The Middle East is constantly in the news, which is why an essential part of Hannu Juusola’s and other scholars’ work involves expert opinion, whether it’s dealings with the media, government departments or political organisations.

– For my part, these tasks typically concern current political questions in the Middle East, which I have to comment on, sometimes at very short notice. It takes up quite a lot of time to follow on a daily basis the politics of over twenty countries, but I feel that these specialist tasks are a valuable part of my work and in a way a duty, says Juusola.

Professor Juusola gives many guest lectures in organisations and schools. He has written plenty of popular articles and books on the Middle East.

– My most important message when talking about the Middle East is that the area is not so different as is still assumed in the Western countries. The Middle East cannot be explained by timeless holy scriptures and religion: the political development of the area is governed largely by the same factors as in other parts of the world.

Among the academic organisations and bodies, the most important one for Juusola is the board of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies. In addition to academic conferences, the society and its board organise joint Nordic doctoral courses in the Middle East, where Juusola has lectured many times.

Another important society for Hannu Juusola is the Tampere Club, an international learned society for researchers of democracy, of which he is a member. He is also a board member of the Foundation of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East and the Finnish Oriental Society. At the University of Helsinki, he is a member of the faculty council of the Faculty of Arts and on the steering committee of the Department of World Cultures.