Senior researchers

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.
Kristiina Brunila

Professor of Social Justice and Equality in Education 

Research areas:

  • Social sciences in Education
  • Social Justice, Equality, Equity and Diversity in Education
  • Educational Governance and Neoliberalism 
  • Youth, Vulnerability, and Mental Health in Education 
  • Psychologisation and Therapeutic Power and Cultures
  • Feminist Theory
  • Advanced Research Methodologies
  • Policy Research and Educational Reforms
  • Knowledge Formations and Power in Education
  • Precision Education Governance
  • Alternative Futures and Transformations in Education

Ongoing projects: 

  • Anticipated and Alternative Futures of Education (2024–2025): Examining education's future pathways in collaboration with the Finnish Innovation Fund KOETUS.
  • Turning Points: Changes Academics Make to Shape Their Working Lives (2023–2025): International collaboration with Melbourne University exploring academic agency.
  • Future Trajectories of Precision Education Governance (2019–2024): Investigating the rise of marketized, privatized and data-driven governance in education.

Leadership and Impact
Kristiina Brunila is the Founder of the AGORA Research Centre, an internationally recognized hub for social sciences in education, and for social justice and equality in education. Under her leadership, AGORA has grown into a vibrant academic community with over 40 affiliates, recently celebrating its 10th anniversary. AGORA’s commitment to advancing equality and social justice has been recognized with Maikki Friberg Award for promoting equality and diversity in academia.

Kristiina’s leadership extends to the Education and Society Research Community at the University of Helsinki, with scholars across disciplines to tackle critical societal challenges. Additionally, Kristiina has held key leadership roles in numerous large-scale, multidisciplinary research initiatives. She has also earned several prestigious awards. Her academic contributions include collaborations as a visiting professor and scholar at international universities such as Melbourne, Victoria, Malmö, Umeå, Gothenburg, and Sheffield. 

Publications and Supervision
Kristiina has authored and co-authored over 170 publications, including articles, book chapters, and anthologies, contributing to educational sciences and beyond. 

Contact: kristiina.brunila@helsinki.fi
Social Media: AGORA Blog

Sari R. Alfi-Nissan 

Postdoctoral fellow

Research areas:

  • Intersections of neoliberalism and nationalism 
  • Education and youth identity formation 
  • Discourses in state education 
  • Sociology of educational spaces
  • Entrepreneurship education
  • Youth aspirations 

Ongoing projects:

"Intersections of Nationalism and Neoliberalism in Youth Identity Formation: A Cross-Cultural Inquiry" - postdoctoral research at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA), Oxford University. 

"Developing Applied Models for Planning, Evaluating and Teaching within Learning Environments: Research & Development" - Researcher Associate in an interdisciplinary (Sociology-Education-Architecture) R&D project to improve the compatibility between pedagogy and architecture in educational spaces. 

"Storytelling of Empirical Knowledge" - International Academic Course, designed to help educators and researchers translate complex findings into accessible narratives.

Leadership and Impact:

Dr. Sari R. Alfi-Nissan is a postdoctoral fellow at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA), at Oxford University. Sari completed her MA and her PhD at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-Ilan University with highest honours and was the valedictorian of her class. Sari was granted the Presidential Doctoral Fellowship of Excellence, the Rector Award of Distinction and won the University Presidential Award for Article Publications for four consecutive years. During her PhD studies, Sari was a visiting researcher at the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at the University of Kent. For the past few years, Sari has been teaching courses on Storytelling of Knowledge, seminar courses on discourse in education alongside qualitative and quantitative methodology courses in Sociology and in Education. 

Contact: sari.alfi-nissan@area.ox.ac.uk 
 

Helena Hinke Dobrochinski Candido

Senior researcher

Research areas:

  • Comparative and international education
  • Education politics and policies
  • Education and knowledge governance
  • Intertwinement of public and private sectors in education
  • Global and local nexus in education
  • Roles of transnational organizations in education
  • Quality assurance and evaluation dynamics
  • (International) Large-scale assessments and indicators
  • Marketization, commodification, and datafication in education
  • Education export
  • Interface of migration and education policies
  • Social justice within and through education

Ongoing projects: KOETUS


Leadership and Impact

I worked as University Lecturer in the Master's Programme in Changing Education until 2024. Before that, I led and implemented the post-doctoral project "Demystifying education export: analyzing the effects of Finnish education export from the perspective of the importer", funded by the Research Council of Finland (2019-2022). I worked in various other research projects at Finnish universities earlier, and I had a business career, which explains my collaboration with multiple stakeholders. I am the teacher-in-charge of exchange studies at the Faculty, where I continue teaching and supervising MA and PhD students on topics related to Comparative and International Education and my other research interests. 

Publications and supervision

My publications are situated in the field of Comparative and International Education and primarily discuss educational governance from different perspectives: quality assurance and evaluation, Finnish education export, marketization and commodification in education, datafication, social justice, migration, etc. They refer to empirical cases in Brazil, Finland, Sweden, China, Russia, and Argentina, but I intend to expand my scientific reach to other areas of the globe through collaboration with my international networks. I supervise students with diverse backgrounds, with whom I learn about several other education systems and governance patterns.


Contact: helena.candido@helsinki.fi

Crystal Green

Affiliated Researcher 

Research areas:

  • Sociology of Education 
  • Teacher Agency 
  • International and Comparative Education

Leadership and Impact 

Dr. Crystal Green has demonstrated significant leadership in the field of education research and innovation, particularly through her role as Research Director at HundrED. She has spearheaded global initiatives that emphasize equity, social justice, and transformative education, shaping policy and practice through extensive research dissemination and stakeholder engagement. Her leadership extends to mentorship, supervising postdoctoral researchers, doctoral candidates, and research interns, fostering the next generation of scholars and education innovators. With a strong presence in international academic and professional networks, she actively contributes to shaping global conversations on education, equity, and innovation, reinforcing her impact through collaborative research and high-profile speaking engagements.

Publications and Supervision

Dr. Green has an extensive publication record with 43 total publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and research reports. Her research spans critical topics in education, such as equity, social justice, and innovation in teacher education, with her work published in respected journals and edited volumes. She has supervised multiple researchers at various levels, including postdoctoral scholars, doctoral candidates, and master's students, guiding them in projects related to democratic education, gamified curricula, and transformative education. Her commitment to research mentorship and knowledge dissemination underscores her influence in shaping contemporary educational discourse and policy development.

Contact: crystal.green@helsinki.fi 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/greencrystal/

Juho Honkasilta

Postdoctoral researcher

Research areas:

  • Social constructions of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
  • Identity and subjectivity constructions, otherness and othering, social Inclusion and exclusion, ableism in education discourse practices
  • Theorizing inclusive education, (mis)conceptualizations of inclusive education
  • Implementation of behavioral support at schools
  • Disability studies in education, Inclusive education, Special education, Discourse studies

Ongoing projects: CoSupport

Contact: juho.honkasilta@helsinki.fi

Tuija Kasa

Researcher (Doctor of Philosophy in spe, M.Soc.Sci.)

Research areas:

  • Human rights education
  • (in)equality in education and society
  • Philosophy of education
  • Democratic education
  • Moral education and ethics
  • Critical and feminist theories

Contact:

Email: tuija.kasa@helsinki.fi / tuija.kasa@gmail.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuija-kasa/

Bluesky: @tuijakasa https://bsky.app/profile/tuijakasa.bsky.social

Threads: @TuijaKasa

Hanna Kontio

Adjunct Professor, University Lecturer

Research areas:

  • International higher education
  • Academic partnerships
  • Intercultural higher education pedagogy

Ongoing projects:

Leadership and impact

My research supports the internationalisation of the Higher Education Institutions especially in the areas of global higher education cooperation and international degree programmes. My current teaching and supervisory duties at the University of Helsinki are within the International Master’s Programme in Changing Education programme (launched in 2020), where I serve as the vice director and the responsible lecturer.    

Publications and supervision

My scientific publications broadly represent internationally significant themes in the field of education, especially higher education pedagogy, global education, international higher education cooperation, and critical issues of education and development in African countries. The doctoral dissertations and master's theses I have supervised are related to international educational cooperation and expertise, as well as the development of pedagogies in diverse education settings. My broad academic development work is connected to strategy and curriculum work, pedagogical development projects, and international partnerships.

Contact: hanna.kontio@helsinki.fi

Ameera Masoud

Postdoctoral researcher

Research areas and interests:

  • Critical perspectives on integration of people categorized as refugees and immigrants
  • Anti-racism, racialization, inequality, diversity and inclusion/exclusion
  • Power-relations and power dynamics
  • Employment, employability, skilling, and education

 

Contact: ameera.masoud@helsinki.fi

Katariina Mertanen

Postdoctoral researcher

Research areas:

  • Governance 
  • Youth education
  • Education policy 
  • Digitalisation

Current research:

  • Future of youth education and precision education governance
  • Digitalisation, marketisation and globalisation of youth education

Ongoing projects: FuturEd

Contact: katariina.mertanen@helsinki.fi

Marja Peltola

University Lecturer

Research areas:

  • Youth research
  • Gender research, masculinities
  • Social class
  • Ethnicity, race, racialization
  • Intersectionality


Leadership and Impact
Marja Peltola is a sociologist and youth researcher with multidisciplinary experience in the fields of social science, youth research, gender research and education. She works as a University Lecturer in Education and coordinates AGORA’s doctoral research seminar Critical sociology and philosophy in education (CRISP). 


Publications and Supervision
Marja has published widely on themes related to youth, masculinities, (in)equalities, family and close relationships, and sexuality, among others. She supervises master’s and doctoral theses on these themes and others related. 
 

Contact: marja.peltola@helsinki.fi 
 

 

Jaana Pesonen

University lecturer

Research areas:

  • Theories of intersectionality and anti-racism.
  • Norm criticism in children’s culture and critical literacies in early childhood education
  • Privatization of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services
    • Marketization of ECEC pedagogy
    • Precision education and ECEC teacher’s profession
    • Assemblages of edu-business

Ongoing projects: CoSupportFuturEd


Contact: jaana.pesonen@helsinki.fi

 

Birgit Schaffar-Kronqvist

Senior university lecturer

Research areas:

  • Philosophy of education
  • Didactics of social justice and democracy in classroom
  • Embodied learning and sustainability

Ongoing projects:

  • MångSam, Mångfald och samarbete (diversitet and cooperation), leader of WP: Trygga klassrumssamtal (safe conversations in classroom)
  • KOETUS Anticipated and alternative futures of Finnish education
  • Anpassa eller frigöra? (Adapting of liberating? On education's task today)

Leadership and Impact

Birgit is the president of Nordic Society for Philosophy of Education, the chair of the equality and non-discrimination workgroup at the Faculty of educational sciences at the University of Helsinki and an editorial board member of Speki, Nordic Philosophy and Education Review.

Contact: birgit.schaffar@helsinki.fi

 

Satu Valkonen

Adjunct professor, University lecturer

Research areas:

  • The sociology of work and education
  • The marketization of education
  • Social interaction and digital media
  • Media education

Ongoing projects:

  • Proficient Early Childhood Education and Care (PI)
  • Marketization of education (co-leader)
  • PROSUS – Sustainable early childhood education and care (co-leader)

Leadership and Impact 

Principal investigator in projects Political cultures of early childhood education and repertoires of justification and Proficient Early Childhood Education; co-leader in projects Marketization of education and PROSUS – Sustainable early childhood education and care

Contact: satu.m.valkonen@helsinki.fi