Donner Institute Research Prize awarded to Miitta Järvinen
The Donner Institute for Research into Religion and Culture in Turku has decided to award its 2026 Research Prize to Dr. Miitta Järvinen. Järvinen’s research focuses on migration and diversity, issues of considerable societal relevance.
Järvinen is being recognized for the book We Are Between Migrants and Finnish Culture: Educators and Diversity in Finnish Education for Adult Migrants (Turku: University of Turku, 2026). The work was submitted as a doctoral dissertation in the Study of Religions at the University of Turku. Järvinen’s research is situated at the intersection of study of religion, migration studies, gender studies, and education. The dissertation examines the integration of immigrants through language education and explores how teachers perceive and construct diversity through their interactions with adult migrant students.
About the Donner Institute Research Prize
The Donner Institute Research Prize, worth €5,000, recognizes outstanding newly published research on religion conducted at a Nordic university. It is intended for “researchers whose work focuses on religion in the broadest sense of the term.” The prize has been awarded annually since 2010. This year, the prize was awarded for a doctoral dissertation, with three nominations submitted by professors, supervisors, and researchers.
In its statement, the Board of the Donner Institute notes, among other things:
“Methodological issues, data collection, and analysis are discussed concisely and effectively. The study involves several research ethical risks, but Järvinen has addressed these with great awareness. Ethical aspects are clearly defined and critically examined. The discussion of the researcher’s position is insightful and demonstrates that many of these issues, which in studies focusing on intersectionality can become merely attached labels, have instead been integrated throughout the entire research design, from recruitment to reporting.”
“The dissertation’s concluding discussion provides a comprehensive and reflective analysis of each article as well as of how they collectively address the research questions. Both strengths and weaknesses are discussed, reinforcing the impression of the dissertation as a thoroughly developed and reflective study.”
A Study of Religion Perspective on Integration Training
Järvinen’s dissertation is based on empirical material consisting of interviews, focus groups, and the curriculum for language education for immigrants. The study adopts a critical perspective on integration as a socially constructed concept shaped by asymmetrical power relations between majorities and minorities. At the same time, integration is analyzed as an active process influenced by participants, ideas about cultural difference, and integration policy. Järvinen’s examination of a “Finnish lens,” shaped by Lutheran history and secular social structures, highlights how these assumptions and norms influence understandings of integration, including in relation to religion, holidays, and political ideals of gender equality.
Järvinen emphasizes that the prize is especially meaningful given the interdisciplinary nature of her dissertation project and that she is particularly pleased that its connection to the study of religion has been recognized.
“In interdisciplinary research, especially when it is situated outside explicitly religious contexts, it can be challenging to make the distinctive contributions of one’s discipline visible. In my dissertation, I argue for the relevance of study of religion in analyzing these issues. I also see the prize as recognition of the extremely important work carried out by integration educators despite uncertain working conditions.”
In the dissertation, Järvinen demonstrates how teachers occupy complex roles between migrants and Finnish society, acting as mediators, support persons, and public officials. She notes that they often experience internal conflicts between these roles, having to navigate between their own values, institutional expectations, and the realities of their students’ lives.
Järvinen is currently beginning her postdoctoral research project, in which she plans to investigate themes of cultural diversity and religion within healthcare settings, much as she did in her dissertation. Although the project is still in its early stages, Järvinen says she looks forward to the new challenges and perspectives that her continuing research may bring.
Photo: Hannu Järvinen
Cover image: Oona Savimäki