Experts specialising in the elections of the European Parliament and Europe

Here you can find experts in European and EU affairs at the University of Helsinki.

Paolo Amorosa 

  • Italian politics and elections of the European Parliament in Italy  

Juhana Aunesluoma  

  • History of European integration, long-term development of the EU, separation of powers between EU institutions, defence dimension of the EU, common EU foreign and security policy, Finland’s EU policy, EU enlargement, EU trade policy 

Minna van Gerven 

  • European social integration, EU social policy, social Europe, welfare state, social policy values 

Topi Juga  

  • Finland’s integration into the European Union, decision-making in the EU and power relations between EU institutions 

Johanna Kantola  

  • European integration, EU operators and institutions, European Parliament and political groups, equality policy, opposition to equality, democracy

Päivi Leino-Sandberg 

  • EU treaties and institutions, decision-making in the EU, EMU, European administrative law 

Timo Miettinen  

  • EU, European policy, national policy of EU member states, European ideas and narratives, European history, economic policy in the EU, European ideologies  

Katalin Miklóssy  

  • Political development and EU policy in eastern Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and Romania 

Cherry Miller  

  • EU–UK relations (especially membership of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly), political group composition and institutional leadership, parliamentary diplomacy, gender 

Laura Nordström  

  • European Parliament, EU lobbying, power of expert knowledge, interest groups, think tanks, European banking and debt crisis, relations between EU institutions, democracy, openness, the decision-making process in the EU 

Markus Ojala  

  • Democratic deficit in the EU, European public sphere, EU economic policy and steering concerning economic policy by member states 

Emilia Palonen   

  • Political discourses and inter-party dynamics, populism, Euroscepticism, Europhilia and critical Europeans, elections of the European Parliament across Europe 

Antti Ronkainen  

  • European integration, EU economic policy, ECB monetary policy, European law, political economy of the EU   

Karolina Stenlund  

  • Swedish politics and elections of the European Parliament in Sweden 
  • Interviews in Swedish or English 

Johan Strang  

  • Nordic countries, Nordic politics, Nordic cooperation 

Hanna Tuominen  

  • EU foreign policy, European values, asylum policy and Europeanisation, Finland’s EU and UN policy 

Johanna Vuorelma  

  • Campaigning in the elections for the European Parliament, political ideologies, national politics of EU member states 

Matti Ylönen  

  • Role of digital giants in EU politics 

Theodora Helimäki  

  • Voting behaviour, voter turnout, electoral system, nomination of candidates, strategic voting, use of information in voting decisions, ideologies 

Veikko Isotalo  

  • Candidates’ success, ideologies, electronic recommendation systems, voter turnout, political participation 

Salla-Maaria Laaksonen  

  • Social media, lobbying ahead of elections, the role of social media platforms, digital activism  

Eeva Luhtakallio  

  • Social media from the perspective of visuality, politics of images, election campaigns on social media, images and gender, abstention 

Åsa von Schoultz  

  • Voting behaviour, turnout, candidate competition, values, voters’ choice of candidate, Swedish-speaking voters 
  • Interviews in Swedish or English 

Hanna Wass  

  • Nomination of candidates, election campaigns, political issues, voters’ criteria for candidate selection, election interference, voter turnout 

Kristiina Brunila  

  • Education, equality and youth policy in the EU 

Mikko Ketola  

  • The Vatican and the EU, religions and secularisation in Europe, churches in Ukraine, anti-Semitism 

Laura Kolbe  

  • Idea and identities of Europe, cities, political movements, national thinking, popular movements, cultural heritage, politics of history 

Katharina Kunter 

  • Germany, Franco–German reconciliation and European integration after 1945, Christian contributions to European integration and unification, EU solidarity with Ukraine, European history and narratives  

Pamela Slotte Russo  

  • Freedom of religion and conscience, history and theory of human rights 

Miika Tervonen  

  • Migration, borders and deportations, minority politics, nationalism, history of historiography 

Kaius Tuori  

  • Politics of history, identity, law and legal history  

Olli-Pekka Vainio 

  • Populism, extremism, conspiracy theories, totalitarianism, tolerance, secularisation

Miikka Hiltunen 

  • Political advertising and disinformation in European Parliament elections, regulation of digital platforms in the EU, EU law 

Tuomas Ojanen  

  • Fundamental and human rights, EU law  

Juha Raitio  

  • European law 

Ukri Soirila  

  • European Court of Human Rights, fundamental and human rights 

Milka Sormunen  

  • Refugee law, EU asylum policy, human rights, European law

Lassi Ahlvik 

  • EU emissions trading plan, environmental taxation, economic aspects of biodiversity 

Iryna Herzon 

  • Biodiversity of the agricultural environment   

Markku Ollikainen 

  • Climate issues, such as emissions trading, energy policy and land use 

John Sumelius 

  • Global food security, agricultural development in developing countries, economic impact of sustainable intensification of agriculture, poverty reduction 

Tero Toivanen 

  • Preconditions and obstacles to implementing the sustainability transition, climate and environmental policy of nationalist right-wing parties, history of climate and environmental policy, economic policy and implementation of climate policy 

The list will be updated. Researchers who wish to be added to the list should write to the City Centre Campus communications team: comms-citycentre@helsinki.fi.