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Brexit, migration and mobility

Brexit provides an excellent opportunity to examine how the formal (state) and informal (social) processes of border-making relate to each other and play out in the everyday life of those impacted by this historic change. As the transitionary period after UK’s exit from the EU ends in December 2020, it is important to discuss the impact of the Brexit process from a migrant perspective. The prolonged uncertainty has already had an impact on the lives of intra-European migrants at multiple levels: for their legal status and rights as residents, for their work opportunities and career prospects and for identity and the sense of belonging and feeling of social inclusion to their host societies – be they the UK for the Nordic migrants or any of the other EU countries for the Brits.

UEF is host to several research projects that focus on the impact of Brexit on intra-European migrants. Dr. Tiina Sotkasiira has interviewed Finns living in Scotland and England as a part of her research on Brexit and Finns in Britain and Dr. Saara Koikkalainen has collected data among Nordic nationals in London . Together with two colleagues, researcher Peter Holley and Dr. Nicol Savinetti, Dr. Koikkalainen has also conducted a survey among Brits living in Europe (n=752).

BUDS-Building Up Digital Strategists

Erasmus+ project
BUDS
Call 2019 KA203 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education
The project builds on an existing summer school on consulting on digital transformation projects in close cooperation with consultancy firms.

The core aim of the project is the design and delivery of a blended course on digital management consulting made of three self-standing e-learning modules and an experiential-based intensive training programme.

Catherine Kayonga (catherine.kayonga@uef.fi)

In this PhD study, we will explore the unmet social and healthcare needs of older people in Finland. We aim to reveal how unmet social care needs are associated with mortality, the use of home care and institutionalization in later life. We also aim to provide insights on risk factors linked to unmet needs.

This study is part of two projects: 1) the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) study, with longitudinal data on health status, lifestyle, cognition, physical functioning, mood and biomarkers; 2) the Old-age Social Exclusion in Home Care – Prevalence, Meanings & Intervention (SOLDEX) project, examining the prevalence, risk factors and individual meanings of social exclusion in home-care clients.

Cloneria Jatileni (cloneria.jatileni@uef.fi)

I facilitate the collaborations between the University of Eastern Finland’s department of teacher education and our partner universities in the global north and south. In this collaboration, we work with the departments of education at the University of Turku in Finland, the University of Namibia in Namibia, and Stadio Higher Education in South Africa. Generally, I am involved in the GINTL  African collaborations with UEF on educational research. My work includes applying for funding on GINTL projects at UEF and identifying possible research areas. Our research areas are teacher education/training, digital learning, early childhood education and educational policies. I am also a doctoral student at UEF. My dissertation focuses on digital learning for Mathematics and policy development in Namibian basic education.

Data Literacy for Responsible Decision-Making (DATALIT)

The project investigates use of data as well as development and use of new tools for data-based decision-making in social and healthcare public organizations. The project examines current practices and development projects, as well as their institutional and societal implications and impacts. One of the starting points is to study and evaluate especially the possibilities of using tools and models, which are not based on profiling individuals. A central goal is to identify criteria for socially sustainable uses of data rather than provision of a list of general ethical principles.

The project is a part of DataLit consortium coordinated by the University of Helsinki. The multidisciplinary consortium combines social sciences, law and computer science. The aim of the project is to develop understandable and reliable practices and tools, which can utilise Finnish social, healthcare and well-being data and promote data literacy.

Funded by: Strategic Research Council 10/2020-9/2023

Diana Arbelaez Ruiz (diana.arbelaez@uef.fi)

I study the social and political dimensions of resource extraction to inform dialogue, and policy- and decision-making. My interests include the dynamics of raw materials for the energy transition, conflict and peacebuilding in mining regions, and indigenous rights and activism in natural resource extraction contexts. I have more than 20 years’ combined experience in the areas of development, social responsibility, peace and conflict studies, and sustainability, with a strong emphasis on the extractive sector.

At UEF, I am examining the geopolitical and socio-environmental aspects of energy transition minerals from a global perspective. My previous posting was as Senior Research Fellow in the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Development Minerals Program, where I oversaw the establishment of an online knowledge exchange network for ASM miners and quarry workers – the Delve Exchange. My doctoral thesis dealt with Indigenous community participation in post-conflict mineral resource governance in Colombia. As part of this, I was a Visiting Endeavour Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Subsequently, I was a Rotary Peace Fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. I held Research Fellow and Research Manager roles at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, where I worked on a broad suit of topics focusing on Latin American and Australian sites. I have been a consultant to NGOs and mining companies providing specialist knowledge and advisory services in connection to mining and development projects.

 

Elias Ylä-Herttuala (elias.yla-herttuala@uef.fi)

Currently working as a postdoctoral researcher to develop new cardiac MRI methods for the determination of different cardiovascular diseases. I am leading the cardiac imaging group in biomedical imaging group (MRI-, hyperpolariztion MRI-field, PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT, microCT) at AIV-institute at UEF. Additionally, leading couple of clinical cardiovascular imaging research projects. Currently, I am also specializing for Medical Physicist.

Elisa Tiilikainen (elisa.tiilikainen@uef.fi)

I am a social scientist interested in issues related to ageing and later life. Currently I work as an Associate Professor in Social Work at the Department of Social Sciences. My work includes work with research projects and teaching around questions related to social gerontology and gerontological social work. At the moment I am leading a four-year research project on old-age social inclusion in home care (SOLDEX) funded by the Research Counsil of Finland, and a workpackage on digital health technologies and services of older adults (75+) as part of a Nordic collaboration project (HAIDI). In addition, I am involved in several multidisciplinary programs and networks.

In my PhD I examined loneliness from a life course perspective identifying different pathways behind loneliness in later life and exploring how loneliness changes in time. I have also examined experiences of loneliness from the perspective of people living with aphasia and older migrant women. My studies have highlighted the multidimensional and dynamic nature of loneliness and its individual meanings in relation to different life events and transitions. In my studies I have used mostly qualitative methodologies, but I’m interested in finding ways to combine different methods, especially from longitudinal perspectives.

Elli Vento (elli.vento@uef.fi)

My research interests are related to well-being tourism research. Previously, I have analyzed well-being outcomes of tourism among disadvantaged customer groups in the context of social tourism, as well as motivational factors and service preferences of wellness tourists. Currently, I am working on two research projects that examine, respectively, the outcomes and potential of transformative tourism and regenerative nature tourism.

Emilia Kansanen (emilia.kansanen@uef.fi)

  • Strategic development of research and innovation activities at the Faculty of Health Sciences.
  • Planning and preparation of selected major research projects and applications.
  • National and international stakeholder collaboration related to research and innovation activities, including the creation of new contacts and networks.