I am a senior lecturer of comparative literature. In addition to literature, I studied Finnish language, cultural history, musicology and teacher's pedagogical studies for my masters degree and graduated as Finnish language and literature (L1) teacher. While I was doing my doctoral thesis on conceptions of time in Daniel Defoe's novels, I became a visiting researcher at the universities of Warwick and Humboldt. In post-doctoral research, I also specialised in questions related to literature teaching and literary pedagogy, especially in upper secondary school. I teach literary history, bachelor's seminars, analysis courses, and changing special courses on e.g. the theory and history of the novel. Within the framework of the Erasmus teacher exchange, I have also taught at the University of Worcester, La Sapienza in Rome and Charles University in Prague.

Leader of research projects:

Consortium Growing into Literature Advanced Theories and Practices in Literature Education, WP2 Experientiality and narrative agency in L1 matriculation exams and reading prose fiction of global phenomena (Research Council of Finland 2025 - 2029)

How to Read? Forms of Reading in Teaching Literature in the Upper Secondary School (Kone Foundation 2028 - 2020)

Currently, my research focuses on how literature is taught in classrooms. I am leading a project that studies the theories and practicalities of how literature is taught and read at schools. The focus of the project is on past and present methods of how prose fiction, poetry and drama are taught in Finnish upper secondary schools, and our research group is particularly interested in how affects, intersectionality and contextual aspects could be integrated into the teaching of literature. Previously, I have studied time-related phenomena in novels and eighteenth-century English literature. My monograph deals with the concept of time in Daniel Defoe’s novels. In addition to Defoe, I have also written articles that focus on novels written by Ian McEwan, Wladimir Kaminer, Aphra Behn and Per Petterson. 

I am responsible for several undergraduate courses, such as the lecture courses “Introduction to Literary Studies” and “Literary History” and Prose and Drama Analysis. I also teach and supervise Bachelor’s and Master’s theses as well as doctoral dissertations. I have served as an Erasmus exchange teacher at the University of La Sapienza, Rome, and at the University of Worcester. I have co-written several textbooks for both Finnish upper secondary schools (Jukola, kurssit 5 ja 6. [Jukola, textbook for Finnish language and literature] with Elias Heikkonen, Marja Hakalin and Olli Sulopuisto, published by Sanoma Pro 2017, 2018) and undergraduate students (Johdatus kirjallisuusanalyysiin [Introduction to Literary Analysis] with Liisa Steinby, published by SKS 2013).