Niina Kari
Global Political Economy study track.
Graduated 2022.
I’m Niina and I am PhD student at the University of Helsinki. The major events that sparked my interest in politics and global political economy were the Global Financial Crisis and the ensuing eurozone crisis. I remember thinking that something important was happening but not completely understanding it. This led me to choose to study politics at the University of Sheffield in England. During my bachelor’s studies, global political economy became my favourite subject. I was intrigued by how something could appear so complex and difficult to understand from the outside, yet be so important for the lives of everyone. So much suffering was taking place due to “economics” everywhere in the world at the time, including in Greece. I decided to write my bachelor’s dissertation on the Greek debt crisis, seeking to understand why austerity was chosen despite its terrible consequences. I was lucky and completed my studies at Sheffield right before the student tuition fees tripled in the UK.
When I returned to Finland in 2014, I immediately knew that I would want to complete my master’s studies at the University of Helsinki. I intuitively trusted that the teaching would be of high quality, and I was right. I had even read some of the professors’s publications back in the UK. The lens through which I had learned to examine the global economy in Sheffield found resonance at the University of Helsinki, and I felt right at home. The UK is of course known for its top universities, but I must say that I have learned much more (and read much more!) at the University of Helsinki. The GPE study track is excellent – it teaches you to think analytically and critically, and really engage with the relevant literature. It is a place for genuine learning – not just discussing politics! Nonetheless, normative concerns are not absent, and there is a sincere consciousness that each of the issues we discuss has real world relevance for ordinary people. These are the normative ideals that I want to be committed to throughout my academic career.
Veronica Kontopoulou
Media and Democracy
Graduated in 2023
Bachelor´s degree in journalism and studied on the Media and Democracy track at the University of Helsinki. She specialized in journalistic objectivity/impartiality, post-foundational discourse analysis, power and hegemony.
Veronica is currently working part time as a journalist at YLE and is looking forward to new opportunities.
Her thesis is entitled:
Objectively too far? A critical evaluation of the BBC’s discourse on journalistic objectivity
Adam Oliver Smith
Media and Democracy track
Graduated 2022
Adam Oliver Smith holds a BA in English and History. At the University of Helsinki, he studied on the Media and Democracy track, focusing particularly on Algorithmic propaganda, IGO communications, and market violence.
After graduation, Adam briefly continued the work that he had done during his degree studies as a journalist at Yle, Finland's national broadcaster. Almost immediately after graduation, however, he was hired full-time by Miltton, one of the largest communications consultancies in the Nordics. At Miltton he works in corporate communications, specialising in crisis communication, public affairs, public relations, financial market communications, and media training.
Adam's thesis title was:
The Necropolitics of TRIPS: Neoliberal Disease and Slow Death in a Pandemic
Johan Wahlsten
Global Political Economy track
Graduated 2022
Johan Wahlsten holds a BA in Political History with a specialisation in International History. At the University of Helsinki he studied on the Global Political Economy track, with a special interest in political economy; international financial and monetary policy; economic relations and their domestic and global political implications.
After graduation, Johan has been employed as a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Social Sciences. His doctoral research focuses on the International Monetary Fund's post-2008 financial crisis capital flow policies.
His thesis was entitled:
The Politics of Economic Expertise: Economics, the State, and the Neoliberalization of Finnish Social Democracy
Nuura Naboulsi
Global Political Economy study track
Graduated 2022
Nuura Naboulsi holds a BSc in Development Studies with a major in Political Science from Lund University and a Master’s degree in Global Politics and Communication from University of Helsinki. Naboulsi has completed internships at the Ministry of Education and Culture in Finland and Save the Children, and has worked as a research assistant at University of Helsinki. Naboulsi has also gained professional experience in diversity work and creative projects, and has been selected for EDUFI traineeship at The Finnish Institute in the Middle East in Beirut.
Her Master’s Thesis was entitled:
The Moral Political Economy of Technology and Well-being : The Case of Finland in 2020s
Jani Liukkonen
Global Political Economy
Graduated in 2021
Jani Liukkonen holds a BA in International Relations and he studied on the Global Political Economy track at the University of Helsinki. During his studies he focused on macroeconomy, finance, and politics. He currently works at Nordea.
His thesis is entitled:
An analysis of the European Central Bank presidents- How has the ECB monetary policy changed and what role have the presidents played in shaping the future of the Eurozone?
Vanessa Garcia Torres
Governance and Organisations
Graduated 2021
Vanessa Garcia Torres holds a BA in Communication from the University of Lima, Peru and a Master’s degree from the Governance and Organisations track in the Global Politics and Communication programme at the University of Helsinki. In her studies, she was particularly interested in corporate communications, sustainability, anticorruption, and ethics.
Following her graduation from the University of Helsinki, Vanessa returned to Peru to work at the University of Lima as a teacher at the Communication Faculty. After one semester of being a teacher, she was invited to be the head of the Social Responsibility area at the Sustainability Center at the University of Lima. Today, she works full time at the University of Lima in both positions.
Her Master´s Thesis was entitled:
Institutional Change and Transparency Practices in the National Audit Office of Peru
Siiri Fagerlund
Media and Democracy
Graduated 2019
Siiri Fagerlund holds a Bachelor´s degree in media. She completed her Master´s degree in Helsinki University where she studied on the Media and Democracy track. During her studies she specialised in social media, feminism, and communication. She currently works as the Chief Marketing Officer at CHAOS Architects.
Her thesis is entitled:
"Really? She is an abuser?" : A feminist categorical-content analysis on Asia Argento vs. Jimmy Bennet case on Facebook