Usman Ashraf

Doctoral Researcher

  • Institution University of Helsinki
  • Department/faculty Faculty of Social Sciences

I am a political ecologist working in forest conservation and politics of environment-development in Chinese investments in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan economic corridor.

Antti Autio

Doctoral Candidate

  • Institution University of Helsinki
  • Department/faculty Department of Geosciences and Geography/Faculty of Science

Antti Autio is a Ph.D. student in the Doctoral Programme in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences (DENVI) at the University of Helsinki. He holds a master’s degree in Development Geography and his dissertation research focuses on smallholder farmer’s adaptation to climate change in East Africa from the perspective of political ecology.

Violeta Gutiérrez Zamora

Early stage researcher

  • Institution University of Eastern Finland
  • Department/faculty Geographical and Historical Studies

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

Paola Minoia

Coordinator of the WG

  • Institution University of Helsinki
  • Department/faculty Geosciences and Geography

Marketta Vuola

PhD candidate

  • Institution University of Helsinki
  • Department/faculty Faculty of Social Sciences

My PhD research focuses on the political ecology and interplay between conservation and artisanal and small-scale mining in Madagascar. I am particularly interested in the power dynamics and formal and informal practices and discourses which the actors use to claim land and natural resources. Furthermore, my research aims at providing a venue for local communities to voice their perceptions and aspirations in the land-use question, and to facilitate communication between all stakeholders and development of more inclusive conservation and mining policies.

Gutu WAYESSA

Researcher

  • Institution University of Helsinki
  • Department/faculty Social Sciences, Global Development Studies

Formerly a Postdoc Researcher at the University of Luxembourg and the University of Helsinki (UH) and University Lecturer at UH, Gutu Olana Wayessa is a researcher. His current research is also affiliated with UH. He received BSc from Haramaya University, Ethiopia; an MSc from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway; and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences, majoring in Development Studies, from UH, Finland. From 1 February to 31 July 2019, he held a Visiting Research Scholar at the American University, Washington DC, USA. His research interests include displacements and resettlements, climate change, large-scale investments, land governance, environmental and social justice, state-society relations, social movements, and rural livelihoods. His theoretical and methodological interests encompass political ecology, political economy, philosophy of science, and mixed-methods research.

Projects

Large-scale land deals and local livelihoods in Ethiopia: A political ecology of a contested scheme