The Academy of Finland granted funding for the EANKS (Exiting academics in networked knowledge societies) research project (6 June, 2016)

The Academy of Finland has granted 560.000 euros for EANKS (Exiting academics in networked knowledge societies), a consortium project led by Professor Jussi Välimaa from the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER). The funding period covers 48 months from 1 September, 2016 till 31 August, 2020.

The project investigates how researchers and teachers who have left universities have networked in the Finnish society and economic life. In previous research this group has received little interest despite the fact that universities and academics are central actors in knowledge-based economies. EANKS is a multifaceted research project as it is based on a large quantitative data set (Statistics Finland data on employers and employees), a questionnaire survey as well as on data collected by qualitative research methods (interviews, narratives and analysis of documents). Theoretically, EANKS research is based on an analysis of networked knowledge society, where societal change is explained as an aggregate result of new knowledge production, networking, and information and communication technologies.

Besides Professor Välimaa, other FIER-based staff in the project include Kristian Koerselman, Terhi Nokkala and Taru Siekkinen. The project consortium also involves a number of researchers from the School of Management, University of Tampere, led by Professor Jari Stenvall.