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Can you give a brief summary of the journey that brought you here to us at The University of Edinburgh Business School?

I did MSc in Marketing and my Doctor of Science at the University of Oulu Business School in Finland. After my graduation, I moved over to the UK and joined Lancaster University Management School as a Lecturer in Marketing in 2014. In 2019 I moved here to the University of Edinburgh Business School.

If you had to give your ‘elevator pitch’ and explain in layman terms what your research focuses on, how would you answer?

My research tries to understand how businesses, policymakers and other stakeholders can use stories, narratives, and myths to construct markets that then build the kind of infrastructure that allows markets to take life. We often think of markets as established places where buyers and sellers come together and exchange money. What I'm interested in is the way in which multiple market actors and stakeholders co-create markets and market infrastructure sustainably and responsibly.

With regard to your work, is there anything exciting in the pipelines that you are working on?

In terms of what's in my pipeline, there’s always several irons in the fire. Still, particularly important to me is finishing a project that I've been working on and which is funded by the British Academy. I've been looking at the way that Lapland, Finland where I'm from, has established itself as the home of Santa Claus. I have already published a few papers on it and am still working on analysing some of the data and hopefully publishing the rest of the results at some point in the near future. I am also looking forward to my research sabbatical this autumn, which will allow me time to continue my work on the construction of place narratives in the context of the European Capital of Culture competition, and explore some other new exciting avenues…

What do you enjoy most about your teaching and/or research? What challenges and excites you across both?

What excites me the most are moments of discovery – in both research and teaching, for my students, my research participants, and myself. It’s also fulfilling to be able to support students in reaching their goals and see them learn more about themselves along the way (in addition to the subject matter). In research, I love being able to dive into literature and empirical contexts and see where I end up! The challenge is sometimes to find the time for all this…

What do you enjoy most about working at UEBS?

What I enjoy the most about working at UEBS is the opportunities that the school, the university, the city and the people provide.

What advice would you give to your younger self, about to leave home and embark upon further education?

The advice I would give myself would be to do things my way (both in academia and life in general). I've made it from a quiet corner of the Arctic to live and work here in one of the world's best cities and top universities. There’s space for different kinds of people - you don't have to pretend to be somebody else.

What one book, piece of music and beloved item would you take with you to a Desert Island?

• Book: A book by Tove Jansson about the Moomins. You can learn a lot from them.
• Music: Florence and the Machine.
• Beloved item: Yarn and needles.

If you could invite anyone over for dinner (past/present) who would it be and why?

Obviously my answer has to be Santa Claus. He’s a busy guy so it would be nice to catch up with him over dinner.

If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

There are so many places I would like to visit! But let’s say I would return to Australia. As a high school student, I was fortunate to go on a student exchange to Perth. It was completely different from living in the middle of nowhere in northern Finland with snow, reindeer and endless pine trees and Northern Lights. But I still felt like home and I would love to go back with a proper amount of time to spend there.

Teea Palo

Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Year 4 Head