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Brexit, migration and mobility

Brexit provides an excellent opportunity to examine how the formal (state) and informal (social) processes of border-making relate to each other and play out in the everyday life of those impacted by this historic change. As the transitionary period after UK’s exit from the EU ends in December 2020, it is important to discuss the impact of the Brexit process from a migrant perspective. The prolonged uncertainty has already had an impact on the lives of intra-European migrants at multiple levels: for their legal status and rights as residents, for their work opportunities and career prospects and for identity and the sense of belonging and feeling of social inclusion to their host societies – be they the UK for the Nordic migrants or any of the other EU countries for the Brits.

UEF is host to several research projects that focus on the impact of Brexit on intra-European migrants. Dr. Tiina Sotkasiira has interviewed Finns living in Scotland and England as a part of her research on Brexit and Finns in Britain and Dr. Saara Koikkalainen has collected data among Nordic nationals in London . Together with two colleagues, researcher Peter Holley and Dr. Nicol Savinetti, Dr. Koikkalainen has also conducted a survey among Brits living in Europe (n=752).

Christopher Asquith (christopher.asquith@uef.fi)

Dr Asquith first completed a BSc and MSc in Chemistry at the University of Southampton. During this time, he worked for Prof. A. Ganesan on novel asthma targets and epigenetic prostate cancer modulators, which included a 3-month placement abroad at the University of Eastern Finland. He then went on to do a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry at University College London under the supervision of Dr S. Hilton, working on zinc abstractors as a treatment for retroviral infections. This work was part of a broad international Consortium including the University of Zurich, Switzerland and Zelinsky Institute, Moscow, Russia and others, targeting the nucleocapsid protein of FIV/HIV. Subsequently, he continued his interest in innovative ring systems with a short stay at the University of Cyprus working with Prof. P. Koutentis, before joining the Structural Genomics Consortium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on chemical probe development for kinases with Prof. T. Willson. This was followed by a move to the School of Medicine to work as the lead medicinal chemist on the Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) kinase program working with Prof. G. Johnson. Starting his own research team, he moved to the University of Eastern Finland to start a medicinal Chemistry program, working on novel kinase indications and understanding kinase solvation shells as a prognostic marker for Kinome wide inhibitor promiscuity.

Dawid Bunikowski (dawid.bunikowski@uef.fi)

I am a legal philosopher of Polish descent, residing in Eastern Finland (North Karelia, Joensuu). I did my PhD in Poland in 2009 (on law and morality: abortion, euthanasia, human fertilisation, cloning, pornography, prostitution, same-sex couples, etc.). I did different postgraduate studies in: 1) human resources management, 2) economics, 3) MBA-sustainable and inclusive leadership, 4) Jews in Poland. I carried out my postdoctoral research at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF, School of Law), in 2013-2015 (on the recent global financial crisis as an axiological crisis: the crisis of law and the crisis of morality; business ethics/corporate governance). My Docent title was granted by the University of Lapland in 2022 (in the field of philosophy of law in the Arctic).

I have been a Visiting Researcher at the UEF School of Theology since 2020. Additionally, I am a University Professor at the State University of Applied Sciences in Wloclawek (Department of Administration) in Poland. I am a Lecturer at the University of Guyana (Department of Law) in Guyana. I am a former Visiting Professor at Carleton University (Department of Law and Legal Studies) in Ottawa, Canada.

I am a law and religion scholar. I work on state church relations, religious freedom, Catholicism and Judaism, but also on relations between law, morality and religion. My main research interests concern as well: law and morality, law and politics, law and society, law and anthropology, law and language, etc. Much of my research has covered indigenous cultures in the Arctic like customary laws, recognition of indigenous rights or protection of sacred sites. I am also to ethical foundations of economy.

Moreover, I do “all things Polish”.

While in the School, I teach:

I also taught here (2022/2023):

  • “Jews and Judaism in Poland, Russia, the Baltic countries and East Central Europe”,
  • “Ukrainian-Polish relations: history, politics, culture, law, religion”.

Moreover, while in social sciences (2023/2024), I am the coordinator of the YUFE course “Global Migration and European Identity” and have taught “Populism in East Central Europe”.

Diversities of the Environmental Movement in Russia

‘Diversities of the Environmental Movement in Russia’ is an academic research project funded by Kone Foundation. We explore the on-going transformations of the environmental movement in Russia. We investigate the current state of the environmental movement, its different forms of action and recent changes in them, and the possibilities of the movement to have an impact on sustainable development. We analyse the transformations of the movement through three case studies: non-governmental organisations (NGOs) focussed on the conservation of biodiversity, alliances between environmental NGOs and indigenous groups, and eco-villages. All these different forms of the environmental movement operate through social networks in Russia and internationally, and in our research we analyse the recent changes in these networks.

Gleb Iarovoi (gleb.iarovoi@uef.fi)

Having defended my Russian “candidate of science” dissertation in 2007, I am currently writing my “European” PhD thesis, which was devoted to cross-border governance on the EU-Russian border, participatory arrangements in cross-border programmes and the role of non-state actors in inter-regional cooperation. However, after Russian invasion of Ukraine there is no more “cross-border cooperation” and “cross-border governance” on the EU-Russian border. So my current research is being revisited towards exploring the “subaltern geopolitics” of the Finnish-Russian border, i.e. the geopolitical imagination of subaltern groups having direct or indirect relations to this border. Also, as a research hobby and a natural scope of interest, I study academic freedoms in Russia (and Russian academia as subaltern).

As a freetime hobby, for many years now, I do journalism. Previously, I reported on sensitive issues of Russian political and social life, such as human rights violations by the state, by the Russian Orthodox Church, by security agencies and courts. Currently, I cover different issues of the Finnish-Russian relations for Russian readers.

Helena Kupari (helena.kupari@uef.fi)

I started working at the School of Theology of the University of Eastern Finland in August 2022. My background is in study of religions. I received my doctorate from the University of Helsinki in 2015. Between 2015 and 2022, I worked as Postdoctoral Researcher and University Lecturer (fixed-term) at the same university. I have been granted the title of docent from the University of Helsinki in 2023.

My research is situated in-between anthropology and sociology of religion. I study contemporary Finnish religiosity and spirituality, often focusing on Orthodox Christianity. I am particularly interested in everyday lived expressions of religion and their embodied, material, ritual, and experiential dimensions. Through this grass-roots lens, I examine questions related to stability and change in individual religiosity; religion, power, and intersectionality; and the porous boundaries between religion, spirituality, and secular society and culture.

My research is qualitative in nature and utilizes ethnographic as well as written data. In and through my work, I engage with various theoretical discussions, such as critical social theory, practice theory, ritual theory, social memory studies, semiotic anthropology, theories of conversion, anthropological theories of learning, and feminist theory.

Helena Rovamo (helena.rovamo@uef.fi)

Hi! I’m Helena, a PhD researcher in social psychology. Nice of you to check out my profile! 😊

I am currently finishing my dissertation on populism. In my dissertation, I aim to explore the appeal of populism through qualitative research. My dissertation is part of a broader research project called Mobilizing Populism led by Professor Inari Sakki of the University of Helsinki.

My research is based on interview data collected in the research project in 2021. In these interviews, we discussed with voters of different Finnish parties different political issues, such as immigration and populism, and the reasons for their voting decisions. In my research, I have focused primarily on examining the divisions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ as constructed in the interviewees’ talk. The sub-studies of my dissertation have been published in social psychology journals and I actively communicate about my research on my LinkedIn profile. The sub-studies are listed below:

Rovamo, H., Pettersson, K., & Sakki, I. (2023). Who’s to blame for failed integration of immigrants? Blame attributions as an affectively polarizing force in lay discussions of immigration in Finland. Political Psychology, 45(2), 235–258. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12917

Rovamo, H., & Sakki, I. (2023). Lay representations of populism: discursive negotiation of naturalized social representation. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology., 34(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2755

Rovamo, H., & Sakki, I. (2024). Mobilization of shared victimhood in the radical right populist Finns Party supporters’ identity work: A narrative-discursive approach to populist support. European Journal of Social Psychology, 54(2), 495–512. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.3021

Since spring 2024, I have been working as part of a research project called Intergroup Relations and Local Encounters, led by Jari Martikainen from the University of Eastern Finland and funded by the Kone Foundation. The research project focuses on studying how Ukrainian, Middle Eastern, and Finnish young people living in the Savo area perceive each other, their lives, and their future in multicultural Savo.

Alongside my research, I teach and supervise students in social psychology.

Before my studies in social sciences, I graduated as a nurse from the Savonia University of Applied Sciences. I consider that my professional strengths are, on the one hand, my ability to be analytical and systematic and, on the other, my ability to listen and have empathy towards others.

In my work, I get excited about learning or practicing something new every day. I enjoy conversations and listening to others. I sometimes immerse myself in details, but I also love to outline big patterns.