Researchers

Research group includes Sanna Tirkkonen (PI, Academy Researcher, 2023–2027) and Joni P. Puranen (Postdoctoral Researcher, 2025–2027).
Sanna Tirkkonen

Profile

I'm an Academy Research Fellow in Practical Philosophy. My background is in social, political and moral philosophy, and I'm specialized also in philosophy of psychiatry. My areas of interest include branches of European philosophy, such as phenomenology and phenomenological psychopathology, poststructuralism, and the philosophy of emotions. In my work, I analyze phenomena of contemporary society within their social and cultural contexts, most recently focusing on loneliness, meaningful relationships, affective injustice, and hostile emotions.

I lead a research project on philosophy of loneliness funded by the Academy of Finland (2023-2027). I'm also actively involved in the project Politicised Loneliness funded by the Emil Aaltonen Foundation (2023-2026). In 2023-2024, I was the principal investigator of the project Enhancing and Reassessing Enactivism (ERE) funded by the Helsinki School of Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) at the University of Helsinki.

In spring 2024, I was a visiting researcher in Denmark at the University of Copenhagen, in the Center for Subjectivity Research (CFS).

Before this, I spent 4.5 years as a visiting researcher in Germany at Heidelberg University Hospital, in the research unit for Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy.

Recent publications (selected)
2025


, 2025, (Accepted/In press) For Against Together: Antagonistic Political Emotions. Osler, L. & Szanto, T. (eds.).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › Scientific › peer-review


& Tietjen, R. R., 16 Apr 2025, In: 30 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review


, 30 Oct 2025, In:
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › peer-review

2024


Vespermann, D. & , 30 Sept 2024, In: p. 1-37 37 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review


, , Nurminen, M. & Muilu, M., 13 Feb 2024, In:
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › General public

2023


, 9 Apr 2023, (Accepted/In press) Dictionnaire Foucault. Paris:
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia / dictionary › Scientific


& Vespermann, D., 6 Dec 2023, In: 14, 17 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review


, 14 Mar 2023, In: 6 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › General public


, 24 Feb 2023, In: 9 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › General public


Tietjen, R. R. & , 2023, In: 42, 5, p. 1229–1241 13 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Prior to the project


, Dec 2019, In: 76, 1, p. 37-59 23 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review


, Nov 2019, In: 38, 3, p. 185-195 11 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific

Joni Puranen

Profile

I am a Finnish philosopher working at the intersection of phenomenology, embodiment, and medical humanities. I currently serve as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, where I work in the Phenomenology of Loneliness project (2025 August to 2027 November) exploring the constitutive elements of being with others. 

In philosophy, my areas of expertise encompass currents in contemporary European thought (Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Luc Nancy), phenomenolological psychopathology and in particular the role of embodiment in mental health. 

I received my PhD in Philosophy from the University of Jyväskylä in April 2024 with the degree eximia cum laude approbatur. My dissertation, Attention and Bodily Experience, develops a phenomenological account of how bodily being shapes attentive experience. Before my doctoral work, I completed an MSocSci in philosophy at the University of Jyväskylä (2016) and a BA in philosophy at the University of Helsinki (2015).

I am currently (2025 November) working on a text on experiences of longing, which demonstrates how the infinite withdrawal of my beloved is not simply the mark of absence but the very mode through which their withdrawn presence insists – how it is at once dreadful and consoling, exact and undeniable.

Publications
2025

“Longing, holding vigil, and resurrection: an existential analysis of being-with our beloved departed” 
Puranen, Joni P. (to be submitted)

Prior to the project

2025: 
Nancy, Jean-Luc: “Viisikymmentäkahdeksan kohtaa ruumiista”. Niin & Näin (forthcoming) translation Puranen, Joni P.

2024: 
Attention and bodily experience. University of Jyväskylä. PhD Thesis. 
“Huomio ja ruumiillinen kokemus”. Lectio Praecursoria. Ajatus 81. 

2023: 
“Recitative Voice: Reading Silently and Aloud, With Jean-Luc Nancy” SATS. 

2022: 
“Bodily obsessions: intrusiveness of organs in somatic obsessive-compulsive disorder”. Med Health Care and Philos. 

2021: 
“Äänekäs ruumis”. Niin & Näin.