A career in research is not easy. If I could go back in time and decide whether to choose a career in research or one in a museum, which was my original plan, I do not know what I would do. I have never been out of work during my research career, but I have come very close. New ideas for research have often come to me during these intervals between projects.

After completing my dissertation on the Kemijoki log drivers, I wrote a monograph on the concept of time held by the Khanty people in West Siberia, and subsequently moved on to study the Finnish population  living in Sweden from different angles. I started my research in the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies by looking at Finnish-American cookbooks. Not a day goes by when I don’t dream about continuing this work.

My post-doctoral work lasted ten years and during that time I wrote three monographs, contributed to many journals, wrote my own articles, and conducted research for long periods of time in Sweden and Canada. Whether working at foreign universities, or for the University of Helsinki, I’ve always felt at home.

As the Vice-Dean, I thought hard about the lot of post-doctoral researchers in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki. On the one hand, how does one encourage researchers to fly from the nest if the opportunity presents itself? On the other hand, how can we take care of the post-doctoral researchers who are a part of our scientific community?

Holding various positions and working on various topics in academia is a precondition for a more secure position. Not everyone can be employed by the university, so post-doctoral researchers should be encouraged to work in other areas that benefit society. But my dream is that those who do their post-doctoral work in the Faculty of Arts in the University of Helsinki have a sense of belonging.