Teaching, active publishing and positions of trust expand a professional network, form connections and give rise to new ideas. Susanna Pettersson works as a docent of museology and a visiting lecturer, and has a perspective on society, for example, as a board member of the Aalto University.

Pettersson, who has worked in the field since the late 1980s, sees combining practical museum work and academic research as a great advantage. This benefits, in addition to Finnish students, the students at the heart of critical museology, the Reinwardt Academy in Amsterdam, where Pettersson has worked as a visiting lecturer since 2011.

“I can use my knowledge of operative museum work in my teaching. Likewise, I can inject theoretical thinking into everyday museum work, and I am able to see the bigger picture.”

Having experience from both areas also came in handy when Pettersson was working for several years to improve the mobility of European museum collections. The Ministry of Education and Culture appointed her as an expert for the European Union's OMC committee, which presented the mobility recommendations to the commission in 2010.

As the director of the Ateneum Art Museum, Pettersson does not have the time to publish extensively, but she does not wish to give up writing articles. She says that writing gives her a positive energy boost. From the institution's point of view, it is important that a museum profiled by research is led by a director who is active and understands what research is all about.

“In the future, we will put research first when putting together exhibitions. On top of that, we will make the research visible: for example, we have set up the international Ateneum Art Museum Research Conference series. We gathered together international Helene Schjerfbeck scholars under the same roof for our first event.”

Positions of trust naturally bridge the gap between the world of academia and the world of museums. Pettersson has previously served as a board member for the Society for Art History in Finland, the Finnish Museums Association, and as president of the Nordic Committee of Art History, NORDIK. Out of her more recent board memberships, she is happy to mention the Aalto University.

“It is a privilege to take part in building a creative and international university!”

As a museum director, Petterson believes in the power of professional networks and personal contacts. She is in close contact with the directors of Nordic national galleries, her European colleagues and the top researchers in the field.