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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 ([email protected])

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 ([email protected])

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, 5) Diploma in iure matrimoniali et processuali/Canon law for lawyers. 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 am Associate Member at the Oxford University: https://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-dawid-bunikowski/

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”.

Evgenia Amey ([email protected])

My research focuses on contemporary culture, media, language, place and society; topics I have studied include literary and media tourism, narrativisation of space, digitalisation, media consumption, spatial engagement with fiction, environmental storytelling, fan cultures and belonging. I work as a postdoctoral researcher in the project ‘Kieliviha/ Språkhat – a multidisciplinary study on hate speech directed at linguistic minorities in Finland, Sweden and Russia’ (Kone Foundation 2024-2026).

Gleb Iarovoi ([email protected])

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 ([email protected])

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.

Research projects in which I participate or have participated:

Meaningful Deathscapes (2024-2028)

Learning from New Religion and Spirituality (2019-2023)

Conversion to Orthodox Christianity and Class culture among Finnish Cultural Professionals (2019-2022)

Embodied Religion (2013-2017)

Helena Rovamo ([email protected])

Hi! I’m Helena, a postdoctoral researcher in the field of social psychology. I work in a research project “Intergroup relations and local encounters” which is funded by the Kone Foundation and led by Associate Professor Jari Martikainen from the University of Eastern Finland. 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. In my own research, I focus on how people’s representations of themselves and others shape their actions in society and intergroup relations through qualitative research. Alongside the research itself, I teach and supervise in the subject of social psychology.

In my doctoral thesis, published in 2025, I studied Finnish lay people’s perceptions of populism. In my research, I delved into how voters for the radical right populist Finns Party and other parties constructed social divisions in the interview data. My dissertation was a part of a larger research project called “Mobilizing Populism”, which was lead by Professor Inari Sakki from the University o Helsinki. My doctoral thesis and its sub-studies are listed below:

  • Rovamo, H. (2025). ”Aren’t they accusing the Finns Party of being populist?” Dialogical construction of social categories in Finnish voters’ discourse. Doctoral dissertation. Dissertations in Social Sciences and Business Studies, 354. University of Eastern Finland. https://erepo.uef.fi/items/6aafd684-511a-4c28-beed-0f81ee5e85e4
  • 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

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.

Ira Virtanen ([email protected])

I provide, study and train supportive communication for relationships in which support is an essential part of shared goals. My research has also focused on the experiences of vulnerability, friendships, intergroup contact, and immediacy in initial interactions on virtual platforms.

At the Doctoral School, I coach peer mentors from doctoral researchers (UEF) and from postdoctoral researchers (YUFE pilot). I teach in courses Research Supervision, Research Project Management and From Science to Decision-Making. I create and maintain supportive materials for doctoral researchers who prepare to defend their dissertation in public defence (Moodle: Support for Communication in Public Defence). For doctoral supervisors, we have created an online platform to strengthen supervision competencies. I provide supervision training for all our research staff.

For the past decade, I have coached researchers from different fields in interpersonal communication competence such as skills in sharing and presenting their academic work, science communication, having constructive, critical discussions on research and beneficial feedback conversations as well as creating supportive networks. I have studied and worked in New Zealand, Belgium, France, Romania and the United Stated (Fulbright alumna of Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University, 2010–2011). I have supervised a little over 100 theses and a doctoral dissertation.

In addition to my academic career, I coach companies and third sector organisations in their various communication needs (e.g., media interviews, supportive communication in helplines). I will be a certified solution-focused brief-therapist in May 2025.

Feel free to make use of the audiovisual materials I have created to support for communication competence in public defence, or watch my TEDx Talk on friendships.

On science communication, media engagements and societal interaction, see the Finnish profile page.