Julia Katila – Principal Investigator (Touch in Close Relationships Project)
My research examines how people touch one another, express emotions, and negotiate bodily boundaries in a range of institutional and intimate interactional settings. In my doctoral dissertation, completed in 2018, I investigated touch between mothers and children. In my postdoctoral research, I have, among other topics, examined touch and emotion in pediatric dental appointments involving children displaying fear, as well as interaction between romantic partners. My current research focuses on breastfeeding interaction, as well as young children’s embodied interaction and play.
What particularly inspires me in my work is the diversity of embodied interaction and touch, and their inseparable relationship with the emotional world of human interaction.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
+358 50 413 2023 | julia.katila@tuni.fi
Instagram: @sosiaalipsykologijuliakatila
Mari Holmström – Postdoctoral researcher (Available Project)
In my doctoral dissertation, I examined social interaction in workplace break rooms. I focused particularly on how participants orient to the ongoing interaction and how they build and maintain a sense of community through a variety of interactional practices. My research drew on video recordings, interviews, and field notes.
As a researcher, I am interested in embodied interaction, the sharing of space, and the ways in which people interact across different settings. I am also interested in how people use verbal and nonverbal resources to indicate whether they are available for focused interaction.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
+358 50 356 3245 | mari.holmstrom@tuni.fi
Pinja Majava – Research Assistant (Touch in Close Relationships Project)
In my doctoral research, I examine representations of sexual consent in popular culture and the public discussions surrounding them. My research focuses on questions of bodily autonomy and the social hierarchies and inequalities that shape how sexual consent is understood and negotiated. Alongside my doctoral studies, I have worked as a research assistant on several social psychology projects over the past three years. As a researcher, I am particularly interested in how popular culture shapes interaction between individuals and within communities.
In the Touch in Close Relationships Project, I contribute primarily to data collection and related research activities.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
pinja.majava@tuni.fi
Aura Tuliharju – Research Assistant (Touch in Close Relationships Project)
In my master’s thesis, I examine the use of Emotion Discourse Analysis as a feminist method. My research interests include queer studies, the interplay of language and emotion, and affective ambivalence — that is, the contradictions and tensions related to emotions.
In the Touch in Close Relationships Project, I am responsible for social media marketing and communications.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University
aura.tuliharju@tuni.fi
