Staff
Lauri Holappa
Executive Director+358 44 248 6540
DSocSc Lauri Holappa has previously worked in multiple positions within academia and elsewhere. He has worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, university teacher at the University of Turku, senior researcher at Demos Helsinki and as a special economic policy adviser to former minister of education, Li Andersson. Holappa is also currently affiliated to the University of Helsinki where he serves as a visiting researcher in the Academy of Finland-funded research project “How to overcome tendencies towards trade wars?”.
Antti Alaja
Expert+358 40 1952 041
[email protected]
MsocSc Antti Alaja works as an expert at the Finnish Centre for New Economic Analysis (UTAK), a Helsinki-based progressive think tank established in 2023. Alaja is in charge of UTAK`s industrial policy work and communications. Alaja has previously worked on a research project based at the University of Helsinki and Hanken School of Economics and in various positions at the think tank Kalevi Sorsa Foundation from 2009–2018. He has published various think tank reports and articles in academic journals, including Science and Public Policy and Innovation: the European Journal of Social Science Research. Alaja`s interests include research and innovation policy, industrial policy, and welfare state development.
Board
Juha Leppänen
ChairmanMSocSc Juha Leppänen is an experienced professional of societal transformations and the chair of the board of the think tank Demos Helsinki. He helps European and Finnish think tanks to develop their own methods and strategies.
Tuulia Pitkänen
Vice chairmanMSocSc Tuulia Pitkänen has previously worked as the chief of staff and special EU policy adviser for the prime minister. In the autumn of 2023, she will be moving to Rud Pedersen where she works as a senior adviser. Pitkänen is interested in EU policymaking, solutions to structural social inequalities and different welfare state models.
Laura Nordström
Member of the boardDSocSc, BA, Laura Nordström is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. Laura`s research focuses on EU politics, political power, and lobbying. She studies the lobbying activities of technology giants in the EU in the SEE-TECH project. Laura has previously studied expert power in EU economic governance during the euro crisis, the negotiations over the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, and Finnish EU advocacy. She is particularly interested in how crises change economic ideas. Nordström was the other editor-in-chief of the journal “Poliittinen talous, a journal of the Finnish Society for Political Economy Research.
Patrizio Lainà
Member of the boardDSocSc, MSc (Econ) Patrizio Lainà works as the chief economist of the trade union confederation STTK. He is especially interested in labour markets, monetary and fiscal policy, financial market stability and the macro economy more broadly.
Johan Wahlsten
Member of the boardMSocSc Johan Wahlsten is a doctoral researcher in Political Science at the University of Helsinki and a 2024-2025 Research Affiliate and Fulbright Finland Fellow at Georgetown University’s Global Political Economy Project. Wahlsten is interested widely in questions of political economy, with his work focusing especially on the politics of economic policy and governance. His PhD research examines the global governance of cross-border capital flow regulation after the 2008 financial crisis. He is also the vice-president of the Finnish Society for Political Economy Research.
Maria Mäkynen
Maria Mäkynen is the Director of Public Affairs and Services at Trade Union Pro. Mäkynen has worked in public policy for a decade, focusing on research, policy preparation, and labour market developments. Currently, Mäkynen is writing a doctoral dissertation on the transformation of work and the labor market system. Mäkynen also hosts podcasts on feminist economy and work-life burnouts and exhaustion. Before the current role, Mäkynen worked as an education researcher, education manager, and political advisor to Sanna Marin. Mäkynen holds a master’s degree in social sciences and a master’s degree in arts (education) from the University of Jyväskylä.