Introduction

Aija Sakova has studied at the University of Tartu, the University of Konstanz, the University of Vienna, and Humboldt University of Berlin. In 2014, she defended her doctoral dissertation in Estonian literature. As a literary scholar and Germanist, Sakova’s research has focused on memory studies and the philosophy of memory, as well as questions of autobiographical writing and identity formation in Estonian-Russian and Estonian diaspora literature. Aija Sakova has worked as a science journalist for the newspaper Universitas Tartuensis, head of the Baltic and rare books department and development and communications manager at the Academic Library of Tallinn University, and as a senior researcher at the Estonian Literary Museum. Since 2021, Sakova has been the Manager of Business Cooperation and Knowledge Transfer at Tallinn University. She is an active literary critic and essayist and a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union as well as several cultural and academic societies.

Main tasks

Enhancing the university’s knowledge transfer capacity, including bringing research-based solutions into Estonian society through collaboration with enterprises

Developing support for large-scale inter-university projects funded by the European Union

Leading the work of the Research Department and the Knowledge Transfer and Project Support Office

Areas of research

memory studies and the philosophy of memory, including the remembrance of World War II and its impacts in fiction

questions of autobiographical writing and identity formation in Estonian-Russian and Estonian diaspora literature