My research focuses on entrepreneurship and particularly on researching entrepreneurship at the individual level. I have studied entrepreneurial identity construction and identity work in new ventures and family businesses. I am also interested in understanding gender in different entrepreneurial contexts. My research has also investigated policies supporting entrepreneurship development, most notably entrepreneurship education and incubators. Currently, I'm leading a research team in Turku investigating how to make Finland a more attractive country for highly-skilled internationals to work and do business in (www.hiwe.fi). The project is led by the University of Eastern Finland. I'm also the team leader for an Erasmus + project aiming at developing new pedagogical models, approaches and materials for transforming entrepreneurship education to enact the ongoing crises and societal challenges. (transformingee.eu/) Recently, I was also involved in a European Horizon2020 -research project DISCE (Developing Inclusive and Sustainable Creative Economies), www.disce.eu (2019-2022) as a Work-package leader. 

I have over 25 years of experience from policy, practice-oriented and academic research projects that are conducted in continuous and active engagement with firms and other stakeholders, including European Commission and DGs, OECD, Ministries and regional authorities and decision-makers.