Topic
Democracy
Commentary
These three research projects are: 1) Reducing polarisation via material participation (MaDem); 2) Coastal waters under pressure – safeguarding a healthy Gulf of Finland in a changing geopolitical and environmental landscape (CoWup); and 3) Safe Water for All (WaterFall).
One hundred years ago, Henry Ford introduced the Ford Model T to middle-class Americans. The car revolutionized the whole transportation industry and became the symbol of modernization, freedom and prosperity for the growing middle classes. Currently, there is an ongoing mobility transformation, but it lacks a promise and symbolism. Mobility…
Publications
For the government to formulate policies that address the most pressing questions of the 21st century, it must first address the structural and cultural problems of its policy-making processes. The review ’Humble Government’ describes how a humble approach to policy-making can help the Government in building truly long-term policy-making when dealing with wicked problems.
The new book “Just Transitions” by the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank & International Monetary Fund aims to serve as a roadmap for the future. It has a chapter written by our Chief Executive Juha Leppänen, in which he makes a case for governance capable of driving transformation.
Can a society be steered? Should governments even try to do that? Or should they just preside? In this paper, Demos Helsinki fellow, UCL professor and former Chief Executive of Nesta Geoff Mulgan shows why governments should steer and how they can show the way for our societies to overcome the transformational challenges that they are facing in the current century, from the climate crisis to aging populations.
Projects
The project supports Ukrainian municipalities in their pursuit of climate neutrality amidst rebuilding efforts. Together with leading EU and Ukrainian partners, including city networks, research organisations and urban stakeholders, Demos Helsinki supports this project by providing arenas for sharing knowledge and testing new methods for engaging citizens and other stakeholders in these processes.
In this digital era, the prevalent use of algorithmic management in the workplace has created a new set of challenges for workers and labour unions. This project studies the profound effects of algorithmic management on workers and labour organising in the Nordic context.
The social contract encounters mounting challenges in contemporary society, leading to friction and distrust among citizens towards democratic institutions. The CO3 project is dedicated to developing and promoting a democratic, inclusive, and open model of social contracts, embodying political and social resilience amongst significant societal challenges, crises, and anti-democratic tendencies.
People
Lara Best-Dunkley
In a time of unprecedented geopolitical crises, Lara is the go-to person for a comprehensive and critical understanding of international governance and security. She believes in the importance of compassionate, collective and evidence-based decision-making, especially in the domain of hard security. Lara has a BSc in International Relations and Organisations…
Johannes Jauhiainen
At Demos Helsinki, Johannes Jauhiainen focuses on participation, interaction, impact, and science-society relations within the CoWup and CO3 research projects. He is passionate about public innovation, new forms of decision-making, democratic development, geopolitics, and the role of cities as pioneers of societal transformation. Before joining Demos Helsinki, Johannes worked on…
Roosa Laakso
As part of the Regerative Localities team at Demos Helsinki, Roosa applies her expertise in multidisciplinary collaboration and sustainability governance expertise in practice. Roosa has a background in the public sector and has previously worked with the national and international implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals at the Prime…
Tuukka Puonti
Tuukka believes that data-driven decision-making is the way forward, but he also recognises the responsibilities that come with it. His academic background reflects this mindset, with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and an almost-completed Master’s degree in Social Data Science. This combination gives Tuukka a strong grasp of practical…
Sahib Singh
Sahib spends his time at Demos Helsinki’s preoccupied by just democratic futures and global governance. At the moment he won’t stop nattering about the need to think systemically and critically about democratic innovations, the political economy of global governance institutions and modes of effective alliance building. At his best, Sahib’s…
Tanya Sahdev
As part of the New Governance team at Demos Helsinki, Tanya contributes to reimagining and reshaping governance systems for a more inclusive and sustainable future. She brings a unique perspective to her role at Demos Helsinki with her background in design, which empowers her to see the bigger picture while…
Meri Külm
Democratic engagement and life within planetary boundaries are among the topics that you will find Meri working with. As a generalist with an academic background in sociology, they combine the analytical rigour of a researcher with the drive of an activist. Her mission? To create a joyful future that starts…
Liisa Perjo
Liisa is a social scientist who is interested in what it takes to bring European cities into the planetary boundaries in a just and inclusive way. In her work, she analyses, but also practically supports, planning, policy and practices for collective action towards just and sustainable climate transitions. Before joining…
Nina Langerholc
Nina is passionate and hands-on. She orchestrates our governance work and is in constant pursuit of new organisational and system-level approaches to increase the speed of societal transformation. Nina works on bridging the gaps and connecting different sectors, stakeholders, and organisations on a joint transformation journey. This means managing transformation…
Bhuvana Sekar
Bhuvana works as as an expert contributing to the Nordic Baukultur project and other strategic initiatives. She specialises in participatory design, human computer interaction, service design, and uses them as lenses to clarify her passions in the realms of public-sector, digital technologies, governance and social change transformations. In parallel, Bhuvana…
Elina Hakoniemi
Navigation into the future requires knowledge about the past – this is Elina’s guiding principle. She’s an expert in societal and political history, especially when it comes to welfare state, education, democracy or political language. Elina’s work focuses on recent history, and she looks at the society and governance via…
Jenni Kilpi
To interact and connect – this is Jenni’s pathway to change. Whether it’s renewing a strategy, building an impact roadmap, mapping out future scenarios, or evaluating engagement processes, the key is building inclusive and empowering engagement and agency. Incidentally, this intersection is where Jenni shines. We cherish her ability to…
Iacopo Gronchi
Iacopo is our go-to expert in mission management. Societal transformations are changing the playing field of public governance. Public sector organisations are called on to reflect on the very purpose of their work: in other words, on their mission. That’s why Iacopo’s own mission is to help public managers achieve…
Anna Björk
Anna is a political scientist whose academic love affairs include research on political concepts, societal impacts of emerging technologies, and temporality. Her current and upcoming research analyses societal transformations from the perspectives of the EU digital policy, contemporary social contracts, and inclusivity. Alongside doing research, Anna is also working closely…
Atte Ojanen
Atte is in charge of coordinating Demos Helsinki’s European research funding to enable societal transformation. As a research manager, he is your go-to-person in Horizon Europe and other research collaboration matters. Atte’s own research centers on societal effects of emerging technology, the ethics of AI, and deliberative democracy. Atte is…
Veikko Eranti
We take great pride in our academic work. We believe changing the world requires high-quality academic research and have vastly expanded our own academic work. But academia has its own set of codes, and ensuring our work is relevant and meets the highest standards is our very own Veikko. He…
Eedla Sofia Rahikainen
As an expert of socio-ecological justice, Eedla strives for equal and prosperous societies for all. We need to transform many of our old ways of inhabiting this planet but in a manner that is fair and where everyone’s voice is being heard. In order to achieve this objective, Eedla is…
Maria Malho
Maria is a political scientist specialising in foresight, scenarios and futures thinking to create both high-quality research as well as actionable visions and strategies for making desirable futures easier to reach. She has extensive experience in leading and facilitating projects and research processes on a wide array of topics ranging…
Julia Jousilahti
Julia is a social scientist working in Demos Helsinki’s Emancipatory Economy team. As the economy is a man-made system and not a force of nature, Julia is convinced we can build a better economic system – one that admits the fundamental interconnectedness with nature and guarantees the basic assets of…
Johannes Anttila (on leave)
What kinds of technologies do we actually want to live with? This is the question that Johannes keeps returning to in his work. Be it about working towards a shared vision in a national level AI program, building worker-led strategies towards emerging technologies or assessing the impacts of algorithms on democracy, Johannes…
Johannes Mikkonen
Johannes is dedicated to redefining the terms and conditions of our digital futures by exploring the ways to reshape our current sociotechnical systems, advising on policies to remaster technologies and forming visions of emerging alternative futures. At Demos Helsinki, Johannes has worked with various ministries and Prime Minister’s Offices around…
Oona Frilander
Oona Frilander (M.Econ.) is a senior consultant at Demos Helsinki. She works to understand long-term societal change and rapid transformation of private, public and third sector organizations’ operational environments. Her expertise lies in strategic foresight and cross-sectoral partnerships for solving societal challenges. Oona is also is a lecturer through the…
Leena Alanko
Leena is our go-to person for developing Demos Helsinki’s sales processes, ensuring that new opportunities both align with our societal impact goals and meet the needs of our partners and clients. She is passionate about reducing health inequalities, promoting the wellbeing of people and the planet, and clarifying the role…
Roope Mokka
Roope is all about the future. For many the future seems scary, but where some see problems Roope sees solutions. He has an exceptional mindset to see the pathway for societal transformation. He gathers impactful alliances through various fields to work together with a shared goal. Whether it is learning…
Olli Bremer
Olli has worked with us since early 2016, working across all sorts of projects and in a variety of capacities — for example, serving as Managing Director. Thus, he is a go-to person whenever we need to be able to connect different aspects of our work and sew together a…
Themes
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Speculating radical futures: a Post-voting society?
February 4, 2016
Imagine that government tracks your every move. Frankly, they can already do that, so this should not be an immense stretch of imagination. Then imagine that the establishment does the same for everyone you know. Does this wield an absolute power of those in control over the typical citizens? Not…