Eminent Finnish political sociologist honoured with 2020 Mattei Dogan Prize

We are delighted to reveal that the 2020 Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize in Political Sociology has been awarded to Niilo Kauppi, in recognition of his significant contribution to the development of this area of the discipline over more than three decades.

Niilo is Visiting Professor at the Swedish School of Social Science of the University of Helsinki, Director of Research (on leave) at CNRS in France, and affiliated with Sciences Po Strasbourg.

In conferring the award, prize jury Chair Mary Farrell recognised how ‘Niilo has provided leadership in several organisations responsible for advancing knowledge of political life in Europe’.

In his own words

'"One is never safe from good news", as they say in France! I am surprised and deeply honoured to have been awarded this prize. For me, the ECPR and its political sociology community have been a real intellectual home, providing a highly stimulating environment for explorative and creative work. I look forward to taking part in future endeavours to further develop European political sociology.'

About Niilo

Niilo received his PhD from the University of Helsinki in 1991 and has continued to serve the European academy with distinction throughout his professional academic career.

He has an impressive record of collaboration in research, teaching, and other professional activities across universities in Luxembourg, Lausanne (IEPI), Tallinn (University of Technology), and Paris (EHESS). From 2015 to 2019 he was Distinguished Professor at the Department of Social Science and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä. During 1999ꟷ2000 and 2002ꟷ2003 he was visiting professor at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard.

Niilo’s career demonstrates his dedication and service to the profession, reflected in a variety of roles including President of the Finnish Political Science Association (2003ꟷ06), founder and chair of our Standing Group in European Political Sociology (2010), and Associate Director of the Centre for European Political Sociology at Sciences Po Strasbourg from 2007ꟷ2012.

Between 2012 and 2015, Niilo served as ECPR’s vice-chair, with responsibility for our General Conference, Publications, and Standing Groups portfolios, and from 2005ꟷ2009, he was an Executive Committee member of EPSA.

He has collaborated on numerous research projects around Europe and been awarded grants from a number of European research funding bodies, and from the European Commission’s multi-annual Framework Programme.

Niilo’s contribution to the European scholarly community is reflected in the evaluation of research programmes for leading funding bodies, including the European Science Foundation, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) Paris, Leverhulme (UK), European Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Niilo has been influential in nurturing the next generation of researchers through his teaching, supervision of doctorates and postgraduate theses. He has also been a key influence in communicating the broad contours of European political sociology through his many publications, agenda-setting initiatives and organisational leadership, playing a vital role in shaping the research agenda for a future generation of scholars.

Personal research interests

Niilo’s current research interests range from intellectual and political radicalism to European politics and global governance.

Influenced especially by Bourdieu and Weber, analysing subjects ranging from the rise of ‘French theory’ to that of datafication, Niilo’s long-term theoretical project centres on the political sociology of knowledge and power.

Niilo Kauppi is a regular commentator on French and European politics on Finnish TV and radio.