I am a junior researcher in the field of physics. My research interests include chemistry, photovoltaics and material science, and I am currently working on a project that explores the magnetic and transport properties of magnetic materials. I have completed three master's degrees: in chemistry, photovoltaics and technical physics.

Dr. Tiina Seppälä is a university lecturer in Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki and adjunct professor of International Development Studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. She has engaged with women’s rights and slum activists in Nepal and Bangladesh, anti-eviction movements in India, asylum seekers in Finland and anti-war activists in the UK. She is interested in development, displacement, social movements, post/decolonial and feminist theory, ethnographic research and arts-based methods.

Projects

Governance, Resistance and Neoliberal Development: Struggles against Development-Induced Displacement and Forced Evictions in South Asia

I have had a background in International Relations with bachelor's and master's degrees as I wrote my MA thesis on the role of local non-state actors in the integration of refugees. Currently, I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Middle East Technical University and a visiting doctoral researcher in the Discipline of Global Development Studies at the University of Helsinki. My major research area is the sociology of migration, and my minor is environmental sociology. At the nexus of these two main areas, I have specifically focused on the nexus of the climate crisis, neoliberal governance, and migratory movements along with the urban-rural dynamics, socio-ecological and political-economic transformations in the web of life. In addition to that, I have an interest in decolonial philosophy, which lead me to investigate each phase of climate crisis and migration processes through the relations of power, capital, nature, and coloniality.

I am a doctoral researcher interested in segregation, everyday peace and coexistence in socially mixed urban neighborhoods. Methodologically, I am interested in urban ethnography and spatial analysis.

My research focuses on West African traditions of music and dance, especially the Wolof sabar tradition in Senegal. During 2019 - 2022, I am conducting my postdoctoral research project "Moving knowledge: the changing embodiments of cultural knowledge in Senegalese sabar performances", funded by Academy of Finland.

My research focuses primarily on immigrants, educational outcomes, and social inequities.

My research has two main streams, both of which focus on international development and poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. First, I take a qualitative approach to understanding the “natural” course of entrepreneurship in Ghana; that is, how entrepreneurship happens in the absence of international development efforts. This research stream grew out of my frustration with seeing development organizations consistently teaching entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa in much the same way it is taught in Canada, or Finland. My second research stream focuses on collaboratively working with international development organizations to solve their pressing challenges. This generally involves using randomized field experiments to test designed solutions under real-world characteristics. The goal here is to bridge the gap between producing work that is theoretically interesting, and producing work that is practically important. Two ongoing projects of this nature are happening in Ghana and Tanzania.

Projects

Holistic processes and practices for clean energy in strengthening bioeconomic strategies (INDO-NORDEN)

Mika Sillanpää’s research work centers on chemical treatment in environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and analysis. More specifically, he has worked extensively with adsorption, photocatalysis, electrochemical treatment, membrane biological processes and advanced oxidation processes as well as chromatographic methods, electrochemical sensor development and real-time monitoring. Mika Sillanpää received his M.Sc. (Eng.) and D. Sc. (Eng.) degrees from the Aalto University, where he also completed an MBA degree in 2013. He has published more than 700 articles in peer-reviewed international journals, including Chemical Society Reviews, Advanced Materials, Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Green Chemistry, Journal of Catalysis, Bioresource Technology, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Mass Spectrometry Reviews, Chemical Engineering Journal and Coordination Chemistry Reviews. Having an h-index of 78, his publications have been cited over 30 000 times (Google Scholar). Also, he has been invited as an external examiner and opponent of several adjunct professorships and doctoral degrees and participated in the evaluation of research proposals in over 10 countries. He has supervised 45 PhDs and been a reviewer in over 240 academic journals, many of which are top-ranked in their fields. Mika Sillanpää has received numerous awards for research and innovation. For example, he is the first Laureate of Scientific Committee on the Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)’s Young Investigator Award, which was delivered at the UNESCO Conference in Shanghai 2010 for his “significant contributions, outstanding achievements and research leadership in Environmental Technological Innovations to address present water pollution problems worldwide, especially with regard to wastewater treatment and reuse”. In 2011, he was invited to act as a Principal Scientific Reviewer in the GEO-5 report of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). In 2012, he received Tapani Järvinen Environmental Technology Award and Publication Award of the University. In 2014, he received the Science Award of the Lappeenranta University of Technology and Pro Mikkeli Award. In 2018, he was invited as a Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and Academy of Technical Sciences. He also received Literature award from the Water Association of Finland in 2018. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he was listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters.

Projects

Window integrated solar collector