Elina Kahla is a versatile expert on Russian culture and society, previous director of the Finnish Institute in St. Petersburg, currently liaison manager and researcher at the CoE of Russian Modernisation, affiliated with the Aleksanteri Institute, UH.

Kahla’s research projects include the clash of values and geostrategic shifts in the contemporary world, and the relations of state, church, and society. She is furthermore interested in the soft power strategies implemented in state-sponsored cultural productions. Kahla has authored or co-authored more than hundred publications; edited or translated even more. Her latest publications discuss cults of new Russian saints and memory politics, as well as civil and public religion. Her forthcoming volume tells about the last leader of the Pechenga-Petsamo monastery, hieromonk Paisi. Kahla has received several grants for translations, which include works by Tsvetaeva, Ulitskaya, Vodolazkin. Kahla is editor-in-chief for the art magazine Ikonimaalari, trans. Icon painter.

Erikoisalat:

- venäläinen kirjallisuus, erityisesti varhainen kirjallisuus, hagiografiat, modernismi (Marina Tsvetajeva, Maria Skobtsova), nykykirjallisuus (Ljudmila Ulitskaja, Jevgeni Vodolazkin);

- ortodoksinen kulttuurituotanto (kirjallisuus, tv-draama, elokuva, dokumentti)

- ikonitaide ja -teologia

- muistiperintö, erityisesti ortodoksiseen kulttuuriin ja rajapintaan liittyvä, ml. Petsamon luostarin historia

- kirkon ja valtion yhteistyö Venäjällä;venäläiset arvot ja identiteetti