University of Helsinki

Top of the humanists

Fellows of the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies thrive on the liberal arts and multidisciplinary environment.

The focus of researcher education has recently shifted from postgraduate to postdoctoral research. “For a researcher to establish him or herself at the top stratum internationally, he or she must be exposed to continuous challenge and methodological and theoretical training,” says Juha Sihvola, Director of the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies.

The Collegium is an independent institute of the University of Helsinki promoting basic research in the humanities and social sciences and international visibility of Finnish research. The Collegium employs some fifty postdoctoral researchers and it favours topics that cross disciplinary boundaries. Sihvola thinks multidisciplinary institutes such as the Collegium are vitally important.

“New ideas need an inspiring environment to flourish. As globalisation progresses further, the significance of institutes such as ours as nodes for ever-more rapid communication is highlighted,” says Sihvola. “The humanities and social sciences provide the best tools for answering the question of what is happening to the world.”

Established in 2001, the institute has followed the model of such international multidisciplinary institutes as Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study. As in Princeton, the fellows appointed at the Collegium perform research on a topic of their choice in a multidisciplinary context. Usually they remain in Helsinki from one to three years. Last year, the institute received over three hundred applications, half of which came from Finland. Currently, one quarter of the fellows are from abroad. In addition to the open application process, the Helsinki Collegium also invites distinguished international scholars as Visiting Fellows.

Professor incubator

Juha Sihvola thinks that both the publications and career development of the Collegium’s Fellows bear witness to the fact that they are at the top of their field. “When competing for professorships, our Fellows have fared extremely well, both in Finland and abroad. We have also managed to improve the international profile of Finnish research. As the international networks of a researcher expand, the chances for receiving funding and tenures improve accordingly.”

The Collegium organises about thirty public events annually. In addition to the centrally organised sessions, the researchers independently arrange study circles, debates, joint publications, seminars and conferences. The Collegium values the social aspects of academia: a seminar is held every Tuesday, where the researchers present their research for critical discussion. On Thursdays, they all have lunch together.

Juha Sihvola is very pleased with the achievements of the institute, but voices his concerns about the deteriorating position of the Finnish scholar. “A researcher’s career has become more precarious, and even the very best of international scholars may not necessarily be able to enjoy the security of a university tenure. Their careers are a constant struggle for funding. The situation is quite insupportable.”

According to Sihvola, the Collegium is a sort of “Centre of Excellence”, since only three per cent of the applicants are accepted. It has only limited resources to solve the plight of researchers. “If you want to become a researcher, you have to be prepared to take risks. Science is a struggle not only for funding but also for esteem and achievements. A life of continuous toil and trouble. That is the human condition,” Sihvola muses.

Criminologist came to Helsinki

One of the Visiting Fellows at the Helsinki Collegium of Advanced Studies is Eugene McLaughlin, Professor of Criminology from the Department of Sociology from City University, London. His year-long visit in Helsinki will end in August 2007.

What brought such a widely travelled scholar up north?

“I had just finished a monograph and it was time to start a new comparative research project on policing and security. When in Britain, one tends to take that perspective for granted, so I wanted to go somewhere that could offer me a chance to look at things from a different angle,” says McLaughlin.

“Fellows of the Collegium have the freedom to study, research and think in depth. In my usual job, the teaching and other routines do not allow me the luxury of concentrating on my research. Here, one is constantly exposed to various fields of study, which opens up new intellectual possibilities for me. For an international scholar, the Collegium’s multidisciplinary environment is invaluable. Being here also gives me the opportunity to re-new and build contacts with Finnish researchers and representatives of different disciplines,” he says.

“And the weather has been a learning experience, too. Will it be snowing or twenty degrees below zero? It is very interesting to watch the weather broadcast when the nearest large city is St Petersburg. This puts London in perspective!”

Kimmo Luukkonen

Top