Tuuli Lähdesmäki

Tuuli Lähdesmäki, Ph.D. in Art History and D.Soc.Sc. in Sociology, is a professor of art history at the University of Jyväskylä (JYU). She has been awarded the title of docent in art history at JYU, in area and cultural studies at the University of Helsinki, and in critical heritage studies at the University of Turku. Her recent research interests and publications focus on EU cultural and heritage politics and policies, meaning-making processes in cultural heritage, strategies of interpreting the past, memory, identity, and identity politics, as well as European narratives. Lähdesmäki has successfully received highly competitive external research funding totaling over €5M. She led the ERC Starting Grant (StG) project EUROHERIT, which explored EU heritage policies and initiatives and the construction of the European dimension of cultural heritage. She also led an Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Research Project (ID-ECC) and an Academy Fellow Project (EUCHE), which explored EU cultural and identity politics and the politics of belonging. Additionally, she led an Academy of Finland Research Project (HERIDI), which examined heritage diplomacy in the EU's external cultural relations. Lähdesmäki has also led JYU’s consortium partnership in the DIALLS project, which was funded by the Horizon 2020 programme and investigated dialogue and argumentation in cultural literacy learning in Europe. She was one of three principal investigators (PIs) in JYU’s research profiling area, Crises Redefined: Historical Continuity and Societal Change (CRISES), leading its focus area of Displacement and Belonging. Additionally, she is the local contact for the Cultural Heritage Lab, which is part of a research alliance that fosters transnational higher education and mobility (FORTHEM). This alliance is funded by the European Universities Initiative under the Erasmus+ programme. Currently, Lähdesmäki is JYU's consortium PI in two projects focused on cultural heritage and cultural policy: ELABCROM and REBOOT, both funded by the Horizon Europe Programme. She has worked as a visiting fellow and professor at the University of Cambridge, the University of Limerick, the University of Pécs, the European University Institute, and the Fulda University of Applied Sciences.