Senior Researcher Jussi Laine from the Karelian Institute has been recognised with the Outstanding Emerging Scholar Award of the Western Social Science Association, WSSA. The award recognises cutting edge research and substantial contributions to the social sciences.
In addition to Jussi Laine, Dr Dory Quinn (Pittsburg State University) and Assistant Professor Maria Montserrat Feu-López (Sam Houston State University) were presented with the 2019 Outstanding Emerging Scholar Award. Laine’s recent research has focused on migration to Europe in particular, and on the role of geographical and mental borders in the process. He served as Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the Association for Borderlands Studies – the world’s leading scholarly association for border studies – in 2013-2017, and was since elected as the association's First Vice President.
Founded in 1958, WSSA advances multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship, teaching, service and professional exchange across the social science disciplines. It also promotes social justice and equitable treatment. More than 30 disciplines from all over the world are represented in WSSA. WSSA convenes an annual conference and publishes the Social Science Journal, a juried quarterly research journal.