I am doing a PhD in Environmental Policy at the University of Eastern Finland. I hold an MSc in Environment and Development from the University of Reading, UK. Research interests include the role of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in averting food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently studying online from Malawi but hope to be in Finland along the way once funding is secured.

My research focuses on food security related initiatives in the Global South. I work on aquaculture and specifically fish farming development, food innovation using neglected foods and indigenous knowledge, food safety and quality management as well as value chain management and development of gender-based value chains. The development of tertiary education (vocational and higher education) is a cross-cutting theme in all of my global engagements in research and education.

Projects

Global Foodnet: Ancient Crops for Food Security

Central Asia Finnish Education Institutes for Green Biotechnology and Food Security

Aquaculture and fisheries development in the Kyrgyz Republic

Green biotechnology for food security

Development of women fish farmer cooperatives in Nepal

Capacity Building in Fisheries and Aquaculture Education in the Kyrgyz Republic

Education collaboration opportunities between Finland and South Africa

Bridging existing and new approaches for science, technology and innovation cooperation between Finland and Africa

Food safety and quality management

Teachers of the future : Finnish-Namibian collaborative teacher education

Food product development from indigenous foods

Role of Finnish higher education in global food and nutrition security

I am a doctoral candidate in the Political, Societal and Regional Change programme experienced in qualitative research and implementation of development cooperation projects in Finland and Latin America. My doctoral research focuses on how the focus of women’s empowerment shifts when Finland’s development aid has been increasingly transferred from traditional development cooperation to the private sector through cross-sectoral partnerships with Kenya. My professional work has been focused on using research to inform project design and implementation in development cooperation initiatives for gender-based violence, gender equality, peacebuilding, psychosocial support, and migration. Previously I have conducted research on Women, Peace and Security, and feminism in Colombia, and refugees, agency, and gender-based violence in Norway.

My name is Moustapha Itani and I am a doctoral student in interdisciplinary environmental science at the University of Helsinki. I have always been passionate about exploring how multidisciplinary collaboration can answer complex research questions. Before I joined DENVI, I developed vegetation management plans for archaeological sites, systematically reviewed public health impacts of weaponised depleted uranium in Iraq, assessed mental health benefits of gardening on Syrian refugee women and developed a vegetation description method for conserving rare plants in cities. In my doctoral research, I particularly focus on pastoralism’s challenges and sustainability in the Global South. In Lebanon, we are facing one of the worst economic crisis in modern times. Here, the food security and livelihoods of most of the population are threatened. We need to rectify people’s misunderstandings on pastoralism, revitalize this method of food production and boost its contribution to GDP.

The Finnish Development Funding Risk Management Policy in Theory and Practice, explores the theoretical, documented, and practical understanding of risk management between Finland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and organisations receiving program-based support.

Number of publications 06 Name of publications Open-access link Publication category Water, Water Pollution and Cultural Desolation https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329416339_Water_Water_Pollution_and_Cultural_Desolation A1 Environmental Degradation: Challenge to Food Security, local context global perspective, A case study of a village in Bangladesh https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329416293_Environmental_Degradation_Challenge_to_Food_Security_local_context_global_perspective_A_case_study_of_a_village_in_Bangladesh A1 Empowering youth lasting change; SEED SCALE a process to youth engagement and sustainable development https://techniumscience.com/index.php/socialsciences/article/view/1877 A1 Industrialization Water Pollution and Social Change: A Case of Basin Based village in Bangladesh https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329416449_INDUSTRIALIZATION_WATER_POLLUTION_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_A_CASE_OF_BASIN_BASED_VILLAGE_IN_BANGLADESH A1 Community Disability, And Response to Disaster Mitigation in Bangladesh. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%E2%80%A2+Mallick+%26+Salma+ A1 River, Culture and Livelihood: Water pollution and social change around river Banghsi, Bangladesh D

I have been working in the field of education development and research for a reasonable period of time. gradually I become fascinated in the field of environment, society, and culture. My masters’ thesis at Future Generations University, USA was on water pollution and social change and I have explored the interrelationship of human behaviors and water pollution. I, also involved with some other projects related to water and climate change mentionable are 'Water, Food Security, and Climate Change: Local Knowledge Global Implications,' Bangladesh Sustainable Development Learning project: Saving river Bangshi through community participation and student engagement. Founding member of a community development organization name TREE-Training Research Education for Empowerment My involvement with the research and development projects related to water and climate change guide me to develop PhD research on ‘Culture, climate change, and water conservation: ‘water ecosystems and culture base adaptation practices in Bangladesh

Abraham is currently pursuing his PhD as a doctoral researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research (CERH), Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu with support from Finnish government’s Planetary Health, Sustainability Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot (SusTra) program. Abraham intends to demonstrate synergistic vulnerabilities between infectious tropical diseases with climate change including correlation of ambient air pollutant (PM2.5, VOCs, Radon gas) with seasonal peaks in hospital visits/admissions for ARDS, Asthma and COPD exacerbation. Abraham also has in-depth interest in social and non-biomedical determinants of health including preparation and presentation of policy briefs to stakeholders e.g., at the WHO Executive Board Meeting. His recent field of work has been centered around sustainability of HIV and TB prevention, Care, Treatment program in LMICs beyond external assistance in the context of climate crises and global health security threats.

Projects

EU-Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM)- Promoting Security and Development in Central Asia

My PhD research intertwines Feminist Peace Research, Sociological neoinstitutionalism and sociology of measurement. I study the measurement practices embedded in National Action Plans (NAPs) for the UN Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security (WPS), and particularly, the construction and use of indicators. Indicators have become an increasingly important mechanism of governance, as well as knowledge production, and in my study are understood as social practices allowing me to focus not only on what is being measured but also on its effects on the policy field. The project compiled a global dataset of 7500 indicators harvested from all the NAPs adopted between 2005 and 2020, enabling both spatial and linear windows of inquiry. In addition, an ethnography of WPS indicators in Nigeria (conducted during 2020) provides new knowledge about the role of local actors in translating indicators into practice.