I study mitochondrial DNA maintenance (replication and repair) in mammalian cells, concentrating on the tissue-specificity of molecular mechanisms and adaptative reactions to mitogenotoxic stressors.

The title of my research is: ”Using digital micro certificates in the recognition and validation of skills of the informal sector in Africa” The key research questions are: -What is the digital learning capacity of people in the informal sector? -How do we design digital platforms and present learning content so that it fits the learning styles and abilities of the informal sector? -What value do people in Africa give to (informal) micro-certificates compared to traditional formal certificates? -How can new technologies (AI, Machine learning...) support development of automated and varied skills validation? My research aims to give insight to servicing a new segment of people that has traditionally been neglected by development activities. The informal sector people are not the poorest of the poor in Africa and fall outside many development aid programmes. At the same time it consists of most people taking part in the labor force. Formalising the informal sector people to tax-paying citizens is key to the economic development of most African countries.

I'm an Africanist linguist with expertise in spoken and written multilingualism, in particular rural multilingualism. My geographical focus is on Mali, Senegal, Guinea and adjacent regions in West Africa. My current research combines descriptive, sociolinguistic and anthropological perspectives on multilingualism with the goal to develop inclusive and adaptive multilingual educational practices that contribute to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals in the domain of education. This work is reflected in the LILIEMA education programme developed jointly with local activists in Southern Senegal.

Prof, Ph.D., Laura Stark’s research focuses on gender, sexuality, mobile telephony, urban poverty and early marriage in Tanzania. She is co-editor of the journal Ethnologia Europaea. She has edited the Bloomsbury volume Power and Informality in Urban Africa with Annika Björnsdotter Teppo (2022); and the Routledge volume Gendered Power and Mobile Technology: Intersections in the Global South (2019) with Caroline Wamala Larsson. She has led four major funded research projects, including Mobile Technology, Gender and Development in Africa and India (2010–2013); and Urban Renewal and Income-Generating Spaces for Youth and Women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2013–2017). Email: laura.stark@jyu.fi; Home pages: www.jyu.fi/hytk/fi/laitokset/hela/en/hela-staff/stark-laura www.laurastark.fi

Projects

Urban Poverty, Urban Renewal and Income-Generating Spaces in Ethiopia and Tanzania