Ph.D. Venla Bernelius is an Urban Geographer, whose particular research interest is the relationship between spatial socio-economic and ethnic segregation and the educational opportunities of young people. Her work deals broadly with the issues of urban segregation, educational outcomes, school choices, immigration, social deprivation, neighbourhood effects and creative cities.

Bernelius is specialized in quantitative research methods and geographical information systems, and is interested in creating bridges between different disciplines and research traditions, as well as between research and practice. The results of her former projects have also been applied to practice, as the City of Helsinki currently uses a school funding model, which is based on her work in modelling the educational challenges created by the school catchment area demographics.