An administrator in academia

I managed to enter the University of Helsinki through the infamous revolving doors and after my doctoral dissertation I tried to exit the University and the world of research into an administrative career. I did have a research career as an alternative, but in the mid-1990s funding for research was scarce (then as well), and when I found an opening in administration, it felt like a good road to take. My attempted leap out of academia hasn't been entirely successful, since my career has revolved around research administration, universities, research and higher education policy.

Research administration is a fascinating, multifaceted, and endlessly changing field. My changing duties have led me to consider the fundamental tasks of a university: higher education, research, and dialogue with society from several perspectives.

At this time I am employed at the Academy of Finland, where I am serving a second term as Director of the Culture and Society Research Unit (Research Council for Culture and Society). My unit is in charge of the preparation and assessment of research grant applications addressed to the Academy in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. My duties include questions of research policy and international research funding. My days are filled with meetings, discussions and preparations. I constantly need to try to look further ahead to where are we going, where we want to go, and what kind of information is needed for us to be able to make the necessary decisions.

In between my terms at the Academy, I was Executive Director of Universities Finland UNIFI, a co-operational organisation for Finnish universities, for eight years. You could say that during my time at the UNIFI, practically every issue relating to higher education, its structures and reforms crossed my desk in one form or another. I had a ring-side seat on university reform, and I took part in working out the funding model for universities. There is actually nothing new in the current discussion on structural reform, university profiles, resource allocation, faster graduation times; the exact same themes have been current in higher education and research politics for decades. The operating environment is constantly changing, so similar questions must be debated and resolved again and again.

“I really enjoy working in the best interests of science”, Academy of Finland

By Written by Liisa Savunen (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta ed.), translated by Tero Heikkinen, revised by Matthew Billington

Liisa Savunen

Liisa Kristiina Savunen
Born November 3, 1960, Helsinki

Master of Arts 1989 and licentiate 1992 (general history), PhD 1997 (classical philology), University of HelsinkiDocent in general history, particularly women’s history, 2005–, University of Tampere

Director of the Culture and Society Research Unit 2014–, Academy of Finland
President/ executive director 2006–14, Universities of Finland UNIFI
President/ unit director 2000–06, Academy of Finland
Senior researcher 1997–2000, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Project researcher 1993–96, University of Helsinki

Board member 2013–, and chairman 2014–, The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes
Board member 2006–, and vice-chairman 2010–, Institutum Romanum Finlandiae Foundation

Publications:

Two monographs, numerous academic articles and presentations at national and international academic seminars and conferences in the field of classical social history and women’s history.
In addition, co-authored reports of numerous administrative working groups.

Photo: Suomen Akatemia, Anita Westerback
Written by Liisa Savunen (Riitta-Ilona Hurmerinta, ed.)
Translated by Matthew Billington