Author Archives: rsmval

Interdisciplinarity as a strategy

Posted on May 17, 2021 by rsmval

This post is based on a talk given at the international online symposium Across Boundaries in Sciences. The event was hosted by All European Academics (ALLEA) and the Council of Finnish Academies on 5 May 2021. The program, talks and more detailed … Continue reading →

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Ants and Hospitality

Posted on April 28, 2021 by rsmval

I have been invaded, I am under siege. There was one of them first. A fast-moving, black spot on the kitchen counter. Then two, three, twenty, three hundred. Moving forward, swaying lines. The man from the management company looking after … Continue reading →

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A book recommendation for a time of crisis

Posted on April 19, 2021 by rsmval

In Emily St. John Mandel’s science fiction novel Station Eleven, a nomadic group of actors and musicians travels through North America devastated by a lethal pandemic, ”Georgia flu”. The troupe performs William Shakespeare’s plays, which have found new appeal in … Continue reading →

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Now is the time to stand in solidarity, not project blame on the ‘Other’

Posted on March 23, 2021 by rsmval

Novelist Arundhati Roy suggests that we might think about the current COVID-19 pandemic, a deadly global health crisis which has been disorganising planetary life and exacerbating social inequalities for over a year now, as a portal. She suggests we experiment … Continue reading →

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Universities and academic freedom during the Covid-19 pandemic: key challenges

Posted on March 15, 2021 by rsmval

Dr Seçkin Sertdemir Özdemir Collegium Researcher at the Turku Institute for Advanced Studies and the Department of Philosophy, Contemporary History and Political Science and Visiting Fellow in the European Institute at the LSE The Covid-19 pandemic has had a dramatic … Continue reading →

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Search for a Vanished River

Posted on February 15, 2021 by rsmval

A couple of weeks ago, Mikel Calle Navarro discussed the concept of the river in his exciting entry in this same blog. I spontaneously commented it, because I had previously pondered the same problematic, albeit in a different context. As … Continue reading →

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The same, only different – stress experiences during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on January 18, 2021 by rsmval

We are about to reach the milestone of one year living under the exceptional conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In Finland, the society has fared well in terms of the disease statistics compared to many other countries all over … Continue reading →

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