Prof. Dr. Mila Oiva

Education and Training

2024

Title of Docent (Adjunct Professor), Cultural History, University of Turku.

2017

Doctor of Philosophy, title of the thesis “Creation of a Market Space. The Polish Clothing Industry, Soviet Union, and the Rise of Marketing, 1949-1961”; Supervisors: Prof. Hannu Salmi & University Lecturer Katalin Miklóssy; Faculty of Humanities / Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland; & Doctoral School for Russian and East European Studies at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki.

2005

Master of Arts; Faculty of Humanities / Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland (with minor subjects Russian and Polish languages and cultures / Åbo Akademi, Turku, Finland).

Positions

2026

Professor of Digital Humanities with a focus of Images and Objects, Department of Digital Humanities and Social Sciences, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany;

2024 – 2026

Researcher, Digital Cultural Heritage DIGHT-net project, University of Turku, Finland;

2020 – 2024

Senior Research Fellow, ERA Chair project for Cultural Data Analytics, CUDAN Open Lab, School of Humanities / Tallinn University, Estonia. PI of the lab Maximilian Schich.

2019 – 2020

Post-doctoral research fellow at the “Ancient Kingdoms and the Founders of Russia: Pseudohistory and History Politics in Finland in 2000s” project (PI Reima Välimäki) Aaltonen foundation & Faculty of Humanities / Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland;

2017 – 2019 

Post-doctoral research fellow at the “OceanicExchanges: Tracing Global Information Networks in Historical Newspaper Repositories,1840-1914 (OcEx)” project, (PI Ryan Cordell, NULab, Boston; PI Finland Hannu Salmi), Academy of Finland & Faculty of Humanities / Department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland;

2017 – 2018 

Post-doctoral research fellow at the “From a Roadmap to a Roadshow: A collective demonstration & information project to strengthen Finnish digital history” project (PI Mats Fridlund) Kone Foundation & School of Engineering / Department of Mechanical Engineering, History of Industrialization and Innovation group, Aalto University, Finland;

2016 

Research fellow at the Culture Analytics long program, Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) / University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA (3 months);

2014 – 2015 

ASLA-Fulbright graduate grant – Visiting Student Researcher, supervisor Professor John Connelly, the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), / University of California, Berkeley, USA, August 2014-June 2015;

2012 – 2017 

Junior research fellow of the Centre of Excellence Choices of Russian Modernization / Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland;

2012 – 2015 

Junior research fellow (PhD candidate) at the Finnish Doctoral Programme for Russian and East European Studies / Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland;

2011 – 2017 

PhD Candidate, Cultural History / University of Turku, Finland;

Peer-reviewed scientific articles

• Tamm, Mikhail V., Mila Oiva, Ksenia D. Mukhina, Mark Mets and Maximilian Schich. ”City representation in Soviet propaganda and geographical biases in cultural data.” Nature Cities 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00380-1.
• Oiva, Mila, Tillmann Ohm, Ksenia Mukhina, Mar Canet Solà, and Maximilian Schich. “Soviet View of the World. Exploring Long-Term Visual Patterns in ‘Novosti Dnia’ Newsreel Journal (1945–1992).” Journal of Cultural Analytics 9, no. 4 (July 18, 2024). https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.118495.
• Oiva, Mila, Ksenia Mukhina, Vejune Zemaityte, Andres Karjus, Mikhail Tamm, Tillmann Ohm, Mark Mets, et al. “A Framework for the Analysis of Historical Newsreels.” Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 11, no. 1 (April 25, 2024): 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02886-w.
• Keck, Jana, Mila Oiva, and Paul Fyfe. “Lajos Kossuth and the Transnational News: A Computational and Multilingual Approach to Digitized Newspaper Collections.” Media History (November 16, 2022): 1–18.
  https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2022.2146905.
• Oiva, Mila, and Anna Ristilä. “Mapping the Pseudohistorical Knowledge Space in the Russian World Wide Web.” In Medievalism in Finland and Russia: Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Aspects, edited by Reima Välimäki, 57–71. England: Bloomsbury, 2022.
• La Mela, Matti, and Mila Oiva. “Digitaalinen historiantutkimus.” In Avaimia menneisyyteen — Opas historiantutkimuksen menetelmiin, edited by Mirkka Danielsbacka, Matti O. Hannikainen, and Tuomas Tepora, 211–228. Helsinki: Gaudeamus, 2022.
• Aali, Heta, Mila Oiva, and Anna Ristiä. “Suomalainen, ruotsalainen, normanni vai slaavi? Venäjän perustaja Rurikin alkuperä suomalaisissa ja venäläisissä 2000-luvun verkkokeskusteluissa.” Historiallinen Aikakauskirja 4 (2021): 414–426.
• Oiva, Mila, and Urszula Pawlicka-Deger. “Lab and Slack. Situated Research Practices in Digital Humanities Introduction to the DHQ Special Issue”, Digital Humanities Quarterly 14:3 2020.
• Oiva, Mila. “The Chili and Honey of Digital Humanities Research. The Facilitation of Interdisciplinary Transfer of Knowledge in Digital Humanities Centers.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 14:3 2020.
• Oiva, Mila. “Topic Modeling Russian History” in Handbook of Digital Russia Studies, ed. by Daria Gritsenko, Marielle Wijermars, and Mikhail Kopotev. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.
• Kansikas, Suvi, Mila Oiva, and Saara Matala. “Manoeuvring into the Soviet Market. Polish and Finnish Eastern Trade Practices during the Cold War.” In Margins for Manoeuvre in Cold War Europe. The Influence of Smaller Powers, edited by Laurien Crump and Susanna Erlandsson, 91–109. London and New York: Routledge, 2020.
• Oiva, Mila, Asko Nivala, Hannu Salmi, Otto Latva, Marja Jalava, Jana Keck, Laura Martínez Domínguez, and James Parker. “Spreading News in 1904. The Media Coverage of Nikolay Bobrikov’s Shooting.” Media History Vol 25 No 3, 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2019.1652090.
• Johnson, Bruce, Mila Oiva, and Hannu Salmi. “Yves Montand in the USSR. Mixed Messages of Post-Stalinist/Western Cultural Encounters.” In Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War, edited by Simo Mikkonen, Jari Parkkinen, and Giles Scott-Smith, 241–261. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2019.
• Matres, Inés, Mila Oiva, and Mikko Tolonen. “In Between Research Cultures. The State of Digital Humanities in Finland.” Informaatiotutkimus, June 2018.
• Oiva, Mila. Selling Fashion to the Soviets. Competitive Practices in the Polish Cloth Export in the Early 1960s. In Competition in Socialist Society, ed. by Katalin Miklóssy and Melanie Ilic, Great Britain, Routledge, 2014.
• Oiva, Mila. “Puolalaisten näkemys kuluttajuudesta Neuvostoliitossa.” (In English: The Polish Perspective on Soviet Consumerism), Idäntutkimus 2/2014.
• Oiva, Mila. “Suunnitelman muodonmuutos.” (In English: The Change of the Plan), Idäntutkimus 3/2013.

Non-refereed scientific articles

• Arnold, Taylor, Maria Antoniak, Miguel Escobar Varela, Maria Puen, Mila Oiva, Amanda Regan, Lauren Tilton, and Melanie Walsh. “Introducing the Anthology for Computers and the Humanities.” Anthology of Computers and the Humanities 1, no. 1 (2025). https://doi.org/10.63744/rWDzgqfDLYNm.
• Tamm, Mikhail, Mila Oiva, Ksenia Mukhina, Mark Mets, and Maximilian Schich. “Quantifying World Geography as Seen through the Lens of Soviet Propaganda” (Pre-print) arXiv, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2410.15938, October 21, 2024.
• Oiva, Mila. “Näkökulmien yhteentörmäys. Vuosi 1968 Itä-Euroopassa.” In Toivon ja Raivon vuosi 1968 (in English: The Year of Hope and Rage 1968), edited by Maarit Leskelä-Kärki, Marika Ahonen, and Niko Heikkilä. Finnish Society of Labour History, 2019.
• Oiva, Mila. “Something New in the Eastern Market. Polish Perceptions of the Developing Soviet Consumerism, 1961–1972.” In Fashion, Consumption and Everyday Culture in the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1985, edited by Eva Hausbacher, Elena Huber, and Julia Hargaßner, 99–112. München: Verlag Otto Sagner, 2014.

Scientific books and special issues

• Oiva, Mila, Hannu Salmi, and Bruce Johnson. Yves Montand in the USSR: Cultural Diplomacy and Mixed Messages. Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69048-9.
• Fridlund, Mats, Mila Oiva, and Petri Paju (eds.). Digital Histories. Emergent Approaches within the New Digital History. Helsinki University Press, 2020.
• Oiva, Mila, and Urszula Pawlicka-Deger (eds.). “Lab and Slack. Situated Research Practices in Digital Humanities“. Special issue of Digital Humanities Quarterly 14:3 2020.

Publications intended for professional communities

• Välimäki, Reima, Heta Aali, and Mila Oiva. “Historian poliittisesta käytöstä 2000-luvulla.” Historiallinen Aikakauskirja, no. 4 (2021): 389–393.
• Oiva, Mila. “Book Review: Menneisyyden internet tulevaisuuden historiantutkimuksessa.” Tekniikan Waiheita 38, no. 3–4 (December 22, 2020): 80–81. https://doi.org/10.33355/tw.100580.
• Beals, Melodee, and Emily Bell, with contributions by Ryan Cordell, Paul Fyfe, Isabel Galina Russell, Tessa Hauswedell, Clemens Neudecker, Julianne Nyhan, Mila Oiva, Sebastian Padó, Miriam Peña Pimentel, Lara Rose, Hannu Salmi, Melissa Terras, and Lorella Viola. “The Atlas of Digitized Newspapers and Metadata: Reports from Oceanic Exchanges,” January 28, 2020. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.11560059.
• Paju, Petri, and Mila Oiva. “Digitaalisen historiantutkimuksen opetuskiertue.” Historiallinen Aikakauskirja 1/ 2019, pp 89–94.
• Oiva, Mila. Book review of Sofia Norling’s “Mot väst. Vetenskap, politik och transformation i Polen 1989–2011” (translated in Norwegian), Nordisk Østforum 04/2014, 387–389.
• “Russia as a Neighbour“, edited by Hanna Smith, contributors: Ole Norrback, Paula Lehtomäki, Riitta Myller, Matti Anttonen, Kauko Jämsén, Tuomas Forsberg, Osmo Kuusi, Laura Solanko, Jaakko Hissa, Katri Pynnönniemi, Janne Helin, Juha Vättö, Edwin Bacon, Ivan Timofeev, Katalin Miklossy, Jeremy Smith, Jouni Järvinen, Mila Oiva, Dragana Cvetanovic, Erkki Tuomioja, Seppo Kääriäinen, Pertti Salolainen, Liisa Jaakonsaari, Teija Tiilikainen, Timo Vihavainen, Gustav Hägglund, Kimmo Rentola, Sari Autio-Sarasmo, Saara Karhu, Riitta Kosonen, Pekka Sutela. Helsinki: Publication of the Committee for the Future 9/2014, Finnish Parliament, 2014.

Publications intended for the general public

• Saarelainen, Juhana, Heli Rantala, Petri Paju ja Mila Oiva (toim.) Turun romantikko: Esseitä Hannu Salmelle. UTUPub toukokuu 2021.
• Oiva, Mila. “Samaan aikaan idässä. Hullu vuosi 1968 ei jäänyt lännen nuorison liikehdinnäksi.” (In English: ”Simultaneously in the East. The Crazy Year 1968 did Not Happen only in the West”) Yliopisto-lehti, 2018.
• Oiva, Mila. “Itäblokin Pariisi.” Suomi-Puola / Finlandia-Polska no. 01 (2015).

Theses

• Oiva, Mila. “Creation of a Market Place. The Polish Clothing Industry, Soviet Union, and the Rise of Marketing, 1949–1961.” Unpublished PhD dissertation, Cultural History, University of Turku, June 2017.
• Oiva, Mila. “Unikuvia puolalaisuudesta: 1970-luvun marginaalinen puolalaiskansallinen omakuva Sennikpolski-näytelmän esittämänä.” (In English: The Polish Dream Book: A Marginal 1970s Vision of Poland in the Sennik Polski – theater play.”) Master’s thesis, Cultural History University of Turku, 2005.

Published Data

• Oiva, Mila & Lapina-Kratasyuk, Ekaterina (2019). Yves Montand in the USSR Interviews, source material [Text corpus]. Published in Kielipankki, http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:lb-2020081501.
• Oiva, Mila. Facilitating Digital Humanities Research 2017“/”Haastattelut digitaalisen tutkimuksen fasilitoinnista 2017“, dataset, Finnish Social Sciences Data Archive, (FSD), openly available for research, teaching, and study. FSD3362, December 2019. – downloaded in 2020 six times.