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Areas of expertise
Biography
University teacher Sanna Ilonen holds a D.Sc. (Bus & Econ) degree from the University of Turku. Sanna works as a responsible teacher of the subject and as a University teacher in Entrepreneurship at the School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland. She worked previously as a University teacher and project researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and in insurance and finance operations in private sector. Sanna’s research interests comprise of entrepreneurship education in higher education, especially from the point of view of entrepreneurial learning. In her post-doctoral research she has studied serial entrepreneurs, and their motivations to commit themselves to entrepreneurship in a long-term. Sanna has participated several projects as well as been involved in tendering procedures. In addition, she is a passionate teacher and has constantly developed her teaching skills through pedagogical studies. She completed her pedagogical training (60 ECTs) in June 2018. Sanna has also participated in educational development activities at faculty, programme and unit levels.
Sanna has published her research in international and national journals (International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Industry & Higher education, Hallinnon tutkimus) and presented her research work in several international and national conferences. She has also served as a reviewer and session chair in multiple conferences. Sanna has been an advisory board member of the ERD (European Regional Development fund) funded HAPI project that focused on enhancing service innovation activities of SMEs in the health care sector.
Teaching
Sanna is a passionate teacher and has constantly developed her teaching skills through pedagogical studies. She completed her university pedagogical training (60 ECTs) in 2018 with excellent overall evaluation and achieved an educational and teaching qualification (pedagoginen pätevyys in Finnish). Sanna is an advisory board member of International Management and Entrepreneurship Bachelor Programme and a member of Teaching skills Committee of Turku School of Economics. She is an active member of TSE's teachers' club. Sanna supervises theses groups and serves as a teacher in several courses (Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Corporate Entrepreneurship, Advanced Writings in Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Business, Quantitative Methods in Management studies). Sanna also serves as a my-teacher (teacher tutor).
Research
Sanna’s research interests focus on entrepreneurship education in higher education, namely from the point of view of entrepreneurial learning. Topic of her dissertation was "Entrepreneurial learning in entrepreneurship education in higher education" and it investigated whether and how entrepreneurial learning develops in entrepreneurship education in universities. In her post-doctoral research she is interested in existence of entrepreneurial devotion, its antecedents and impacts.
Sanna has presented her research work in several international conferences and published her articles in respected journals such as International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research and Industry & Higher Education and Hallinnon Tutkimus. She has also served as a reviewer in multiple journals (International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Industry & Higher Education, Education + Training, Entrepreneurship Education & Pedagogy), and multiple conferences (RENT, ICSB, YKTT, WORK, 3E, NSBC). She has also served as a session chair in several conferences (ICSB and YKTT).