I received my PhD at LSE in 1997. Since then, I have worked at University of Turku and Åbo Akademi University. In 2012, I was appointed as a Professor of Political Science at University of Turku. I have made research visits at Columbia University, Australian National University and University of Westminster. I have been the Principal Investigator of the projects "Participation in Long-Term Decision-Making" (PALO) (2017-2022) and "Facing Systemic Change Together" (2021-2024), both funded by The Research Council of Finland. In May 2025, I started as a co-PI in the ERC Synergy project “Advancing Digital Democratic Innovation” (ADDI, 2025-2031) Home - ADDI. I am currently also a wp leader in projects Flaire (2023-2028) Home page and Sincrony (2023-2027) Sincrony |

In my research, I specialize in democratic theories, especially theories of deliberative democracy, political trust, as well as various types of democratic innovations such as citizens' initiatives and deliberative mini-publics. I have published widely on these topics. I have also interest in future-regarding policy-making, which was the topic of the recent co-edited book Democracy and the Future (Michael MacKenzie, Maija Setälä and Simo Kyllönen (eds), Edinburgh University Press 2023). In the recent and ongoing research projects FACTOR, FLAIRE and SINCRONY, my research interests are in the role of citizen deliberation in climate and energy transitions and issues of inclusion in deliberative forums. In the future, I will increasingly focus on the prospects and pitfalls of AI in citizen participation and deliberation.

I teach courses on democratic theory, democratic innovations, and issues of long-term governance. I supervise Master's and PhD students in political science. From May 2025 onwards, I will work mostly on the research projects ADDI, Flaire and Sincrony.