Jason Finch

Jason Finch is a Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Åbo Akademi University. He holds adjunct positions at the University of Turku and has held visiting roles at institutions including the University of London and Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on literary urban studies, urban history, and public transport as public space. Finch has published over 70 works including books like Deep Locational Criticism (2016) and Literatures of Urban Possibility (2021), and edited special journal issues on topics like tramway closures and slum narratives.

Education: BA (1991) University of Birmingham, MPhil (1994) University of Oxford, PhD (2011) Åbo Akademi University. He became a Docent at the University of Turku in 2016 and was promoted to full Professor in 2023. His work intersects with UN Sustainable Development Goals related to education and urban sustainability.

Research Interests:

• Literary analysis of London's urban history through housing and mobilities
• Secondary cities in literary studies (e.g., St. Louis, MO)
• Public transport as public space
• Slum representations in literature and media

Awards: 2021 Excellence Award for Collaborative Research (with L. Ameel & M. Salmela). Projects: Principal investigator for EU-funded PUTSPACE (2019-2023) and RAILIMAGE (2024-2027), studying railway imaginations and urban mobilities.