- Participated in HSSH’s activities? Fill in the Performance Evaluation Survey
- Social media researcher Professor Axel Bruns from Queensland visited Helsinki
- Calling all researchers working with social media (DARIAH-FI survey)
- 10.10. Emotion Research Group launch events
- Questionnaire on distressing research at the University of Helsinki
- “Religion, Space and Materiality”: Tvärminne 2024 CfP extended – deadline 18.10.2024
Participated in HSSH’s activities? Fill in the Performance Evaluation Survey
The external assessment of Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) will be carried out during the academic year of 2024-25.
Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities has been actively working for more than 3 years, and we are now approaching an evaluation of our performance.
As serving the UH Centre Campus research scholars and research groups is our core mission, we are now collecting feedback from colleagues who have actively worked with us.
We kindly ask for about 10 minutes of your time – please fill in our HSSH performance evaluation survey by October 11th (extended deadline): https://elomake.helsinki.fi/lomakkeet/130883/lomake.html
Social media researcher Professor Axel Bruns from Queensland visited Helsinki
Mid-September HSSH hosted social media and journalism researcher, Professor Axel Bruns, an Australian Laureate Fellow from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Digital Media Research Centre.
On Wednesday 18.9. Professor Burns held a keynote talk in the HSSH New Research Culture lecture series. The event explored the role of digital media in shaping public discourse and societal polarisation.
Professor Bruns delivered a thought-provoking lecture titled "The Filter in Our Heads – Digital Media and Polarisation". His presentation examined the complexities of contemporary digital communication, focusing on how it influences public debates on divisive topics such as climate change, Brexit, the Trump presidency, COVID-19, and the Ukraine conflict.
Following the lecture, a roundtable discussion took place, featuring Dr. Salla-Maria Laaksonen and Dr. Matti Nelimarkka, both of whom have pioneered the use of digital and computational methods at the University of Helsinki. They joined Professor Bruns in exploring the implications of his research and shared insights into how computational tools can deepen the study of digital media and public discourse.
On Thursday 19.9. Professor Bruns was joined by Doctoral Researcher Laura Vodden, also from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre. Together they led two popular workshops on digital methods. Professor Burns introduced the analytical approach of practice mapping using vector embeddings of networked actions and interactions to map commonalities and disjunctures in the practices of social media users. Laura Vodden guided a workshop on automating news content coding with large language models.
Their visit enriched the ongoing discussions at the University of Helsinki on the intersection of digital media and public discourse, leaving participants with valuable insights and practical tools for their own research.
Calling all researchers working with social media (DARIAH-FI survey)
Digital humanities at UEF has launched a national survey collecting information on the current state of research using social media data in Finland. We encourage you to respond if you're using, collecting, or studying social media and social media data, or if you would be interested in using social media data in the future! This information will be used to pool information on what kinds of data, platforms and tools are being used, and what kind of (future) needs researchers might have when it comes to social media data. Responding to this survey takes less than 5 minutes.
Please feel free to share the link to this survey to your colleagues! The link will remain open until Friday 11 October 2024. If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Mikko Laitinen (mikko.laitinen@uef.fi) or Paula Rautionaho (paula.rautionaho@uef.fi).
Follow this link to the survey: https://link.webropolsurveys.com/S/2751F19837F2A8D2
This survey is part of DARIAH-FI (www.dariah.fi) a national network connecting universities to build and share digital tools, datasets, workflows and teaching materials for the needs of social sciences and humanities (SSH) in Finland.
10.10. Emotion Research Group launch events
The Emotion Research Group is a new initiative at the University of Helsinki that is led by Charlie Kurth, Anni Kajanus, and Ritva Palmén. The Group aims to bring together City Center scholars with research interests in emotion.
As part of the Emotion Research Group’s launch, we’re planning two events for the afternoon/evening of 10 October. The first event will be a roundtable discussion on the future of interdisciplinary emotion research featuring a diverse group of researchers. This includes Rob Boddice (History, Tampere University), Roger Giner-Sorolla (Psychology, University of Kent), Anni Kajanus (Anthropology, University of Helsinki), Panu Pihkala (Environmental theology, University of Helsinki), Riikka Rossi (Literature, University of Helsinki), Richard Sha (Literature, American University).
The roundtable will be followed by a set of networking dinners where those attending the roundtable will have the chance to continue the conversation in smaller groups. The dinners will be funded through the HSSH Catalyst Grant that is supporting the launch of the Emotion Research Group.
The roundtable discussion begins at 16:00 on 10 October and the reservations for the dinners are set for 19:00. We have a limited number of open spots for these events. If you would be interested in attending them, or are interested in becoming a part of the Emotion Research Group, please email Charlie Kurth (ckurth@clemson.edu) by 1 October.
Questionnaire on distressing research at the University of Helsinki
When Research Gets Under Your Skin: Developing support strategies for distressing research at the University of Helsinki
Researching distressing topics may affect the researcher's well-being and the design of their research. Based on a questionnaire collecting experiences of researchers who work on sensitive or distressing topics, this project will create actionable, data-based recommendations for the University of Helsinki on safeguarding their well-being and the integrity of their research. The project is funded by the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH).
This questionnaire is aimed for researchers (doctoral researchers, postdoctoral researchers, and higher) from the City Centre campus of the University of Helsinki who experience distress while conducting their research. The questionnaire is not limited to researchers who work with a particular set of topics, but open to anyone whose research is causing them distress.
The questionnaire consists of five open-ended questions, with multiple choice questions on background variables at the end. The questionnaire is completely anonymous and your answers cannot be linked to your email address or any other personal information.
If you would like to participate, please submit your answers by October 13th through this link: https://redcap.helsinki.fi/redcap/surveys/?s=PT9APKEDTCJ7K3LJ.
If you have any questions about this research, please contact Pasqualina Eckerström (pasqualina.eckerstrom@helsinki.fi) or Helmi Halonen (helmi.halonen@helsinki.fi).
“Religion, Space and Materiality”: Tvärminne 2024 CfP extended – deadline 18.10.2024
The deadline for the submission of abstracts for this year’s Tvärminne seminar for doctoral researchers has been extended until 18.10.2024! The seminar takes place 21.–22. November 2024 in Tvärminne Zoological Station, Hanko. The theme for this year’s seminar is Religion, Space, and Materiality.
The cost for the seminar is 30 €, including the program, meals and overnight stay. The deadline for submitting the final papers and paying the participation fee is November 1st. Payment for the seminar can be made to the account of the Finnish Society for the Study of Religion (Ålandsbanken FI316601 0001 1690 28).
Register via this link. Please also feel free to share the call with your colleagues and networks.