Ralf Kauranen, researcher, PhD, is a sociologist based at the Department of Finnish Literature at the School of History, Culture and Arts Studies of University of Turku. His research has in many ways been focused on the social dimensions of comics. In his doctoral thesis (Seriedebatt i 1950-talets Finland. En studie i barndom, media och reglering, 2008) Kauranen studied the critical debates on comics in 1950s Finland. The analysis, based on media and parliamentary debates and on the activities of child protection organizations, is focused on the understandings of comics and childhood in the debates, as well as on the measures taken to regulate the problem. At the moment Kauranen works in a project called Transnationalism in Finnish Literary Culture (Suomalaisen kirjallisen kulttuurin ylirajaisuus), in which he focuses on the transnationalism of the contemporary field of Finnish alternative comics. He also tries to find time for research on the use of comics as a tool of propaganda in Finland during World War II. Kauranen is one of the editors of Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art, and a member of the editorial board of Sosiologia.