Dr. Sanna Ilonen holds a Doctor of Science (Economics and Business Administration) from the University of Turku. She currently serves as a university teacher in Entrepreneurship and as responsible teacher for the subject. Sanna is also set to lead the new international bachelor’s degree programme in Sustainable and Social Entrepreneurship. Previously, she headed the academic programme in International Management and Entrepreneurship.

Her research focuses on entrepreneurship education in higher education, with a particular interest in entrepreneurial learning and the well-being and ill-being of entrepreneurs. Sanna has actively contributed to numerous research and development projects/initiatives and has been involved in competitive tendering processes.

A passionate and dedicated educator, Sanna continuously enhances her teaching through pedagogical development. She completed her formal pedagogical training (60 ECTS, overall grade excellent) in June 2018 and has since been involved in educational development at the faculty, programme, and unit levels. Currently, she is also participating in the European Sustainable Entrepreneurship Educator Training Programme, further deepening her expertise in sustainability-focused entrepreneurship education.

Sanna’s scholarly work has been published in both international and national journals, including the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Industry & Higher Education, and Hallinnon tutkimus. She has presented her research at various academic conferences and has served as a conference chair in YKTS2023, and acted reviewer and session chair on multiple occasions.

In addition to her academic roles, Sanna has contributed to regional development for instance through her position on the advisory board of the ERDF-funded HAPI project, which aimed to boost service innovation among SMEs in the healthcare sector. Sanna participates regularly to education export and has educated university management and educators in several countries.

Sanna’s research interests focus on entrepreneurship education in higher education. Topic of her dissertation (defended 2020) was "Entrepreneurial learning in entrepreneurship education in higher education" and it investigated whether and how entrepreneurial learning develops in entrepreneurship education in universities. In her post-doctoral research she continues to work around entrepreneurship education in higher education (also focus on critical entrepreneurship education, intrapreneurship and practitioner integration) and is also interested in wellbeing and illbeing in entrepreneurship.

Sanna serves an editor for Edward Elgar Publishing (A Research Agenda for Intrapreneurship), in an editorial review board for Entrepreneurship Education & Pedagogy, has served a guest editor for Journal of Professional and Vocational Education (Kriittisiä ja refleksiivisiä näkökulmia yrittäjyyskasvatukseen), serves in an editorial board for Edward Elgar book Encyclopedia of Entrepreneurship Education. Sanna has served as a conference chair for the National Entrepreneurship Education Conference 2023 and served as a session chair in several conferences.

Sanna has presented her research work in several international conferences and published her articles in respected journals such as International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research and Industry & Higher Education and Hallinnon Tutkimus. She has also served as a reviewer in multiple journals (International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Industry & Higher Education, Education + Training, Entrepreneurship Education & Pedagogy), and multiple conferences (RENT, ICSB, YKTT, WORK, 3E, NSBC). 

Sanna is a passionate teacher and has constantly developed her teaching skills through pedagogical studies. She completed her university pedagogical training (60 ECTs) in 2018 with excellent overall evaluation and achieved an educational and teaching qualification (pedagoginen pätevyys in Finnish). Currently, Sanna is participating in the European Sustainable Entrepreneurship Educator Training Programme, further deepening her expertise in sustainability-focused entrepreneurship education.

Previously, Sanna headed the academic programme in International Management and Entrepreneurship. Currently, Sanna is set to lead the new international bachelor’s degree programme in Sustainable and Social Entrepreneurship and is a member of Teaching skills Committee of Turku School of Economics (evaluations of teaching skills for vacant positions). She is an active member of TSE's teachers' club. Sanna supervises theses groups, co-supervises dissertations and serves as a teacher in several courses. Sanna also serves as a my-teacher (teacher tutor).