Doctoral researcher at Tampere University on Decolonizing Understanding of Gender among Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, and Jordan.

I am studying the role of African elephants in climate change by examining their feeding impacts on vegetation and above-ground carbon dynamics. My research aims to identify demographic and habitat degradation thresholds that could shift their ecosystem role from carbon accumulators to carbon releasers, while also addressing misconceptions about the two African elephant species and their hybrids. As elephants face increasing threats from poaching and escalating human-elephant conflict (HEC) across their range, my work further explores any synergies or trade-offs between climate change mitigation and conservation efforts, and how these are linked to HEC. Learn more on my website: http://www.samuelawini.com.

I am a doctoral researcher in media studies at Tampere University, Finland, focusing on disinformation, gamification, hate infrastructures, mediatized memories, and political violence. I lead the social media research team for the Luce Foundation-funded project on Muslims in India under Hindu majoritarianism, alongside professors from Science Po, Princeton, and Columbia University. Previously, I was a fellow at Oxford’s Reuters Institute and the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. I have over 20 years of experience as an investigative journalist, covering environmental justice, human rights, and conflicts in the Indian subcontinent, earning multiple awards, including the Kurt Schork Memorial Award. I have taught journalism at various Indian universities, am a certified media literacy trainer, and have conducted over 40 training sessions in India and Bangladesh. My work has been featured in major international media, and I was formerly India editor of AFP's fact-checking division.

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.

I am a doctoral Researcher in the field of ICT. Current work is around ICT for climate Actions

In my doctoral project, I investigate connections between belonging, development of group identities, urbanization, and political representation and participation in decision-making in the restrictive settings of contemporary Russia. More specifically, in my study, I analyze the peculiarities of these phenomena among non-Russian ethnic minorities and Indigenous peoples. My research is based on the case study of Komi people inhabiting Syktyvkar, the capital of Russia's north-western Komi Republic.

My research focuses on the power relations deployed throughout conflicts and collaborations over the management, use, and conservation of forest in Mexico

Dr. Raija Halonen acts as an Adjunct Professor and University Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at the University of Oulu, Finland, in the Research Unit M3S. She is intested in e-Inclusion and how it can be built and supported by ICT-enabled solutions and applications. Before her academic career she worked on information systems both in the public sector and in private IT enterprises. She has contacts with health sector and several private companies. Her research topics include serious games, gamification and human approach in relation to information processing science.

Omotomilola Ikotun is a researcher of the Time, Space and the Environment in Society Doctoral Programme at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu. Her research analyses pastoral access to water supply, pastoral inequality and the impact of environmental conflicts on borders, access to natural resources, and agriculture market access development in Nigeria and West Africa.

Over 48 million people were internally displaced due to armed conflict, generalized violence or human rights violations, according to Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), at the end of 2020. The concept of internally displaced persons (IDP) can be understood as persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized border. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) stated in their 2021 Global Report on Internal Displacement that the pandemic increased the needs and vulnerabilities of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and measures to curb the spread of coronavirus have greatly hindered humanitarian efforts. In consideration of this and the fact that globally the pandemic has dealt a hard blow on the global economy that it is important that an examination on how citizens who have decided not to totally depend on humanitarian aids and build businesses in order to earn a living have been able to survive. This research will also be examining and theorize the idea of a growing economy within the IDP camps.