Anna Korhonen

I am a Senior Advisor at the University of Helsinki Research Services. With over 25 years of experience in designing research environments and fostering international collaborations, I have dedicated my career to empowering academics and driving impactful scholarship. I have initiated, designed concepts for, and implemented various successful programmes, including the Aleksanteri Institute Visiting Fellows Programme, which has over 160 Alumni in 30 countries; a series of international annual conferences, now the second biggest in Europe within its field; international doctoral training summer schools series, and other international initiatives. Additionally, I have focused on supporting project development and securing funding for new projects by offering editing, co-writing, and other pre-award services to selected scholars.

As a co-founder of the Finnish Centre for Russian and Eastern European studies, the Aleksanteri Institute, I played a key role in establishing its operations and created a Finland-wide university network in Russian and Eastern European studies. I also designed the concept for a nation-wide Master’s school running for the past 26 years, and set up and coordinated the Finnish doctoral programme in the same field. I have held various leadership positions at this centre, including Head of International Affairs for 16 years, acting Head of Development and Vice-Director, and acting Director of the master’s school. My academic background is in sociology, and my research interests focus on post-socialist nation-building, nationalism, and minority policies in the context of Estonia, its Russian-speaking population, Russia, and international organizations.