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Nilay Kilinc ([email protected])

I am a migration and mobility studies scholar whose interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of social anthropology and urban sociology with a focus on second generation, return migration, highly skilled migration, labour market integration, transnationalism, gender in migration, identities, home and belonging. I hold a PhD in Migration and Mobility Studies from the University of Surrey (UK, 2018) and an MA in European Studies from Lund University (Sweden).

Before my current position as a Senior Researcher at UEF, I served as a Grant-funded Researcher at the Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki) through my three-year KONE Foundation-funded project, “Narrating and Performing the Art of Becoming Citizens: Creative Migrants’ Democratic Participation in Finland.” (2023-2026). Previous to the KONE Foundation project, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship under the “Urban Inequalities” research group at the Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies (URBARIA), University of Helsinki, investigating the social and labor market integration of highly skilled Turkish nationals in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen. I am currently still affiliated with the University of Helsinki wherein I am a visiting scholar at the Department of Geosciences and Geography.

My international trajectory includes fellowships at prestigious institutions across Europe, including the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia (Gerda Henkel Fellowship), the New Europe College in Bucharest (Pontica Magna Fellowship, Volkswagen Stiftung), the Centre for Advanced Studies Southeast Europe at the University of Rijeka and Leipzig University.

I authored and co-authored extensive peer-reviewed literature in top-tier journals, including the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Global Networks, and Population, Space and Place. My major publications include the monograph A Place in the Homeland? Turkish-German Return Migration (Edinburgh University Press, 2025, co-authored with Russell King) and the edited volume Handbook on Diasporas and Migration (Edward Elgar, 2026, co-edited with Ayhan Kaya).

I hold leadership roles within IMISCOE, including serving as co-chair of the PhD Academy Training Committee and a board member for the Standing Committee on Migration, Migrants, and Labour Markets (IILME). I previously served as vice-chair of the Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU) in Finland. Alongside holding a Senior Fellow credential from the UK Higher Education Academy, I design and teach postgraduate courses on sociology of migration, urban diversity, inequalities and qualitative methodologies. Between 2021 and 2024, I represented Finland as an expert on immigration and integration in the Nordic Migrant Expert Forum under the Nordic Council of Ministers. I also integrates arts-based methodologies into my academic practice; I wrote and directed the award-winning ethnographic film Arkadaşloch: Nobody’s Problem (2022), which was screened at 18 international film festivals.

Olga Cielemecka ([email protected])

Olga’s research explores the intersections of migration, security, and environmental change, focusing on the securitization of borders in response to shifting geopolitical and ecological dynamics. Olga’s research integrates perspectives of environmental humanities, feminist theory, and border studies. She is a part of a research project Not just a fence: Disentangling the boundaries of order, logic, and control, which examines the role and meaning of contemporary border barriers and is funded by the Kone Foundation. Olga holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Warsaw, Poland. Before joining the University of Eastern Finland, she was a postdoctoral researcher at Linköping University, Sweden, and the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Turku, Finland.

Saara Koikkalainen ([email protected])

I work as a Senior Researcher in the Borders, Mobilities, and Cultural Encounters (BOMOCULT) Research Community (2020-). My research has focused on various mobility phenomena in Europe, such as the experiences of Nordic migrants in London during the Brexit era and mobility caused by the war in Ukraine, as well as migration governance.  My PhD (University of Lapland, 2013) examined the labour market experiences of highly skilled Finns in the European labour markets. I have also published on migration decision-making, the labour market position of return migrants, intra-European mobility and Iraqi asylum seekers in Finland. I have also worked at the University of Lapland and the University of Helsinki and as an expert evaluating international research funding applications. My research has also been funded by the Kone Foundation, the Alfred Kordelin Foundation and the Kansan sivistysrahasto -foundation, for example.

Sanna Mustasaari ([email protected])

LL.D (title of Docent) Sanna Mustasaari is Associate Professor of family law at the civil law team and the Center of Law and Welfare, UEF Law School. She is a member of the leading group of the research community Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters BOMOCULT | University of Eastern Finland. Her main research interests include family and inheritance law, transnational child welfare, intersections of religion and family law, human rights law, private international law, migration law, children’s rights, trans rights, relational legal theory, feminist legal theory, rights in context, and migration and transnationalism studies.

Tiina Sotkasiira ([email protected])

I am a Professor in Social and Public Policy at the Department of Social Sciences. I am also the deputy director of the UEF’s  Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters (BOMOCULT) Research Community.

My research is oriented towards international migration, ethnic relations, bordering processes, diversity, embodiment, as well as participatory and creative methods. Over the years, I have studied  topics, such as integration, racism and anti-racism, media use, everyday security, Russian nationality politics and international migration into rural areas.

The central theme of my research is the politicisation of migration issues and understanding how societal changes impact people’s everyday lives. Most recently, I have shifted my research focus towards the issues of security and conflicts. My teaching mainly relates to the above-mentioned themes. I supervise PhD researchers and MA thesis.

I am a qualified body-oriented work supervisor (työnohjaaja STOry), and I gladly support colleagues and students with issues related to well-being at work.

For those interested in doctoral studies under my supervision: If you are interested in applying for a doctoral researcher position in Social and Public Policy at UEF and would like me to supervise your work, please first familiarise yourself with the application guidelines for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies Doctoral Programme, available on the UEF website. I receive dozens of enquiries of this kind every week and am only able to respond to a limited number of them. If you are seriously considering applying under my supervision, please send me a research proposal prepared in accordance with the application guidelines and without the use of artificial intelligence. I want to learn about you, your research idea and abilities as a researcher, not read generic texts produced by AI. Please also read carefully the section on funding for doctoral studies. It explains that the right to pursue doctoral studies does not include funding, and that funding must be sought separately.

Tuomo Alhojärvi ([email protected])

I’m a geographer specialised in postcapitalist theory and practice. I work as Senior Researcher in UEF’s Cultural Studies research group. From March 2026, I’ve led the project After Dystopia: Anticipatory Climate Migration, Spatial Imagination and the Possibility of Mapping Otherwise (2026-2030), funded by Kone Foundation. We study the anticipation of climate mobilities in Finland: how prospective climate-induced migration is anticipated in Finland, and what kind of solidarity-driven, justice-oriented anticipatory practices already exist and may be imagined. Between 2022 and 2026, I worked in the Kone Foundation funded project Post-ownership as an interpretation and experience of economic change.

My current work centres on methods for making urban spaces ‘otherwise’. I build especially upon feminist economic geographies, urban political ecology, critical social and spatial theory, and counter-mapping methods. In ongoing work (August 2026), my research focus is on a critical examination of Finnish anticipations of climate migration. I’m also writing on postdigital geomedia and the cartographies of commons.

I work as part of the Community Economies Research Network and as a member of the Community Economies Institute. I’m also member of the editorial committee of Tiede & edistys, a Finnish journal of critical social studies. I’m an eager collaborator in various social and artistic projects, and will warmly welcome new ideas for collaborations.

Tuula Korhonen ([email protected])

I work at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) / Centre for Continuous Learning as a Specialist in Continuous Learning and a Teaching Finnish as a Second Language (S2). My responsibilities include the planning and implementation of various projects and training programs, as well as project management. I am a qualified Teacher of Finnish Language and Literature by education.

My core expertise lies in work-oriented S2 training, particularly in designing and delivering Finnish language programs for the healthcare sector. I began my university career at the Continuing Education Centre of the University of Joensuu, where I served for several years as the lead instructor for immigrant integration training and initial assessments. I have over 20 years of experience in diverse and inspiring roles related to supporting immigrant integration.

I have served as an expert member in various working groups focused on immigration, such as developing the national training model for doctors who have completed their degrees outside the EU/EEA. Since 2017, I have been training international doctors according to this model. I was also involved in developing a model for work-oriented language coaching (INTOA project, 2012–2014) and have worked as a language coach in various workplaces.

In 2023, I was part of a pilot project for the North Karelia ELY Centre, planning and implementing social orientation periods for immigrants in their native languages. Currently, I serve as the Language Specialist for the MedMentor project (2026–2028), which focuses on developing internships and guidance for international doctors.