The Finnish Society for the Study of English (FINSSE) held its eighth biannual conference here in Turku this summer. Having never attended a conference before, I leapt at the opportunity to work as an assistant at the event and get credits for my Master’s internship. I’m glad I did, for The FINSSE-8 conference, “What’s in ...
Academic festivities are there for a reason: they help us remember that we are part of a long scholarly tradition which is our cultural and intellectual heritage. That is where we belong. Not to mention the fact that they are extremely fun and enjoyable! 136 young doctors and 12 honorary doctors participated in a two-day ...
The English Department seems to be building up a special affinity with Galway. The ESSE conference last August was attended by quite a crowd (see blog post here); earlier last year I had the chance to visit the National University of Ireland in Galway as Moore Institute Research Fellow. And now I am back at ...
Thursday 9 March was an exciting day on campus, as it was the day for the final of the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, which was organized for the first time at the University of Turku.The competition was developed by the University of Queensland and the first 3MT competition was held at UQ in 2008. ...
The Shakespeare 400 course was organised jointly by the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University in autumn 2016. After the first lecture on the history of English and the early printing history of Shakespeare’s works, the students delved deeper into other topics in Shakespeare studies. Aino Mäkikalli discussed Shakespeare’s sonnets, situating them in their ...
The English Department makes traditional ‘City Hikes’ to Turku destinations. This time the goal was to be jazzed at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum with their Tuesday concert series. The programme promised a treat by the duo of the jazz pianist Aki Rissanen and the Finnish jazz guitar genius Niklas Winter. The (unexpected, unprogrammed) overture was ...
Professor Peikola in academic regalia. 1. Tell us a little bit of who you are. I am a 48-year-old Doctor of Philosophy and a lifelong learner. I live in Turku with my wife Kirsi and our Lagotto Romagnolo dog. My academic career has primarily been at Turku, with shorter periods at Helsinki, Münster, Oxford, York ...
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. Universities and other institutions around the world have been organising special events and courses throughout the year. One of these special courses is Shakespeare 400, a joint effort of the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. The course runs from late October ...
In September 2015, Matti Peikola from the University of Turku and Adam Borch from Åbo Akademi University held a seminar for doctoral candidates. In a workshop held after the presentations, the participants called for more contact between doctoral candidates of UTU and ÅAU, and so a committee was created for this purpose. The committee members, ...
While our historical linguists were enjoying the heatwave in Essen, another delegation from the English department went on a similar mission to a place with just one letter’s difference: ESSE – the European Society for the Study of English biannual conference in gorgeous Galway, Ireland. Our research project funded by the Academy of Finland, Out ...