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Ageing and elder care research group

The ageing and elder care research group is a multidisciplinary research group (incl. social gerontology, gerontological social work, health and social management, organization sciences), which addresses various elder care management and organizational issues and the wellbeing of older people from multi-agency perspectives. The effectiveness of services is also studied with different methodical approaches.

Aija Lulle (aija.lulle@uef.fi)

I am a migration scholar and geographer, currently working on a project Returning home? Making and imagining ageing futures. This research examines the lives of ageing people in the historical context of recent large-scale emigration and the unprecedented acceleration of population ageing in Eastern Europe. Its rationale originates from an urgent necessity to understand the wellbeing needs of ageing people. The theoretical approach is grounded in concepts from human geography and migration theory, focusing on migrants’ capabilities to aspire. The project utilises sensory, practical and imaginative homemaking practices.

Prior to my current research post, I was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University, UK. My experience includes intense teaching and diverse fieldwork in Baltics, Nordic countries, border regions with Russia and the UK. In addition, I have significant leadership and administrative skills (as Director of the Diaspora and Migration Research Centre in Latvia (2014-2015) and as head of Doctoral Programmes in Geography and Environment in Loughborough (2021-2022).

 

Anssi Vainikka (anssi.vainikka@uef.fi)

We study fishing-induced evolution, management of recreational fisheries, and behavioural and life-history evolution of fish. We also link fisheries topics to traditional limnology and aquatic ecology. We explore the relationships between well-being and biodiversity of aquatic ecosystems, and ways to improve the status of aquatic nature and wellbeing gains derived from aquatic ecosystems.

Henna Konu (henna.konu@uef.fi)

I’m working as an Associate Professor at University of Eastern Finland focusing on examining nature-based tourism business. My current research interests are nature connectedness in nature-based tourism experiences, sustainability in tourism firms, designing experiential tourism services and tourism as a part of bioeconomy.

Specialties and interests in research: well-being tourism, nature-based tourism, wellbeing from nature, experience design, experiential services, customer involvement, qualitative methods, responsible tourism, sustainable tourism, eco-labels and schemes, carbon offsetting models in tourism, cultural ecosystem services