Research output per year
Research output per year
PL 24 (Unioninkatu 40)
00014
Finland
Research activity per year
My research focuses on interdisciplinary literary studies, from complex systems dynamics in English literature (Reading the Texture of Reality, 2008), to my current work in cognitive narratology. Most lately, my research has been on 2nd-generation (enactive) cognitive approaches to literature, and this work can be found in the book out in the Routledge series on Cognitive Humanities: Self-Reflective Fiction and 4E Cognition: An Enactive Approach to Literary Artifice (2023). I teach compulsory courses in literary studies and academic writing, as well as option courses and seminars in narratology, cognitive literary studies, contemporary English metafiction, and speculative fiction. I also supervise PhD dissertations on these and similar topics.
I was part of the original steering group of the Cognitive Futures in the Arts and Humanities network and a member of the Narrating Complexity network organised by the University of York. I was also one of the team PIs in the consortium Instrumental Narratives: Limits of Storytelling and New Story-Critical Narrative Theory (iNARR), funded by the Research Council of Finland 2018-2022.
Currently I am a member of the Executive Council for the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN, 2022-2025), of the HSSH-funded research group Enhancing and Reassessing Enactivism (ERE, 2024), and PI of the Method and Matter network for literary studies within the University of Helsinki (2024-). I'm also collaborator in the Durham University's Narrative and Cognition Lab.
Teaching in 2024-2025
(On research leave autumn term 2024)
Fediverse (Mastodon): @[email protected]
Photo: Johan Wahlgren for SCAS
Comparative literature, Docent, University of Helsinki
Award Date: 17 May 2017
English philology, PhD
Award Date: 27 Jan 2009
Erik Allardt Visiting Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study
Sept 2019 → Jun 2020
Visiting Scholar, Literature, Cognition and Emotions (LCE) / University of Oslo
2 Aug 2019 → 30 Aug 2019
Visiting Scholar, Project Narrative / The Ohio State University
1 Feb 2012 → 30 Apr 2012
Research output: Book/Report › Book › Scientific › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Research output: Book/Report › Anthology or special issue › Scientific › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review
Meretoja, H., Mäkelä, M., Polvinen, M., Dunderlin, T., Kortekallio, K., Krieg, P. S., Oakes, E. A., Pettersson, B., Roine, H., Suoranta, E., Teittinen, J. I. & Varis, E. E.
Suomen Akatemia Projektilaskutus
01/09/2018 → 31/08/2022
Project: Research Council of Finland: Academy Project
Polvinen, M., Kukkonen, K., Kuzmicova, A. & Christiansen, S.
01/01/2018 → 30/06/2019
Project: Research project
Polvinen, M., Mikkonen, K., Malmio, K., Huttunen, T. & Rossi, R.
01/01/2024 → 31/12/2025
Project: University of Helsinki Funds
Tirkkonen, S., Telakivi, P., Polvinen, M., Kortekallio, K., Suoranta, E., Ovaska, A., Oulanne, L., Varis, E. E., Rossi, R., Roine, H. & Lehtinen, S.
15/11/2023 → 30/11/2024
Project: Other project
Lyytikäinen, P., Rossi, R., Salmela, M., Pyrhönen, H., Vanhanen, T. E., Tepora, T., Voutilainen, L., Palmén, R., Sklar, H. & Polvinen, M.
01/01/2015 → 31/12/2016
Project: Other project
Merja Polvinen (Speaker: Keynote)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organisation and participation in conferences, workshops, courses, seminars
Merja Polvinen (Speaker: Keynote)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organisation and participation in conferences, workshops, courses, seminars
Merja Polvinen (Invited speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Merja Polvinen (Keynote speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Merja Polvinen (Speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
19/12/2023
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
25/10/2018
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
02/12/2017
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media