Anita Välikangas

I am a philosopher of science, and my areas of specialising are the politics of knowledge production, philosophy of social sciences, and social epistemology.

Currently, finishing my doctoral thesis "The quest for relevance: How non-academic impact changes science". It asks what happens to research when people expect that research should be relevant and provide solutions to societally urgent concerns. My main research interests are: sustainability, research/policy interface, interdisciplinary research, values in science, and the role of values in science policy.

In 2020-2021, I worked as a doctoral researcher in "Prediction in a Changing Climate". The project studied philosophy of climate sciences, and in particular the role of predictions in climate sciences. In 2017-2019, I worked in "Interdisciplining the university: Towards sustainable knowledge production", which looked at how interdisciplinarity changes (and does not change) university governance and the standards set for academic knowledge.   

I have received several personal research grants that have allowed me to work with my doctoral thesis. These foundations include: Finnish Cultural Foundation (in 2020), Oskar Ölflund stiftelse (in 2021), and Wihurin rahasto (in 2022). 

Teaching

I have taught several courses in philosophy (Masters and Bachelor level). These include: "Philosophy of climate sciences" (2021, together with Tero Ijäs), "Philosophy seminar I" (Bachelor level, 2019), "Introduction to Philosophy of Social Sciences tutorial" (together with Aki Lehtinen, 2017 and 2018). I have supervised some bachelor and masters thesis in philosophy and sustainability science. I am very willing to supervise philosophy students or philosophically-inclined students in sustainability, either in bachelor or master level - contact me, if you have a topic connected to my areas of expertise!