On Tuesday, 4 November, we celebrated the conclusion of a five-year postdoc forum between the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, and Vantaa, together with the University of Helsinki and Aalto University. The project has provided municipalities with valuable research on topics including school segregation, inequality in the digital sphere and housing markets, sustainable transport and urban structure, as well as municipal industrial and business policy. Research has been conducted in fields such as sociology, computer science, urban geography, architecture, and atmospheric sciences. The project, which received more than two million euros in funding, has involved a total of 18 postdoctoral researchers and 17 professors across 14 disciplines.
Professor Mari Vaattovaara and Mayor of Espoo Kai Mykkänen opened the event, which featured talks by some of the world’s most cited urban scholars – Prof. Sako Musterd, Prof. Simin Davoudi, and Prof. Christopher Baker – as well as Dr. Nilay Kılınç, who worked as a researcher in the postdoc forum.
Sako Musterd spoke on the concept of “moderate segregation” in European cities. Simin Davoudi continued with the power of spatial imaginaries and their influence on urban planning. Nilay Kılınç presented her findings on the role of highly educated Turkish immigrants in Finland’s labor market. Finally, Christopher Baker addressed the relationships between faith and secularism in current and future cities. The event continued with celebrations among friends and colleagues, including both long-standing and early career urban researchers.
Participation of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area’s municipalities has been central to the Postdoc-forum. Throughout the project, dialogue between the municipalities and the university has been strengthened, and the societal impact of research has been advanced.
You can read more about the postdoc-forum's researchers and output
You can familiarize with the researcher presentations