Emilia Palonen

Emilia Palonen is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences. She currently serves as Datafication Research Director at the Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) and leads the Helsinki Hub on Emotions, Populism and Polarisation (HEPP) research group. Her academic career spans over 15 years with expertise in interpretive and discoursive approaches to comparative political analysis.

Her research focuses on:

• Populism and democratic governance
• Political polarization and communication
• European identity through cultural policy
• Hungarian and Finnish comparative politics
• Urban memoryscapes and symbolic politics
• Radicalization and de-radicalization processes

Palonen's recent scholarly work analyzes political developments in Finland, particularly regarding right-wing populism, European Parliament elections, and the impact of social media on political communication. Her research employs discourse theoretical methods and examines political phenomena through both historical and contemporary lenses. She has led multiple large-scale research projects including Whirl of Knowledge (WhiKnow) and Now-Time, Us-Space, which investigate knowledge production and community-building in hybrid media systems across Europe.

Her scientific recognition includes being among the top 12 designs out of 1400 in the 'A new symbol for Europe' design competition (2010) and receiving the Dosentti (Adjunct Professor) title in Political Science with specialization in Cultural Policy Research (2016).

Palonen actively contributes to academic leadership as Executive Committee member of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), former Chair of the Finnish Political Science Association (2018-2022), and board member of the Finnish Federation of Learned Societies. She has supervised seven PhD theses and currently mentors several doctoral students working on topics including academic capitalism, celebrity politics, and populism in Central and Eastern Europe.

Her research team HEPP includes a dozen active researchers, and she has organized multiple international conferences on emotions, populism, and polarization. She is also a recognized media figure who provides expert commentary on political developments in Finland and Europe.