Jussi Pakkasvirta appointed chair of CEISAL

Jussi Pakkasvirta, Professor of Area and Cultural Studies, has been appointed chairperson of CEISAL, the European Council for Social Research on Latin America, for a three-year term running from 2016 to 2019.

Pakkasvirta served as the vice-dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences from 2012 to 2015 and as the head of the Department of Political and Economic Studies from 2010 to 2015. He has also worked as a senior researcher of the Academy of Finland and as a visiting professor at the University of Costa Rica.

(Consejo Europeo de Investigaciones Sociales de América Latina), founded in 1971, is an academic organisation for research on Latin America. Its members comprise 51 academic institutions and associations from nearly 20 European countries. (the Nordic Latin American Research Network) is one of them. CEISAL arranges seminars, publishes a journal and organises a conference every three years. The Council’s chair represents his or her field of science at international conferences and conventions.

According to Jussi Pakkasvirta, being the chairperson of CEISAL will enable him to attract more Latin American research projects to Finland, in addition to offering new opportunities for his own research. Pakkasvirta currently focuses on the social media shift and culture.

 – CEISAL may open doors into conducting research in countries such as Cuba, which is still something of a hurdle,” he says. “It would really be something to create new contacts and gain an up-to-date understanding of the social media shift in Cuba.

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Jussi Pakkasvirta's