary Approaches. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Välimaa, Mira, Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Johanna Hiitola (2023) Enrolling around – Reconfiguring place and space in the wake of a new reception centre in a small rural town. Population, Space and Place 29(3). http://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2623

Hiitola, Johanna, Zeinab Karimi & Valtteri Vähä-Savo (2021) Epävarmuuden jatkumot: Prekaarisuuden muodot ja sukupuolistunut väkivalta pakkomuuttajien elämänkuluissa. [Continuums of uncertainty: Forms of precarity and gendered violence in the lives of forced migrants]. Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning 34(3), 34-46.

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri, Jari Luomanen & Pertti Alasuutari (2021) Between rationalism and romanticism: metaphors in managing conflicting institutional logics in science and technology parks. Culture and Organization. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2021.1969650

Hiitola, Johanna & Valtteri Vähä-Savo (2021) Reassembling attachments: place and well-being among Afghan refugees in a small rural town. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1905507

Hiitola, Johanna & Valtteri Vähä-Savo (2021) Genres of Departure: Forced Migrants’ Family Separation and Personal Narratives. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 11(3), 235–249. DOI: http://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.372

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri (2020) Cross-national comparisons in epistemic governance: analysis of parliamentary debates from eight countries. Contemporary Politics, 26(5), 597-615. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569775.2020.1813931

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri (2020) Decoupling spheres of belonging in the Nordic welfare states. In Hiitola, Johanna, Kati Turtiainen, Sabine Gruber & Marja Tiilikainen (Eds.) Family life in transition: Borders, transnational mobility and welfare society in the Nordic countries. London: Routledge, 10-20.

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri, Jukka Syväterä & Leena Tervonen-Gonçalves (2019) The authority of meta-organisations: Making the International Association of National Public Health Institutes attractive to prospective members. European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology, 6(4), 474-502. https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2019.1612262

Alasuutari, Pertti; Valtteri Vähä-Savo & Laia Pi Ferrer (2019) National Self-Image as a Justification in Policy Debates: An International Comparison. New Global Studies, 13(2), 167–189. https://doi.org/10.1515/ngs-2018-4038

Alasuutari, Pertti & Valtteri Vähä-Savo (2018) Owning worldwide principles: The case of American exceptionalism. Social Science Information, 57(4), 533-552. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0539018418816192

Vähä-Savo, Valtteri (2016) Sektoritutkimuksen genealogia. [Genealogy of Sectoral Research]. Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 2138. Tampere: Tampere University Press.

Oili-Helena Ylijoki

Senior Researcher
Faculty of Social Sciences
Tampere University
+358503186244
oili-helena.ylijoki@tuni.fi

More information

About me

I am a Senior Research Fellow at the Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI) at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and an Adjunct Professor of social pscychology at Tampere University. I teach in the field of science and technology studies.

Research topics

Academic identities and careers, disciplinary cultures, temporal acceleration, women and science

Research unit

TaSTI

Research fields

Science studies, higher education studies, time studies, social psychology

Project links

Funding

Selected publications

Ylijoki, O.-H. (2019) Happy in academia: the perspective of the academic elite. In Cannizzo, F. & Osbaldiston, n. (eds.) The Social Structures of Global Academia. London: Routledge.

Ylijoki, O.-H. & Henriksson, L. (2018) Tribal, proletarian and entrepreneurial career stories: junior academics as a case in point. Studies in Higher Education 42, 7, 1292-1308.

Ylijoki, O.-H. (2016) Projectification and conflicting temporalities in academic knowledge production. Theory of Science 38, 1, 7-26.

Ylijoki, O.-H. (2015) Conquered by project time? Conflicting temporalities in university research. In Gibbs, P., Ylijoki, O.-H., Guzmán-Valenzuela, C. & Barnett, R. (eds.) Universities in the Flux of Time. An exploration of time and temporality in university life. London: Routledge.