Ulla Tuomarla
Humanist of the day

Ulla Tuomarla

University lecturer Ulla Tuomarla, head of the Department of Modern Languages, has enjoyed working for the University of Helsinki for 20 years. Dr Tuomarla admits to being something of an exception at the Faculty of Arts, as she likes administration. In her present work as head of department, she can never be sure what the working week will bring, but that is all to the good. Her own research has been slightly overshadowed by the demands of her work, but Dr Tuomarla hopes that through her research on internet hate-speech she can influence society and offer some practical solutions.

Ulla Tuomarla

Ulla Susanna Tuomarla
Born August 8, 1965, Turku

Master of Arts 1993, PhD 2000 (French philology), University of Helsinki
Docent 2002, University of Helsinki

Head of department 2014–, deputy head of department 2010–14, Department of Modern Languages, University of Helsinki
University lecturer 2009– (French translation), University of Helsinki
Acting university lecturer 2007–09 and 2000-03, postdoctoral assistant 2003–06, University of Helsinki
French teacher 1999–2000, University of Tampere

Publications, research projects and other academic activity
Research themes:
Linguistic polyphony and reported speech, argumentation, emotions and linguistic interaction (inter alia, hate speech).
The research project How to address?

Photo: Essi Lavonen
Written by Ulla Tuomarla and Tiia Niemelä
Translated by Matthew Billington

The agony and the ecstasy of administration

Ulla Tuomarla has been in charge of the Department of Modern Languages since it was established, first as the deputy head of department from 2010 to 2014 and then as head of department from 2014 onwards. Tuomarla has been employed by the University for 20 years now, becoming a doctoral student in 1995, but it was not until 2009 that she became a permanent member of staff. Almost as soon as she had signed her contract, a colleague became ill, and she was asked to take charge of the then Department of Romance Languages.

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The Angry World of the Internet

Hate speech is a very topical issue, and according to Ulla Tuomarla it is also a very interesting phenomenon when it comes to the study of language. For over a year she has been working on a hate speech research project, which she would very much like to see grow into an interdisciplinary project.

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My Best Memories from the University of Helsinki

There are so many of them! As a student I had a really nice circle of friends, which included philosophers, aestheticians, historians and law students of all ages. We drank coffee in the Porthania building while trying to save the world. Many of us are still here! I had an unusual combination of subjects, French and art history, which I believe had a part to play in why I had such a wide circle of friends.

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My Dream

At the moment my professional dream is to establish some kind of interdisciplinary, and preferably international, research project that could, for example, provide insight into hate speech. In addition to linguists, I would like the team to include a sociologist, a social psychologist, and a computer scientist, which would facilitate many different approaches to the phenomenon. I hope that based on our work there could be some application that would make life more pleasant for people.

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