Mervi Helkkula is a professor of French language whose research areas cover both language and literature. The common thread running through all of her research is textuality. She has adopted a research approach which involves text linguistics, stylistics, or pragmatics, or a combination of these.

What I recall particularly well from my career are some of the celebrations. In the year 2000, there was a wonderful atmosphere at the exceptionally festive Faculty of Philosophy degree congregation. The dinner at Finlandia Hall was a truly delightful experience, thanks to the fun people sitting at my table. For example, professors Kalevi Rikkinen and Yrjö Engeström, along with their wives, as well as an honorary doctor from the States (whose name escapes me), sat at my table.