The AGORA community supports junior and senior researchers, research fellows and affiliates interested in questions of social justice and equality. Researchers and key partners involved in the AGORA’s activities are introduced below.
Afsheen Ahmed
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Critical discourse surrounding internationalisation of Finnish Education System
- Commodification, marketisation and exportation of Finnish Education Basic Schooling Concept
- Ethical implication in exporting Finnish Education System globally
Dissertation topic:
- Ethical Concerns in the Export of Education: The case of exporting Finnish Comprehensive Schooling Concept abroad
Supervisors:
- Anna-Leena Riitaoja
- Helena Hinke Dobrochinski Candido
- Birgit Schaffar-Kronqvist
Contact: afsheen.ahmed@helsinki.fi
Hanna Dromberg
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Adult ADHD
- Psychiatrization
- Psychiatric governance
- Critical discourse studies
Dissertation topic:
- Making of 'adult ADHD’ through professional and lay expertise. I study the phenomenon of “adult ADHD” through the lenses of psychiatrization and governance. I will concentrate on the discursive practices which shape the concept of “adult ADHD” by focusing on media representations and voices of professional and lay experts of ADHD
Contact: hanna.dromberg@helsinki.fi
Anni Hirsaho
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Therapeutic governance
- Psychologisation
- Critical psychology
Dissertation topic:
- Dynamics of therapeutic governance in school psychologists’ work in upper secondary education
Contact: anni.hirsaho@helsinki.fi
Ilmari Huhtala
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Masculinities
- Power
- Children
- Primary school
Dissertation topic:
- "Masculinities in the margins" Children conceptualizing othered masculinities in Finnish primary school
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Marja Peltola
Contact info: ilmari.huhtala@helsinki.fi
Anni Kouhia
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Vulnerability
- Therapeutic governance
- Youth
- Youth Cultures
- Youth Work
Dissertation topic:
- Youth, Youth Work and Ethos of Vulnerability
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Katariina Mertanen
- Birgit Schaffar-Kronqvist
Contact: anni.kouhia@helsinki.fi
Janni Kurokallio
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Heteronormativity
- Young people
- Sociology of education
- Queer theory
Dissertation topic:
- Exploring heteronormativity: A Contemporary Study of Finnish Comprehensive Schools in the 2020s
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Marja Peltola
Contact: janni.kurokallio@helsinki.fi
Essi Mäkelä
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Privatization and marketization of education, edu-business
- Education politics
- Precision education governance
Dissertation topic:
- Educational privatization and educational business (edu-business) in Finland, contextualized within the evolving landscape of changing educational governance toward precision education governance
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Katariina Mertanen
Contact: essi.m.makela@helsinki.fi
Kalle Mäkelä
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Governmentality, neoliberalism, youth support systems, psychologisation, entrepreneuralisation, citizenship, subjectification
- Geneaology, History of the present
- Philosophy and critical social anthropology Postcolonial and feminist theory
Dissertation topic:
- Governing young people through neoliberal management – A Genealogy of vulnerability of young people in Finland.
Ongoing projects: CoSupport
Contact: kalle.makela@helsinki.fi
Mihaela Nyyssönen
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Digital technology and Artificial Intelligence in higher education
- Teaching and learning in higher education
- Critical feminist theory
- Philosophy of education
Dissertation topic:
- Higher education in transformation through Generative AI. A critical study about the impact of Generative AI on the core values of higher education
Supervisors:
- Birgit Schaffar-Kronqvist
- Helena Hinke Dobrochinski Candido
Contact: mihaela.nyyssonen@helsinki.fi
Inka Tähkä
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Gender normativities
- Masculinity
- Gender equality
- Therapeutic culture and youth mental health
- Subjectivity
Dissertation topic:
- Navigating Idealized Masculinities and Mental Health in Therapeutic Culture: Tensions and Continuities for young Finnish men
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Leena-Maija Rossi
- Marja Peltola
Contact: inka.tahka@helsinki.fi
Katariina Tiainen
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Philosophy of Critical Pedagogy
- Paulo Freire's political pedagogy and his philosophy of hope
- Democratic education
- Critical Social Theory
- Critical Feminist Theory
Dissertation topic:
- Dissertation explores democratic education from the stand point of the philosophy of Critical Pedagogy and provides new theoretical perspectives in conversation with Critical Social Theories and Critical Feminist Theories
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Anniina Leiviskä
- Crystal Green
Contact: katariina.tiainen@helsinki.fi
Veera Tervo
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Order and disorder (as counterparts)
- Normativities
- Power relations on both school institution and classroom
- Feminist theory
- Sociology of education
Dissertation topic:
- Disorder and order in schooling in Finland. The aim of my study is to construct new insight about the normative idea of order and disorder that produces power relations and exclusive binaries in the context of Finnish primary school.
Contact: veera.tervo@helsinki.fi
Saara Vainio
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Therapeutic cultures
- Youth education
- Critical mental health
Dissertation topic:
- Developing the right skills? Problematizing youth mental health education in the era of crisis narrative
Supervisors:
- Kristiina Brunila
- Antti Saari
- Katariina Mertanen
Ongoing projects: FuturEd
Contact: saara.vainio@helsinki.fi
Hillevi Vyyryläinen
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- (Neuro)psychiatrization, psy-knowledges and subjectification
- Depoliticization, decontextualization and commodification of mental distress and diversity
- The governmentality of the concept of marginalization
- Inclusive education
Dissertation topic:
- The neuropsychiatrization of Finnish welfare services
Supervisors:
- Juho Honkasilta
- Markku Jahnukainen
Contact: hillevi.vyyrylainen@helsinki.fi
Cynthia Trilliani
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Immigration, gender and feminist studies
- Motherhood ideology
Dissertation topic:
- Immigrant mothers’ educational experiences and sense of belonging in Icelandic higher education, in conjunction with their identity construction and strategies for balancing multiple responsibilities to achieve academic success. Research also investigates the impact of intersectional approach or lack thereof in educational policies and practices on educational experiences of students of minority background
Kirsi Yliniva
Doctoral researcher
Research areas:
- Children's agency
- Political agency
- The Anthropocene
- 21st century challenges
- future of education
- Neuro-affective turn in education
- Biopolitics of childhood
- Biopower
- Michel Foucault
Dissertation topic:
- Potentials and limits for political agency of children in the Anthropocene
Supervisors:
- Maija Lanas (University of Oulu)
- Kristiina Brunila (University of Helsinki)
Contact: kirsi.yliniva@oulu.fi