Tuula Teräväinen
Postdoctoral researcher, Dr.Soc.Sc.
tuula.teravainen@helsinki.fi

Tuula Teräväinen’s research focuses on sociology of science and technology and political sociology. She has analysed expectations, governance and coordination of science, technology and innovation policies in several national, European and international research projects, including analyses on new growth theories, the knowledge-based economy, and broad societal and politico-economic transformations (e.g. Häyrinen-Alestalo et al. 2005; 2006; Pelkonen et al. 2008; 2010). Her doctoral dissertation ”The politics of energy technologies – Debating climate change, energy policy, and technology in Finland, the UK, and France” (2012) focuses on debates on energy technologies and technology-driven climate and energy policies at the national level and in comparative and international settings, as well as their implications for eco-political, normative, and politico-institutional understandings.

Teräväinen’s research interests include political promises of new technologies and the coordination and governance of technology-related policies; socio-technical and politico-economic aspects of green growth, low-carbon economy, sustainability, and ecological modernisation; tensions between global and national climate policy; and the interactions between the state, society and market in technology-driven climate and energy policies. In addition, her work addresses the mutually constitutive interplay between polity and politics and entails theoretical and methodological development that enables combining structural and discursive-symbolic dimensions of politics. She has published several articles on climate and energy policies and the political dimension of technology in reputable international journals and books.

Karoliina Snell
Postdoctoral researcher, Dr.Soc.Sc.
karoliina.snell@helsinki.fi

Karoliina Snell is Doctor of Social Sciences and specialises in sociology of science and technology. In her research work she has analysed developments in different fields of technology (for example environmental biotechnology and biomedicine). She has addressed issues of technology governance and responsibility in developing new technologies from the viewpoint of multiple actors and stakeholders (e.g. Snell 2009, Häyrinen-Alestalo & Snell 2004). Her interest have been on understanding how innovation policies, commercial expectations and ideas of responsibility are transferred into practise by those people involved in developing and dealing with new technology.

In addition, Snell has participated in several research projects on public attitudes and opinions towards new technologies (e.g. Tupasela et al. 2010, Snell & Starkbaum 2011), role of patients in biomedicine (e.g. Tupasela & Snell 2010), and universities’ changing duties in commercialised and globilised society (e.g. Snell 2002). She has experiences from several international research projects and networks. Snell’s PhD “Social Responsibility in Developing New Biotechnology: Interpretations of Responsibility in the Governance of Finnish Biotechnology” (2009) concerns many aspects of stakeholder relations and societal responsibility.

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Antti Gronow (network analysis, Spring 2012)
Postdoctoral researcher, Dr.Soc.Sc.
antti.gronow@helsinki.fi

Gronow defended his dissertation on pragmatist social theory in 2011 (From Habits to Social Structures. Pragmatism and Contemporary Social Theory, published by Peter Lang) and he has recently been interested in both the methodological and theoretical aspects of social network analysis. In this project, he aims to look into the possible correlations between network properties of policy networks and actual policy views that different organisations hold. He is also planning on doing research on the interlocking directorates of Finnish corporations.