Decolonizing International Research — a Catch-22?

Blog post by Peter Nynäs

In this blog post, Peter Nynäs, the RelEx project director, reflects on the practice of decolonizing international research and how the RelEx project engages in that paradox. The text was presented as part of the RelEx session at the Research Conference in Theology and Religion (TUTP 2026), which was held on May 11–13, 2026, in Helsinki.

What does it actually mean to decolonize international research? Not as a rhetorical commitment in a grant application, but as a lived practice inside a large, externally funded, multi-country research project?

This is a question that the RelEx project — the Centre of Excellence on Religion and Social Exclusion — forces us to take seriously every day. And the more honestly we engage with it, the more it reveals itself to have the structure of a paradox.

You can learn more by checking the blog post at this link: https://blogs2.abo.fi/dekanfhpt/2026/06/09/decolonizing-international-research-a-catch-22/