University Lecturer in Russian and Eurasian Studies
I am in charge of the Finnish Universities network’s Expertise in Russian and Eastern European Studies (ExpREES) since May 2019. I plan and develop teaching in this study module as well as teach and supervise the ExpREES students.
I am a scholar of international politics and hold a PhD in Political Science (2008). In my research I have focused on Russia’s role in international relations, and my current research interests deal with the link between higher education and international relations. Recently I have published on EU-Russia cooperation in the field of higher education and Russia’s educational diplomacy. I continue studying how Russia promotes its higher education abroad and how Russia’s higher education is perceived and its promotion received in the countries of post-Soviet space and EU member states. I am the leader of the research project Towards Good Neighbourliness with Higher Education Cooperation funded by the Kone Foundation and hosted by the Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University. I have also published e.g. on Russian geopolitical argumentation, geopolitics teaching and studies in Russian universities and Russian border discourses.
Previously I have worked at Tampere University, Finland, for 20 years in different positions in teaching, research and administration. I have supervised Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor’s theses and taught courses on Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, geopolitical thinking and methodology. I have also been a convener for a double degree programme in Cross-Border International Relations (CBIR) organized in cooperation with St. Petersburg and Petrozavodsk State Universities. In addition, I have been the chair and deputy chair of the Finnish Political Science Association.
Room 241
Tel. +358294123656
Sirke Mäkinen on Research Gate