Pirjo Markkola - Biography#

Pirjo Markkola is Professor of History at Tampere University, Finland. In 2006 - 2015 she worked as Professor in Nordic History at Åbo Akademi University and Professor of Finnish History at the University of Jyväskylä. Since 2022 she is Director of the Academy of Finland CoE in the History of Experiences (HEX). In 2018–21 she was the vice-director and consortium party leader of HEX. Markkola’s experience in research leadership includes the Finnish CoE in the History of Society (research team Communities, 2012–17) and the Nordic CoE The Nordic Welfare State: Historical Foundations and Future Challenges (research team Religion, Lutheranism and the Nordic Welfare State Model, 2007 - 2012). In 2014 - 2016 Markkola led the Inquiry into Child Neglect and Abuse in Institutions and Foster Homes in Finland, 1937 - 1983 (funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health). The Inquiry resulted in an apology ceremony where Minister of Social Services issued a formal state apology to care-leavers.

Markkola has wide international networks in gender history, history of child welfare and the history of social care, education, health and welfare in Europe. In 2000–05 she served as Vice President of the International Federation for Research in Women’s History, since 2014 she is actively involved in the network on inquiries into institutional child abuse, and since 2018 she is a working group leader and Core Group member of the COST Action CA18119 Who Cares in Europe? (PI Clarisse Berthezene, Université de Paris). Markkola has published widely on gender history, labor history, the history of welfare and social work, and the history of Lutheranism and the Nordic welfare state. Markkola has supervised 14 PhD theses (ca. 10 ongoing); moreover, she has been an external examiner of over 20 PhD theses in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and at EUI in Italy. She has received awards and prizes, most notably Gad Rausing Prize 2020, awarded by the Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquity.