Janet Carter Anand is an academic, educator and practitioner in social work. Currently a Professor in International Social Work, UEF, she has researched and published on global mindedness, cultural diversity, human rights and ageing and migration and quality of life. Janet is affiliated with the UEF Centre for Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters, leads the IAASW Baltic Nordic Regional Resource Centre and is Editor of the Journal of Nordic Social Work Research and course director Sosnet Global Perspectives in Social Work of a new YUFE program on Global Migration and European Identity.

Salla Atkins is a social scientist and professor of Public Health (especially Global Health) at the Faculty of Social Sciences. She is also a research specialist at the department of Global Public Health Sciences at Karolinska Institutet. For the past 16 years Salla has researched issues related to the social determinants of health, poverty, inequity, health systems and policy in low, middle, and high-income countries. Her interest is in mixed-methods and register research, especially multisectoral interventions to improve health and life course effects of social inequalities. Salla has coordinated large EU projects during her postdoctoral work and currently has projects in Finland in addition to collaborations with partners in Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, India, and South Africa on various projects related to health equity. Her work is situated in the space between international, national and regional policy, and individual lives.

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.

Brazilian researcher investigating citizen perspectives to South American regionalism. Currently researching Brazilian civil society's modes of participation in face of the MERCOSUR–EU agreement on trade.

Hi! I am Marianna Birmoser Ferreira-Aulu, project researcher and doctoral student at the University of Turku (UTU), Finland. My long-term professional goal is to contribute to society by exploring innovative pathways towards just and sustainable futures. I intend to do this by producing high-quality scientific materials, by popularizing science to catalyze positive transformations, and by engaging with the civil society to collaborate with various stakeholders. During the past five years, I have been working as project researcher in two departments in the University of Turku: the Finland Futures Research Centre, and the Centre for Collaborative Research. I have been engaged with various projects in strategic foresight, futures literacy, sustainability and climate action, renewable energy, food research, and international collaboration. In addition to desk research, I enjoy doing workshop facilitation (have experience in Finland, Peru and Colombia). I have also been quite active in public speaking, by giving talks in various seminars and conferences. I also enjoy cooperating to developing the strategy of our own organization. I have represented UTU in international cooperation initiatives through international education services. Since the beginning of 2021, I have also been pursuing my doctoral degree in Futures Studies. The working-title of my dissertation is “Building a Strategic Roadmap for Ecologically Sound and Socio-politically supported Conservation of the Brazilian Amazonia”. The research takes into consideration the local socio-political dynamics, the uniqueness of its peoples and its biodiversity. I look at the conservation of Amazonia as a wicked problem that needs diverse set of actions to attempt to solve it. This research topic is a continuation, and expansion of my Master’s Thesis, where I explored futures scenarios for the Volta Grande do Xingu, the region most affected by the construction of the Belo Monte Dam, in the East of the Brazilian Amazonia.

Projects

ReWell - Promoting Regional Wellbeing Through Adult and Vocational Education

ReWell - promoting regional wellbeing through adult and vocational education

I am a doctoral researcher at the UEF Law School. My PhD research focuses specifically on international, transnational, and regional climate change laws and policies, gender based adaptation laws and policies, and socio-economic resilience of rural women. Through my research, I aim to conduct comparative case studies on Bangladesh and the Finnish Arctic. I am employed as the Coordinator for the Center for Climate Change, Environment, and Energy Law (CCEEL) and I am a member of the Climate Change and International Environmental Law research group from CCEEL. My other research interests include climate justice, environmental justice, and human rights.

Jaana Jarva is a senior scientist in environmental geology at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). She holds a PhD in geology from the University of Turku, Finland. She is specialized in the fields of environmental and urban geology, geochemistry, land use planning, geological risk assessment and climate change adaptation. She has worked as a project manager in several European research and regional development projects, as well as in national and international research and consulting assignments. She is currently acting as a project manager of four international projects on hydrogeology, climate change adaptation and environmental impact assessment. She holds IPMA Level C certificate.

Sociologist and trained welfare professional with a broad working experience in Finnish social services since 1980ies. Expert member in the administration courts of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna in matters of child welfare, adoption and disability services. Visiting researcher in the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, THL. Research interest include: practice research in social work, science and technology studies, sociocybernetics, implementation studies. Research and development collaboration in Europe, Asia and LAC region.

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.