Minttu Tikka

Title: Research Manager
Phone: +358 29 524 7879, +358 50 527 5738
e-mail: [email protected]

Expertise

Dr. Minttu Tikka is a Research Manager (part-time 50%) at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). Her research interests are related to digital media and social theory; crisis communication, preparedness and management as well as research into social problems, especially information disorder and mediated violence and extremism. 

Primary Duties

Research Manager at the Cultural, Behavioural and Media Insights Centre (CUBE)

Degree

Doctor of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki (2020)

Professional Background

2024–, Postdoctoral Researcher (part-time 50%), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2024–, Visiting Researcher, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
2021–2024, Visiting Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2021–2024, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Computer Science, Aalto University
2020–2021, Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2017–2020, Doctoral Researcher & Grant Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2015–2016, Project Researcher, Tampere University
2014–2015, Grant Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2009–2014, Project Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
2008–2009, Research Assistant, The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

Recent Projects

• 2024–2025, PI, Information wellbeing project, funding Sitra
  The project examines the relationship between information and well-being and investigates its connection to democracy and people's social agency in a digitizing media society. The project defines the concept of information well-being and introduces it to researchers, decision-makers, experts and communication professionals. 
   
• 2024–2028, Member of Management Committee, AlertHub: Warning Communication Knowledge Network (AlertHub), funding COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology), 17/09/2024–16/09/2028 
  Societies worldwide are faced with extreme weather events at an increasing scale, with climate change as a key driver of this development. Against this backdrop, the AlertHub aims to establish a European interdisciplinary network to facilitate international collaboration and knowledge transfer among scholars and practitioners whose work involves warning communication and disaster management. The Action uses a risk and crisis communication lense to advance knowledge, promote cooperation, and contribute to reducing risks and harm posed to the public by climate change-related disasters. The Action seeks to enhance the overall effectiveness of disaster response efforts and promote cross-border cooperation among scholars and practitioners in this key field. 

Selected publications

Tikka, M., Huhtamäki, J., Harju, A. A., & Sumiala, J. (2023). Developing digital team ethnography of global media events on social media. New Media & Society, 0(0). 

Tikka, M., Ahsanullah, R., Varanasi, U., Härmä, V., Sawhney, N., & Leinonen, T. (2023) Contextual Inquiry of Affordances for Collaboration in Crisis: Lessons from the Finnish Context. In Proceedings of the 20th International ISCRAM Conference (33–42). University of Nebraska Omaha. 

Sumiala, J. & Tikka, M. (2020) Digital media ethnographers on the move – An unexpected proposal. Journal of Digital Social Research, 2(1), 39–55.  

Tikka, M. (2019) Ritualisation of Crisis Communication. Crowd-enabled responses to the Stockholm terror attack on Twitter. Nordicom Review 40(1), 115–120.

Sumiala, J., Tikka, M. & Valaskivi, K. (2019) Charlie Hebdo, 2015: ‘Liveness’ and acceleration of conflict in a hybrid media event. Special Issue: Media and Terrorism in France. Media, War & Conflict, 12(2), 202–218. 

Sumiala, J., Valaskivi, K., Tikka, M. & Huhtamäki, J. (2018) Hybrid Media Events. The Charlie Hebdo Attacks and Global Circulation of Terrorist Violence. Emerald.