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.

My research explores the links between education and biodiversity conservation. I am particularly interested in how conservation NGOs implement education programmes in rural communities in Madagascar and how they affect local cultures, environments and knowledge systems. I have mainly been doing qualitative research using interviews, focus groups and participant observation as methodologies.

Projects

Unpacking the role of education as a tool for biodiversity conservation

My name is Weiyi Feng. I am a PhD student in Information Technology at the University of Jyväskylä. My research interests primarily focus on 1.The application of AI in STEAM education, focusing on the impact of generative assessment tools on student learning motivation and a comparison between human and machine assessment; 2.Educational equity and teacher professional development, focusing on the professional challenges and identity construction of female STEM teachers in international contexts. Several empirical studies have been conducted in related fields, aiming to explore educational equity and assessment justice under the intervention of technology.

I hold a Master's in Social Science Research, specializing in Public Policy Analysis from Tampere University. My Master's thesis focused on how insights from behavioral economics, namely prospect theory, can guide preventive policy formation in public health, by laying a framework for how policy officials can reduce perceived barriers to the consumption of preventive care, policy thereby reaching vulnerable and high risk groups. Beginning January 2024, I am a doctoral researcher in the Doctoral programme on Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State (DPInvest) at the University of Turku. My dissertation will create the first reference budgets for university/university of applied sciences students in Finland, laying out the resources that Finnish and non-EU students in Finland need to participate in current Finnish society.

I am working on the Aid, Policy, and Growth nexus, which is close to development cooperation, policy intervention, and sustainable agriculture development. I am particularly interested in addressing the global shared responsibilities and contemporary issues of the food crisis, climate change, and poverty in developing countries.

Projects

Proposed lift-less intervention to reduce heavy lifting among Ghanaian pregnant women to reduce incidence of preterm birth and low birthweight.

I am a research professor at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). I have a PhD in production economics and farm management and a title of Docent in Agricultural Economics at the University of Helsinki. My research mainly focuses on the following topics: economics of animal health and welfare; bio-economic modelling of animal production management, animal disease outbreaks and interventions to reduce different types of animal health disorders; adaptation of agriculture to climate change; food safety management; edible insects; competitiveness of animal-based supply chains. I have worked in several national and international projects such as EU-funded projects PROHEALTH, LEAP4FNNSA and ProIntensAfrica, NEAT Erasmus network, GroupHouseNet Cost action, and FoodAfrica research for development programme.

Projects

Improving Food Security in West and East Africa (FoodAfrica I & II)