Saila Heinikoski

Saila Heinikoski is a Senior Research Fellow in The European Union and Strategic Competition research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. Se is also an Associate Professor (Docent) in political science at the University of Turku. She holds a PhD in political science and a master’s degree in social sciences.

After completing her doctoral studies at the University of Turku she also has worked as a Researcher at the Finnish Border Guard, as a Senior Lecturer in political science at the University of Lapland, as a Post-doctoral Researcher at the EuroStorie Centre of Excellence at the University of Helsinki and as a Senior Specialist at the Migration Department of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior. She has also worked as a visiting researcher at the universities of Catania, Trento and Bologna. Her areas of expertise include EU migration policy, border management, free movement, EU external relations and European integration.

Heinikoski has written monographs on freedom of movement in the EU (University of Turku 2017; Bloomsbury 2020) and on international relations and security (Routledge 2018, co-authored). Over twenty of her articles on European politics have been published in peer-reviewed publications. She has also written dozens of other texts based on her research.

Heinikoski completed her PhD at the University of Turku in 2017 (“European Borders of Justice – Practical Reasoning in the Discourses on Free Movement within the European Union”). She also has two bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Turku: in Italian translation and international relations.

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