The autumn semester has officially started, and we welcome both new and returning students to the Department! Hopefully everyone has settled in and is enjoying the start of the semester.

A reminder that Debopam Das is the teacher-tutor for BA students, and Jason Finch is the teacher-tutor for MA students. Jason has asked MA students to sign up for individual meetings on Thursday or Friday of this week. Even if you are not currently in Åbo, are not actively working on your studies, or do not feel that you need an individual meeting, please send Jason an email.

As the department trainee, I am happy to help both students, staff and researchers with any questions or tasks. I am usually available during normal office hours, and you can reach me by email at emilia.a.liljedahl@abo.fi.

We look forward to another year of learning together. Keep an eye out for announcements about premis, spremis and other exciting events here and on the moodle notice board!

On 23 September we will have a PREMIS talk at 16.15 from Eszter Balogh of Eötvös Loránd University. Eszter will also be with us as a guest teacher of some of the literary and academic writing classes that week.

Best of luck, and we hope you have a great start to the academic year!

Adam Borch will publicly defend his doctoral dissertation English Language and Literature on Friday 5 June 2026, at 1pm, in Auditorium Argentum (Aurum, Henrikinkatu 2).

The thesis is entitled ‘Publisher, in Masquerade’: A Study of Alexander Pope’s Use of Anonymity.

Dr., Reader in English Julian Ferraro, University of Liverpool, will serve as opponent and Professor Emeritus Anthony Johnson, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.

The doctoral dissertation can be read at the publications repository Doria.

You are welcome to attend the public defence of this doctoral thesis online.

All students and staff of English Language and Literature are invited to the English Department’s subject moot on Wednesday 25 March 2026, at 16.45pm in Kramer (M220).

The agenda of the meeting

1. Opening of the meeting
2. Chair, secretary, scrutinizers
3. Announcements & Reminders
4. Changes
   a) Minor subject admission
   b) Staff
   c) Rooms
5. Teaching programme 2026-2027
   a) Core courses
   b) Options
6. Any other business

The Subject Moot meeting is open for all students, researchers and staff of English Language and Literature. If you would like to suggest topics to discuss, please send you suggestions by email to our department trainee by 11am on Wednesday 25 March, i.e. in the morning of the day of the moot.

NB! Before the Subject Moot, at 16.15, there will be an information session about the BA and MA theses. If you are planning to write your thesis next academic year, this is for you!

The department is looking for a trainee for the period 25 February to 25 May 2026. For more information see the trainee ad on the Department’s Moodle Notice Board and sent to enge-info.

M.A. Aino Haataja will publicly defend her doctoral thesis in English Language and Literature with a thesis entitled From Private Happiness to Public Virtue: Contextualizing Worldliness in Maria Edgeworth’s Fiction.

Professor Fiona Price, University of Chichester, United Kingdom, will serve as opponent and Professor Jason Finch, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.

The doctoral thesis can be read at Doria.

You are welcome to attend the public defence of this doctoral thesis online: webinar link.

Professor Anthony Johnson will hold his valedictory lecture on Wednesday 19 November 2025, 16.15, in Arken Helikon (Tehtaankatu 2). The title of lecture is

“From Vocation to Vacation: A Career in English Literature”

The lecture will be streamed: https://aboakademi.zoom.us/j/64571766075

(Photo Åbo Akademis bildbank)