Academic career

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A tiny job market but the best European country to live in (considering global warming)

This month, I transitioned from Associate to Full Professor at my university. Trusting the opinion of my doctoral supervisor Kari Alitalo , my current supervisor , and mostly everybody else, I did not prepare a plan B, in case I would be denied tenure. As a Gen Xer on the Finnish job market, what could have been a realistic plan B? Looking at the international job market would make it easier to solve the problem by increasing opportunities by a factor of 100, even when considering only English- and German-speaking countries. Finland’s population is only about 5.6 million, and its job market is tiny. However, going abroad is not that easy if the rest of your family is opposed to a change of scenery. And why would I leave the only country in Europe whose summer temperatures are not health-threatening? Sure, global warming also hits the Nordic countries: We just had the longest uninterrupted heatwave in Finland since people are taking measurements (22 days of >30°C). But 30°C beats 40°C hands down. For my American friends & family: 30°C = 86°F, 40°C = 104°C.

Career on Michael’s Domain

Academic career