Pauli Saloranta

An experienced developer of participation and democracy, I work as a Senior Lead in Sitra’s Democratic Innovations programme, currently in charge of a project on the dissemination and consolidation of deliberative citizen panels to help decision-making in public administration in Finland.

My interests include knowledge-based participation, its use in decision-making already in the preparation phase, necessary civic capabilities and, on the other hand, systemic steering of participation. I see the future of governance increasingly driven by the rise of individual participation alongside traditional community-based engagement.

Putting these themes into practice, I helped municipalities develope structures for participation in Sitra Lab 4. As a new innovation, I introduced citizen panels to support municipal financial planning. My working paper on experiments in six municipalities was published in spring 2025.
 
Previously, I have worked at the City of Helsinki on widening participation, in the research sector and in State government. My background also includes a quarter century of experience in the NGO sector in development roles and as a civic activist.

I hold both a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Helsinki. In my master’s thesis on Nordic studies, I investigated the origins and applications of participatory budgeting in Finland and around the world.

Whenever possible, I do like to heat up the sauna and also tie traditional birch whisk to accompany.