In my research I have always aimed for understanding. Through my research I want to get as close to an all-embracing picture of life as possible, especially a comprehensive picture of the humanistic and social-scientific aspects of life.

My quest to get a handle on the big picture has meant that I have constantly tried to approach language from new perspectives. For instance, every language is as such a new perspective.

My mother tongue is the dialect Solv (spoken in the village Solf in present-day Korsholm, south of Vaasa on the west coast). During my school days in Vaasa, I was teased about my dialect, and I soon learned not to assign it much value.

What I value most at the University of Helsinki is the high quality of the university. This applies equally to research, to teaching, and to the mediation of research findings to the public. I am also extremely pleased that it is virtually always possible to function in Swedish at the University of Helsinki.

I love to teach, in particular about things that are not easily available or already published. My general philosophy is that if something is published, the students can go and read it by themselves.

In addition to the customary referee and expertise assignments at the University of Helsinki and around the world, I have been the Chair of three different departments at the University of Helsinki. I have also been fortunate to be able to influence research policy in Finland through a number of positions of trust.

Jan-Ola Östman on his homepage and in interviews.