RELIACT Researchers
Titus Hjelm
Primary investigator
Hjelm is Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Helsinki. Previously he was Reader in Sociology at University College London. His research interests include religion and social change, religion and politics, social theory, and methodology of the social sciences. In addition to RELIACT, he is currently the PI of the Academy of Finland funded project The Religious Legitimation of Politics and the Political Legitimation of Religion in Finland (LegitRel) (2020–2024). Hjelm has published multiple books, including the forthcoming Elements of Research Design (Policy Press, 2024) and Peter L. Berger on Religion: The Social Reality of Religion (Routledge, 2024), and many articles in the field of sociology religion, in journals such as The Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Method and Theory in the Study of Religion, Religion, Critical Sociology, and Media, Culture & Society. He is the Editor in Chief of Sociology of Religion and current President of the Finnish Society for the Study of Religion.
email: titus.hjelm@helsinki.fi
website: link
Zeinab Karimi
Researcher
Ph.D. in Sociology, Karimi has worked on various topics related to citizenship, forced migration, transnational family life, and most recently the racialization of Islam and integration. She is the first editor of the book Rethinking Integration (in press) and published in international journals such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, the Nordic Journal of Migration Research, and the Middle East Critique.
email: zeinab.karimi@helsinki.fi
website: link
Tuomas Äystö
Researcher
Ph.D. in Study of Religion, Äystö has focused on societal topics such as politics, media, and law. His dissertation (2019) addressed the contemporary Nordic blasphemy law, and he has since studied religion in the Finnish parliament and various religion-related “culture war” topics, such as abortion, freedom of religion, and secularization.
email: tuomas.aysto@helsinki.fi
website: link
Photos by Tinksu Wessman / Sapfograf.