People

The core group of INEQ is comprised of the office staff and six professors whose work is focused on inequality from different angles and who work in their own disciplines at the different faculties at the University of Helsinki. On this page, you can find ways to contact the INEQ team.

Moreover, INEQ brings together already more than 300 scholars from a variety of disciplines within the university. If you are interested in becoming a member of the INEQ community, please see below for more information on how to join us.

INEQ Staff

Meri Kulmala, Research Director

, is a sociologist and Docent in Social and Public Policy (University of Eastern Finland) and in Russian and Eurasian Studies (University of Helsinki). She has studied post-socialist civil society and welfare and led several interdisciplinary and international research projects on child welfare in Russia and carried out peer-research with young adults transitioning into independent living from different forms of care. The outcomes of this research have been published as an edited book ‘’ by Routledge in 2021 and as numerous peer-reviewed articles in different journals, including Europe Asia Studies, Demokratizatsiya, Laboratorium, Governance, Global Social Policy. Currently she is a principal investigator in two research projects: one focusing on young people, mental wellbeing and peer support in the context of social media (), another on linguistic vulnerability in social work (). Both projects involve elements of co-research. She is a founding member of the Finnish Co-research Network and an editor of the recently published, first Finnish speaking text book on co-research ‘’ [Co-research: Ideals and Practices] by Tampere University Press (2023).

Contact:
meri.kulmala(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Khalil 'Avi' Betz-Heinemann, Postdoctoral Researcher

is a Postdoctoral Researcher in RESET at the University of Helsinki. His research focusses on different approaches to addressing mosquito associated diseases, both control, eradication and systemic approaches. Specifically, through coproducing research films and papers with academic and non-academic participants across different locations with his own area of expertise being Northern Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean. His research is of particular relevance to INEQ as it involves identifying the inequalities produced and reproduced by different mosquito control interventions. Specifically mobilising 'in/equality' as a salient epistemic observation about the world, but not a directive of what to then do in the world. You can keep up to date with his research on his blog:

Contact:
avi.betz-heinemann(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Pablo Fuentenebro Alonso, Research Coordinator

is the Research Coordinator for the RESET Project at INEQ. Pablo’s research focuses on interdisciplinary issues about urban governance and how these impact questions of social justice and wealth redistribution. He is particularly interested on the role that philanthropic institutions and High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) play in shaping urban governance and development agendas, and is a Steering Committee member of the (ESWG).

Pablo has held appointments with the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (MSCA COFUND Research Fellow) and the University of Melbourne, among others. He also brings extensive professional experience in project management and partnership building with the United Nations across a wide range of regions. Pablo holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Contact:

pablo.fuentenebroalonso(at)helsinki.fi

Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Mandira Halder, Postdoctoral Fellow

, PhD (University of Geneva, Switzerland), is a post-doctoral researcher whose work on “Swedish as a second language for non-white migrant pupils in a minority Swedish-context of the capital region of Finland: an alternate route to belonging?” is funded by Svenskaliteratursällskapet from 01 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. Her doctoral research in Educational Sciences focused on teacher multilingualism and German as a second/foreign language in French-speaking Switzerland. Born in West Bengal, India, Mandira is multilingual and fluent in English, French, German, Bengali and Hindi. She is currently learning Finnish and Swedish and knows Polish, Norwegian, and Romanian. She came to Finland in the spring of 2022 with a doctoral mobility grant to conduct research on the curriculum choices of Finnish teachers who teach Finnish as a second language. During this period, she has given guest lectures on the “Decolonization of inequality studies” at INEQ and coordinated a course on “Child and family-related questions in a changing society” at the Swedish School of Social Science (SOCKOM).

Contact:
mandira.halder(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Reeta Mietola, Senior Research Fellow

is a university researcher in profiling action at the University of Helsinki. Her research interests include disability studies, youth research and sociology of education, with a specific interest in transdisciplinary analysis of intersecting inequalities. Her recent work has focused on young people’s social participation and disability activism. Her research in RESET focuses on co-production of knowledge, especially co-research and citizen science, asking how democratization of knowing can contribute towards a just socio-ecological change.

Contact:
reetta.mietola(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Sanna Spišák, Academy Research Fellow

Sanna Spišák (PhD, University of Turku, Finland) is an Academy Research Fellow at the Helsinki Inequality Initiative – INEQ (University of Helsinki, Finland) and the PI of Consent Spectrum: The Many Facets of Consent (C-SPECT, 2024–2028) research project funded by the Research Council of Finland. Specialising in sexual consent, sexual rights, mediated sexualities, and digital media, she is a sought-after lecturer in sexology, youth work, education and healthcare. With an eight-year tenure on the Finnish Society on Media Education (FSME) board, including two years as vice chair, she contributes significantly to media education. She is a founding member of CRISSE, Critical Sexuality Studies Network, established at the University of Turku, Finland. Her membership in the Finnish Youth Research Society, FOHN – Finnish Oral History Network and Co-Research Network Finland underscores her extensive interdisciplinary research networks. She has published in international journals such as Sexualities, Sex Education, YOUNG, Childhood and Social Media and Society, and she is an editor of the recently published first Finnish textbook on co-research ‘’ [Co-research: Ideals and Practices] by Tampere University Press (2023).

Contact:
sanna.spisak(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Pekka Tuominen, Senior Research Fellow

Pekka Tuominen is a social and cultural anthropologist specialising in urban transformation, the sociocultural qualities of space, and the moral dimensions of urbanity. He is currently Senior Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki and works as WP leader for Overcoming Barriers to Democratic Participation with Minoritized and Marginalized Groups (OBAMA). His current research concentrates on new forms of democracy, social inclusion and digitalisation of citizen participation. He organises Kontula Electronic festival and has worked as researcher in projects in diverse fields such as AI-enhanced analyses and collective intelligence (COLDIGIT, Co-Creation Radar), multispecies encounters (CITIRATS), and performance art (Mother’s Tongue).

Contact:

pekka.tuominen(at)

Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Igor Mikheev

Igor Mikheev is a Doctoral Researcher, Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences (University of Helsinki, Finland) (). He is a sociologist with a broad interest in topics of diversity, inequality and social integration of vulnerable groups. His research in INEQ focuses on Russian migrants and refugees in Nordic European countries after 24.02.2022.

Contact:

Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Tuukka Saari, Research Assistant

Contact:
tuukka.saari(at)helsinki.fi
Unioninkatu 37, Box 54, room K1055

Pia Bäcklund

INEQ Associate Professor of Regional and Urban Inequality () (Department of Geosciences and Geography; Docent in spatial planning), is a human geographer whose research interest covers especially strategic spatial planning and politics. Her latest research project (2018-2022) targets the issue of how new agreement based spatial planning practices gives new form and direction to justification of societal decision making in the context of Nordic Welfare state.

Dorota Gozdecka

INEQ Associate Professor of Law, Security and Privacy () (Faculty of Law) is a legal theorist and her research focuses on how law creates and maintains otherness. Her current project uses the theory of law and aesthetics to examine how images of migrants impact on the understanding of what is legitimate in the regulation of migration flows. Her forthcoming book ‘Visual Power, Representation and Migration Law’ (Edinburgh University Press, forthcoming) analyses how these perceptions of legitimacy exacerbate growing crimmigration and securitization of migration law.

Henrietta Grönlund

INEQ Professor of Urban Theology () (Department of Practical Theology; Docent of Church and Social Studies) is a sociologist of religion who specializes in questions of civic engagement and welfare, especially the role of religion and values in relation to these themes. Her current research interests include the ways in which religion manifests in urban contexts and interacts with urbanity, especially in relation to questions of inequality and wellbeing. She currently leads two projects related to the roles of civic engagement, third sector organizations, and religious communities in promoting community resilience and support for people in the most vulnerable position during the covid-19 pandemic.

Johanna Rainio-Niemi

INEQ Associate Professor of Contemporary History () (Political History, Faculty of Social Sciences) is a historian who specializes especially on smaller states’ modern political systems and on issues of welfare state development, social / national security states, consensus-orientated democracy and state-society relations in comparative and international perspective. Her most recent and on-going projects deal with the ‘defence’ of democracy and the constitutionalist tradition in 19th and 20th century Finland, the emergence of modern national and international social politics and the international histories of the idea of neutrality.

Karri Silventoinen

INEQ Professor of Social Inequalities in Health () (Population Research Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Medicine) has background in demography and epidemiology. His major research interests cover social and global health inequalities, physical and mental development of children and risk factors of metabolic diseases. International comparisons and analyses of biosocial interaction have been important part of his research.

Roman Yangarber

INEQ Associate Professor of Linguistic Inequalities and Translation Technologies () (Digital Humanities; Leader of the Research Group in Computational Linguistics, UH). His current research is on how Artificial Intelligence can assist humans in learning languages. Specific focus is on "high-stakes" learners – committed to learning the language to a high level of proficiency, including migrants and "heritage" learners trying to sustain their language. The goal is to support these learners in navigating their environments – to lower linguistic barriers and reduce inequalities.

There are currently no visiting researchers at INEQ. If you would like to apply to be a visiting researcher at INEQ please contact the office.

INEQ Affiliated Scholars

Researchers affiliated with Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ) are listed in the University of Helsinki Research Portal. The affiliate community has just over 300 members from variuous faculties across the university.

Would you like to join the INEQ community? See instructions below.

Join the INEQ Community!

INEQ affiliate scholars join the growing, internationally networked research community of scholars at University of Helsinki. The membership is freely open for all Helsinki University scholars who have completed the Doctoral Degree or are members of the Helsinki University based doctoral programs and work with projects, issues and questions related to social and cultural inequalities and their consequences. INEQ is a multidisciplinary, cross-faculty initiative that aims for methodological diversity and welcomes different theoretical approaches.

INEQ affiliate scholars will be able to

identify with the Initiative with a double affiliation
fully participate in the new interdisciplinary research community and its activities
apply for fellowship and visitors’ program and seed funding
benefit from the contacts both nationally and internationally.

Criteria for INEQ affiliate scholars

A doctoral degree and affiliation with the University of Helsinki, OR
A membership in a doctoral program of the University of Helsinki
Ongoing research interest on inequality studies
Plans for future research work, project and application in the field of inequality research
Evidence of past and ongoing research (publications)

The affiliate scholars will be notified about the acceptance with some further instructions to join the INEQ community and its activities. The affiliates will be automatically added to the INEQ mailing list and research community on the UH Research Portal (where affiliates can select which of their activities are labelled as an part of the work of the INEQ community).