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Sofia Silfvast ([email protected])

My PhD research concerns lived religion in Border Karelia in the interwar period (1917-1939).

I work at the research department of the Finnish Literature Society.

Soila Lemmetty ([email protected])

I am an adult educator and a researcher in the School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, with a focus on adult learning, creativity, and well-being. In my research, I explore individual and group learning and creativity in various workplace contexts. Currently, my work focuses on the role of workplace pedagogy in supporting innovation in the technology sector, as well as ethical competence and how it develops in police education and police work. I also lead the Continuous Learning in the Working life (JATKOT) research group, which investigates continuous learning and adult competence in Finnish private and public sector organizations.

I follow with interest the societal discourse on continuous learning and adult competence. Through national and international networks, I aim to share research-based insights on my themes in an accessible manner for the benefit of organizations and society.

(Profile picture: Jenni Oranen / Jenora Design)

Sonja Kosunen ([email protected])

I work as Professor of Education. My research interests are widely in the construction of inequalities in education and are positioned in the academic fields of sociology of education and urban studies. I am the director of Social studies in Urban Education (SURE) -research unit.

I am currently not recruiting new doctoral students or postdoctoral researchers outside the open calls published within the existing projects.

In our research unit, several research projects are currently underway:

The Opettajasegregaatio Suomessa (OpeSegr) project (Kone Foundation, 2025–2029, PI Sonja Kosunen) examines the manifestation of teacher segregation among qualified and non-qualified special education teachers, early childhood education teachers, class teachers, and subject teachers in Finland. The analysis is based on previously collected survey and interview data from general upper secondary education, comprehensive education, and early childhood education and care. Additionally, the project investigates teachers’ backgrounds and descriptions of being a teacher across different regions.

In the Tasa-arvorahoitus (TAR) consortium (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2024–2027, PI Mari-Pauliina Vainikainen), the effectiveness of measures promoting educational equality and equity in early childhood education and care as well as in pre-primary and comprehensive education is being studied. SURE research unit is responsible for conducting the qualitative work-package related to comprehensive education within the project.

In the project Stratification and the Segregation of Teachers in Education Markets (SegrEd) (ERC, 2025–2030, PI Sonja Kosunen), a theoretical framework and conceptual tools are being developed to combine the research fields of stratification and segregation studies. The project compares the social construction and regional differentiation of teachers in comprehensive education in France, Sweden, and Finland. For cross-national comparison in addition to register data, the project will produce national surveys and regionally targeted interviews with classteachers and subject teachers in comprehensive schools in all three countries.

Changing Faces: Workforce Instability, Segregation, and Inequalities in Early Childhood Education and Care (WISEG) -research consortium (Finnish Research Council 2026–2029, PI Sonja Kosunen) together with a research group from Tampere University (PI Maiju Paananen) we investigate the segregation of workforce instability in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Finland. We explore the interconnections of educator shortage, turnover, and volatility—that is, workforce instability—which, as a combination, may contribute to inequalities between children and families attending ECEC in different areas. We analyse the emergence and manifestations of workforce instability from macro to micro levels with a multimethodological approach, including the analysis of longitudinal register data and long-term ethnography. Our ethnographic work focuses on ECEC centres with high levels of educator turnover, which may appear as frequently changing faces for children and families and influences the daily activities of ECEC centres.

 

In addition, several postdoctoral researchers’ individual research projects and doctoral dissertations are currently underway within SURE.

Sonja Mutanen ([email protected])

I am a cultural anthropologist interested in cultural and social animal studies. My educational background lies at the intersection of cultural anthropology, sociology, gender studies, and folklore studies. So far, I have examined the human-animal relationship primarily through the lens of human-dog relationships. In my dissertation, I study how the Finnish media have discussed the cruel treatment of companion and farm animals in their news articles between 2012 and 2022. My research combines perspectives from critical animal studies and media studies, analyzing various ideologies, discourses, and forms of power as part of human-animal relationships and their cultural representations. Theoretically, I am interested in posthumanism, multispecies relations, and perspectives from gender studies.

Sonja Ojala ([email protected])

I work as a Project Researcher at SURE (Social Studies in Urban Education), the Research Unit for Sociology of Education, in the project SegrEd.

In the project Stratification and the Segregation of Teachers in Education Markets (SegrEd) (ERC, 2025–2030, PI Sonja Kosunen), a theoretical framework and conceptual tools are being developed to combine the research fields of stratification and segregation studies. The project compares the social construction and regional differentiation of teachers in comprehensive education in France, Sweden, and Finland. For cross-national comparison in addition to register data, the project will produce national surveys and regionally targeted interviews with classteachers and subject teachers in comprehensive schools in all three countries.