Reetta Muhonen

I’m a Senior Research Fellow at Higher Education Group at the Faculty of Management and Business. My research is situated within the broad framework of the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of science. Within this framework, I examine how understandings of knowledge and its societal relevance are constructed through institutional practices and public debates. I study how research is evaluated, funded, and connected to society, and how these arrangements shape what kinds of knowledge are recognised as valuable.

A further line of my research examines academic work from the perspective of the lived realities of researchers and re-examines the frameworks through which it is interpreted, seeking to open more sustainable horizons for academia. This work is currently pursued in the Research Council of Finland–funded project Good News from Academia – Cultivating Sustainable Discourses on Academic Work, where I serve as principal investigator.

My duties also include supervising and teaching. During the academic year 2025–2026, I am supervising six doctoral students and serve as one of the four PhD supervisors in the doctoral seminar in Higher Education Management, which I also coordinate. Moreover, I serve as the responsible teacher for the course Organisation, Administration and Management (10 ECTS).

[Editor-in-chief], Tiedepolitiikka [Science Policy], 2023–(2027).

[Member] Publication Forum panel, Social Sciences, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies TSV, 2022–2025, 2026–

[Board member] Federation of Finnish Learned Societies TSV, 2021–2023

[Member] Working Group of Responsible Research Assessment 2024–2025, Federation of Finnish Learned Societies TSV, 2025

[Chair] Finnish Society for Science and Technology Studies, 2017–2020

[Member of the management committee] COST Action ENRESSH (European Network for Research Evaluation in the Social Sciences and the Humanities), 2016–2020.

Sociology of Science, Higher Education Research, Science Studies

Recent Research Positions

2019 → Senior Research Fellow (permanent position), Higher Education Group, Faculty of Management and Business, Tampere University
(on leave 2020–2022)

2020–2022 Collegium Researcher, Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku

1.9.2018–31.12.2019 The Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher, Tampere University

1.8.2015–31.8.2018, Post-doctoral Researcher, Research Center for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation (TaSTI), Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere

Muhonen Reetta (accepted for publication). Reclaiming the Margins of Impact: How Evaluation Design Shapes What Counts as Impact. A Social Sciences and Humanities Perspective. In Claire Donovan, Magnus Gulbrandsen & Silje Maria Tellmann (Eds.) Societal Impact of Research: New Perspectives. Edward Elgar.

Kärkkäinen, Tommi & Muhonen, Reetta (2026) Balancing with Academic Perspectives in Knowledge Brokering – Arranging the Hybridity of Knowledge Brokering Organisations. In Alonso de Andrade Luiz, Pekkola Elias & Lundborg Stefan (Eds.) Hybridity Through Transitions – Crisis and Resilience in Nordic Universities. Brill, 282–314. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004745186_014

Muhonen, Reetta & Himanen, Laura (2025) Evaluation as a source of unhappiness in academia—unpacking the boundaries of responsible research assessment. Research Evaluation, Volume 34, rvaf034. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvaf034

Tellmann, Silje & Muhonen, Reetta (2024) Sociology in the impact agenda: is there room for public sociology? In Alis Oancea, Gemma Derrick, Xin Xu & Nuzha Nuseibeih (Eds.) Handbook on Meta-Research. Edward Elgar, 73–88. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839105722.00014

Muhonen, Reetta, Himanen, Laura & Pölönen, Janne (2023) Evaluation of societal impact of the Social Sciences and Humanities in Finland. In M. Oschner & Z. H. Bulaitis (Eds.) Accountability in Academic Life: European Perspectives on Societal Impact Evaluation, 95–112. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885738.00016

Oschner, M., Bulaitis, Z. H., Balaban, C., Castro-Martínez, E., Daniel, O., Gedutis, A., Giménez-Toledo, E., Iseli, M., de Jong, S., Ma, L., Mañana-Rodríguez, J., Muhonen, R., Olmos-Peñuela, J., Peruginelli, G., Sigurðarson, E. S., Šima, K., Spaapen, J. & Vanholsbeeck, M. (2023) Manifesto for a better societal impact evaluation. In M. Oschner & Z. H. Bulaitis (Eds.) Accountability in Academic Life: European Perspectives on Societal Impact Evaluation, 10–29. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885738.00009

Muhonen, Reetta & Tellmann, Silje (2022) Challenges of reporting societal impacts for research evaluation purposes – case of sociology. In Tim C. E. Engels & Emanuel Kulczycki (Eds.) Handbook on Research Assessment in Social Sciences. Edward Elgar, 335–349. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800372559.00030

Muhonen, Reetta & Kalalahti, Mira (2022) Tutkijakollegiumit, tieteidenvälisyys ja huippututkimuksen ideaali. Tiedepolitiikka 47(3), 7–22. [Institutes for Advanced Studies and the ideal of Interdisciplinarity and Excellence in Research]. https://journal.fi/tiedepolitiikka/article/view/122222/73068

Muhonen, Reetta, Benneworth, Paul & Olmos-Peñuela, Julia (2020) From productive interactions to impact pathways: Understanding the key dimensions in developing SSH research societal impact. Research Evaluation, 29(1), 34–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvz003

De Jong, Stefan & Muhonen, Reetta (2020) Who benefits from ex-ante impact evaluation in the European funding arena? A cross-country comparison of societal impact capacity in the social sciences and humanities. Research Evaluation, 29(1), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvy036

Ursin, Jani & Muhonen, Reetta (Eds.) (2020) Tuntematon korkeakoulutus. Kasvatusalan tutkimuksia 80. The Finnish Educational Research Association.

Välimaa, Jussi & Muhonen, Reetta (2018) Reproducing social equality across the generations: The Nordic model of high participation higher education in Finland. In Brendan Cantwell, Simon Marginson & Anna Smolentseva (Eds.) High Participation Systems of Higher Education. Oxford University Press, 358–385. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198828877.003.0013

Alastalo, Marja, Kunelius, Risto & Muhonen, Reetta (2014) Evidenssiä eliitille ja kansainvälistä huipputiedettä. Tutkimuksen vaikuttavuuden mielikuvastot tiedepolitiikan resursseina. In Reetta Muhonen & Hanna-Mari Puuska (Eds.) Tutkimuksen kansallinen tehtävä. [Relevance of Research]. Tampere: Vastapaino, 119–149.

Muhonen, Reetta (2013) "Työläisten lapsista ei herroja kouluteta” – Kokemuksia opinteillä etenemisestä itsenäisyyden alun Suomessa. Sosiologia 50(1), 29–45.

Muhonen, Reetta & Puuska, Hanna-Mari (Eds.) (2014) Tutkimuksen kansallinen tehtävä. Vastapaino.