Retrospective Interview with Former Head Kristiina Tõnnisson

Kristiina Tõnisson, who stepped down from the position of Head of Skytte on April 1, talks about what life at Skytte was like and what she is taking away from that time.

You were with the Skytte Institute from the very beginning, for ten years. How did your path lead you to Toomemägi?

I arrived at Toomemägi by following a fairly classic Tartu trajectory. At first, I thought I would simply attend a few lectures and study social sciences for a while. But about twenty years later, I realized that I was still — or rather, once again — back at the university. Some people graduate and leave the university for good; I just left for a while, but eventually ended back and merely changed rooms and job titles within the university.

Officially, I joined what became the Skytte Institute through the European College, where I was the director ten years ago. When the European College and the Institute of Government and Politics were merged, I became the first head of the Skytte Institute. It was already the second major merger I had experienced as a leader. Around ten years earlier, the Department of Public Administration and the Department of Political Science had been merged, and that was how I originally became head of the Institute of Government and Politics.

As I said in my farewell speech, I am the kind of leader one should stay away from. Before the Skytte Institute, I had led three units at the university: the Department of Public Administration, the Institute of Government and Politics, and the European College. What do they all have in common? None of them exist anymore! So, for the survival of the Skytte Institute, it was essential that I leave at the right moment so the institute could continue to live and flourish peacefully for at least the next centuries.

Are there any memories from your Skytte years that you will still recall on your deathbed?

Over these ten years, there has been everything: distinguished guests, grand strategies, endless development plans, and completely absurd situations that you later retell to friends while laughing. I will certainly remember the graduation ceremonies and the spring barbecues with colleagues. But also the evenings when the exams had finally been graded, the results published, and for a brief moment it felt as if the world was back in order.

And then there were the moments when international students first discovered that the phrase “a short walk up Toomemägi” actually means a vertical climb over frozen cobblestones. I always encouraged them by saying that it builds character, improves balance, and strengthens NATO’s eastern flank all at once.

And of course, the Estonian students with whom I interacted the most during my years as a lecturer. The truly rewarding moments are when someone comes back years later and says that “that one course” or “that one conversation” has stayed with them ever since. In fact, my morning today began at the Estonian embassy in Singapore. The Estonian ambassador greeted me and said the very first thing: “I still remember your public administration seminars.” That was a wonderful moment.

What or whom are you most grateful for at Skytte?

Above all, I am grateful for the feeling that the Skytte Institute was never just a workplace for me. It was a place where people genuinely mattered to me. It was my family. One of the guiding principles of my leadership was that when something went well, it was thanks to our team. And when something went badly, people should look to me as the leader.

I also always appreciated that at Skytte it was possible to have a very heated and deeply opposing discussion about security, the future of Europe, or the functioning of the state — and then go eat pancakes together afterward as if nothing had happened.

And naturally, I am grateful for our students. They make you realise that things you consider self-evident have long ceased to be obvious. They also constantly force you to ask yourself whether what you teach — or the way you explain the world — still actually works.

“What brought us here will not take us further...” What motivated your departure from Skytte and your move to the Estonian Research Council?

The honest answer is that there was no direct push. I was not planning to leave Skytte. But when a proposal lands on your desk for the fifth time, and people genuinely take the time to explain why they believe you should try something new, eventually it becomes difficult to pretend you have not heard them. In the end, I simply agreed to apply.

And if one is ever going to move outside the university, it felt like now was the right time. Given that I did not want to move to Tallinn and that my home and life are in Tartu, the Estonian Research Council honestly seemed like the best possible place to continue.

What experiences from Skytte will help you survive at the Research Council?

First, the ability to read a forty-page document while maintaining an intelligent expression and occasionally nodding thoughtfully until the very end. Second, the understanding that no meeting is too complicated as long as there is coffee in the room and at least one person who says at the right moment: “Perhaps we should take a step back and look at the bigger picture” — or “still, more research is needed.”

And certainly the experience of international communication. Skytte teaches you very quickly what intercultural communication really means.

During your first month at the new workplace, was there also a moment of “I absolutely did not expect this”?

Yes. I had to reassess my previous understanding of the phrase “a lot of bureaucracy” rather quickly. If university life sometimes seemed overloaded with procedures and approvals, I now realised that there is always another level. Let’s just say that, by comparison, the university resembled a creative private company.

Finally: what advice would you like to leave for Skytte students and alumni to help them manage in life and work?

First, do not be afraid to do things you do not yet feel ready for. A very large part of adult life consists of people improvising with a professional expression on their face. Second, learn to write clearly. A person who can make something complicated understandable is dangerously valuable in any organization. Third, take care of your people. In the end, what I will remember most from university are not the exams, budgets, or development plans, but the people with whom I tried to fix the world at two in the morning.

Skytte was a wonderful place. And I will deeply miss this entire journey and all the people who were part of it.