Election 2025

This page provides instructions for the pre-election process and short introductions of the professors who are in the pre-election for the professor representative of the central campus.

This time, only two professor representatives will be elected to the University Board, whereas previously there were three. This means that not all campuses can have their own representative on the Board.

All candidates are excellent representatives for the university as a whole. At the same time, each campus has its own particular characteristics, and it is important that one elected representative has insight into the experiences and issues specific to the central campus.

In the election for the University Board, other campuses selected a single professor candidate already before the nomination phase. At the central campus, there were several strong candidates, and it was agreed that a preliminary vote would be held after hearings, with voting rights limited to professors at the campus. The goal is to settle on one final candidate, and the candidates have agreed that those not winning the preliminary vote will withdraw before the main election.

The primary poll is organized with University of Helsinki licensed Microsoft Forms. One vote per eligible voter (based on list of University of Helsinki email accounts), and the vote cannot be changed once given. 

For technical reasons, the voting is distributed in three forms, by the first letter of eligible voter's surname, as in their email address.

A-K: 
L-R: 
S-Z: 

The voting is open from 17.11 at 09.00 to 19.11 at 23.59. Voting is anonymous, and administration cannot see your email account.

See also about the elections.
 
Candidates
2 Juha Raitio

# 2

OTT, VT Juha Raitio
Professor of European Law (2007-)
Vice-Dean (YVV), Chair of the University Collegium

  • Legal expertise for the Board (e.g., contract and real estate matters)
  • Good network within and outside the university, nationally and internationally
  • Experience in representing the interests of the humanities and social sciences, e.g., in the Finnish Union of University Professors
3 Tuomas Heikkilä

#3

• I am standing as a candidate for the University Board 
• My number is 3. (Indeed: 3, like the university’s three core missions.)

 

Why?

I believe in a university that researches boldly, acts wisely, and leads society through its values. I want to help build a university where world-class interdisciplinary research, community spirit, and societal impact go hand in hand in pursuit of knowledge and bildung.

 

Who am I?

• Professor of Church History, Doctor of Philosophy (doctor primus of the Philosophical faculty, 2003; Chief Marshal 2010; Master of Ceremonies, Faculty of Theology, 2023)
• Title of docent in General History and Church History (University of Helsinki); in Finnish History (University of Turku)
• Member of the  and the 
• Inspehtori of the  (Professor patron of a student nation)
• I play football (Zoom) and do cross-country skiing. I am the happy father of two school-age children.

I have served as a professor in both the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Theology, directed Finland’s foremost overseas research institute, the , and lived abroad for more than ten years.

My research has taken me from archives to laboratories, collaborating with computer scientists, linguists, physicists, chemists, evolutionary biologists, and conservators. Interdisciplinarity is the guiding thread of my career: I feel at home on every campus of the University of Helsinki.

 

What will I promote on the University Board?

1. Strengthening Modern Top-Level Research

Interdisciplinary excellence is what distinguishes our university from other Finnish and most international universities. Our professors are of world-class calibre, yet research too often suffers under the weight of bureaucracy and financial strain.

I currently lead , a €13 million ERC Synergy Grant project – the first of its kind in Finnish humanities research. I also serve as Principal Investigator in projects funded by the Academy of Finland () and the EU’s Horizon Europe programme (). I have seen on international level what interdisciplinarity can achieve for science, society, and the world.

Top-level research is the heart of the university. I want to strengthen its position.


2. The University as a Moral Leader in Society

The university’s role is not only to produce knowledge and degrees, but to defend bildung and to build shared understanding. Society and the world are thirsting for the knowledge we can provide. It is our duty to take a greater role.

For years, I have been an ambassador for versatile scholarship in public debate: as an award-winning populariser of research, a leading , an , director of the Science Forum and the University of Helsinki’s Studia Generalia, chair of the association linking MPs and researchers (Tutkas), a board member of several foundations, a columnist, and an expert commentator on royal coronations and papal funerals for Yle…

The University of Helsinki should be the brain and soul of Finland.


3. Deep and Comprehensive Understanding of the University

Nearly thirty years at the University of Helsinki have taught me how diverse and wonderful an ecosystem our university truly is. I have served on the university collegium, faculty council, and as a head of a department; led academic ceremonies and acted as inspehtori of a student nation. My aim has always been to strengthen our sense of community. I understand how different campuses, disciplines, and members of our university can complement one another. I know the university inside out and I feel at home on all its campuses.

Only together are we truly a universitas.


Learn more

  • (University of Helsinki)
  • (Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki)
  • (Yle)
  • (Turun Sanomat)
  • (Helsingin Sanomat)


Why vote for Tuomas?

Because Tuomas is:

• a combination of two faculties and many disciplines: more than the sum of his parts, which is precisely what a universitas is about
• a scholar and societal influencer who sees beyond boundaries
• an advocate of the university’s values, who believes in bildung, cooperation, and the power of knowledge in society
6 Johanna Mäkelä

# 6

My name is Johanna Mäkelä and I’m a candidate for the position of professor representative in the elections of the Board of the University of Helsinki with number 6.

Now, I am the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, but next year I will return to my actual position as Professor of Food Culture. I am a sociologist by training with degrees from the Faculty of Social Sciences. I have diverse research, management and administrative experience from a Sectoral Research Institute, the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the management, steering and working groups of the entire University of Helsinki. Therefore, I can offer balanced views from the perspective of the faculties, especially from the viewpoint of the City Centre Campus and SSH disciplines, without forgetting the University of Helsinki as a whole and the cooperation between the campuses. I capable of creating a balance between details and larger entities and finding solutions in conflict situations. 

I think that

  • the Board is responsible for the strategy, operational and financial objectives and steering principles, and thus decides on many matters, but it must trust the ability of the management and staff of University of Helsinki to be responsible for operational management and implementation.
  • the Board must strategically and proactively nurture the strengths and identity of the University of Helsinki as a multidisciplinary and wide-ranging research and education university,
  • Decisions and actions under the Board’s authority must be subject to an impact analysis (e.g. recent support for research)
  • In its support measures, the government must consider a balance between the university's core tasks: Is it time to support the teaching and training missions as well?
  • improving the economic situation must be taken seriously, but at the same time attention needs be paid to debating and influencing scientific and education policies,
  • an important task of the Board is to support rector's work and be a critical friend to the leadership of University of Helsinki,
  • we must have the courage to rethink the structures and processes by continuing the work of the TOIJO project,
  • faculties are an opportunity, not a threat,
  • the University of Helsinki is a community project.
7 Hanna Korsberg

# 7

The university’s most important resource is its community, and the goal is to make the university the best place to study and work by 2030. This requires strengthening inclusion, opportunities for influence, and commitment to shared goals, which in turn enables top-tier research and teaching. Open discussions about space and resource issues are essential for the realization of the university’s values. Innovative thinking is valuable, even if it is not always commercially viable.

The implementation of the university’s strategic choices and values needs to be sharpened, and its role in societal discourse must be clarified. Support for research in political decision-making is not a given, making it increasingly important for the academic community to advocate for research-based practices and defend the freedom of research. The university must respond to the demand for expertise with strong disciplinary knowledge and research, including interdisciplinary research.

Hanna Korsberg, Professor of Theatre Research (2008–), has served in various trusted roles at the University of Helsinki continuously since 1995, currently including a position on the board of the Professors’ Union. She also has experience in several international scientific expert and trusted positions.