I am a doctoral researcher in peace and conflict studies at Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University. My doctoral research focuses on transnational women’s rights activism, solidarity, and working across differences in the case of Iran. My professional work has been focused on women’s rights activism in Iran and in the diaspora from the feminist peace studies and intersectionality perspective. Previously I have conducted research on the characteristics of the Iranian women’s movement and the peaceful transformation of Iranian society. Besides, I am a journalist, and I have been working as a journalist for more than 10 years. I am a co-founder of the first news agency for Persian-speaking immigrants in Finland.

Jutta Martens is writing her PhD research with to Tampere University, Tampere Peace Research Institute Tapri with a working title "Conflicting Norms in Peace Processes – Faith-based Leaders’ Perspectives and Roles in Achieving Lasting Peace". The PhD will be article-based. Ms. Martens has received funding for her study from Suomen Kulttuurirahasto, Tampere City Tiedeapuraha and from Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission FELM. Currently Ms. Martens is working as Programme Coordinator for Sub-Saharan Africa at Finn Church Aid. The idea is to conduct the PhD research also in collaboration with FCA.

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.

Researcher of world politics with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa. In my PhD project, I examined the post-war realities of former girl and women soldiers in Liberia and gained my doctorate in 2017. My recent publications include a book 'Liberia's Women Veterans: War, Roles and Reintegration' (Zed Books 2018) and several peer-reviewed articles on gender, post-war reconstruction, child soldiers, inequality, and visual research methods. I have lived, studied and/or worked in Liberia, Senegal as well as Zambia and am eager to develop innovative ways to study and understand different phenomena around the world.