In PROMEQ, health inequities are considered as resulting from the complex interplay between individual, cultural and societal factors, taking expression as deficits in physical, cognitive, mental, social, environmental and material resources of quality of life. The central idea of the PROMEQ is to develop and demonstrate novel models of promotion of health and wellbeing that are able to talk to and assimilate vulnerable groups and motivate and empower positive transitions in their health and wellbeing. Moreover, PROMEQ will use social marketing to achieve positive changes in health and wellbeing. Four groups are selected for interventions: (1) young people (NEETs, i.e. not in education, not in employment, not in training); (2) persons receiving basic unemployment benefit; (3) adult refugees, and (4) multi-users of social and health care. While the focus is on the groups at the disadvantaged end of the scale, the results also inform universal application. A holistic and systematic approach to the health and welfare promotion is developed that meets these deficits and aims at improving peoples own resources and capabilities for positive transitions.
Reetta Kälviäinen (reetta.kalviainen@uef.fi)
Reetta Kälviäinen is the Full Professor and Chair of Neurology in the University of Eastern Finland and the Director of the Kuopio Epilepsy Center in the Kuopio University Hospital. Her special research interest is clinical epileptology including identifying biomarkers of seizure activity, epileptogenesis, progression, and drug-resistancy in cohorts of newly diagnosed and drug-resistant chronic patients. These aspects of scientific projects are combined with therapeutic neuropharmacological interventions. She serves in the steering group of the European Reference Network for rare and complex epilepsies EpiCARE (of which Kuopio Epilepsy Center is a member) and co-chairs the Epilepsy Scientific Panel of the European Academy of Neurology. She is the chair of the steering group for the Establishment Phase of Neurocenter Finland.
Riku Kiviluoto (riku.kiviluoto@uef.fi)
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the primary cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, accounting for 18.6 million deaths annually. The World’s leading cause of hospitalization is heart failure (HF), affecting over 64 million people worldwide. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the CVDs and it can lead to HF. CAD is caused by plaque building up in the wall of the coronary arteries which narrows arteries over time. This process is called atherosclerosis. Despite significant medical advances, HF has no cure.
Non-invasive imaging methods such as positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) have the potential for early detection of HF with CAD. These imaging modalities provide detailed information on anatomical, functional and metabolic aspects of the cardiovascular system, which can help to identify individuals at risk and potentially prevent the progression of HF. Timely diagnosis and intervention reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with HF.
Current imaging techniques for myocardial inflammation have limited specificity. New approaches using PET/MRI techniques are needed for more specific and early detection of myocardial inflammation.
Ruth Stephen (ruth.stephen@uef.fi)
My research interests are the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with a special focus on dementia risk scores, biomarkers and interventions.
Sana Jahangir (sana.jahangir@uef.fi)
I am a highly motivated Doctoral Researcher with a passion for the intersection of biomechanics, computational modeling, musculoskeletal diseases, and osteoarthritis. My research focus is on developing innovative computational methods to transform the way knee injuries and early osteoarthritis are treated. As part of the DEEPMECHANOKNEE consortium project under ERA PerMed, I am working on a cutting-edge multi-scale modeling workflow combined with deep learning algorithms to provide personalized intervention options to prevent or delay the progression of osteoarthritis. With a goal to improve public health, I am dedicated to advancing our understanding of musculoskeletal diseases through cutting-edge research.
SavingScapes
The main aim of the project is to enhance landscape awareness and collaborative governance of cultural and natural landscapes through innovative learning interventions in higher education. The partners of the consortium are willing to tackle the question, how actors and stakeholders can collaborate into the governance of a landscape. Special concern will be attended for empowering methods to carry out collaborative planning and for improving the communication flow between local and regional authorities, environmental planners and managers, NGOs and citizens.
The project is developing and enhancing partnerships and innovation between HE institutions, organizations on the field of landscape planning and management, environmental NGOs and citizens. The activities of the project will take place in four countries in Europe (Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Finland). Partners are going to cooperate closely with each other and with regional and international networks and other stakeholders.
Sostyö-TerVa Evidencing the effectiveness of health social work assessment and intervention
Supporting children’s language and emotional skills by literary art intervention
Taru Peltola (taru.peltola@uef.fi)
I am an environmental social scientist having background in environmental policy studies. My research topics have ranged from energy, forest biodiversity, wolves and other wildlife to food and waste issues. Currently my work is focused on water and plastics in the society. My research interest encompasses human-nature relations and the politics of environmental knowledge, including epistemic power relations and knowledge controversies. I am also exploring citizen engagement and agency in sustainability transformations. In addition to environmental policy studies I am inspired by science and technology studies, especially posthumanist and pragmatist approaches attending to non-human natures as well as corporeality and materialities in social scientific inquiry. Thereby, I am interested in the role of affects and emotions in environmental governance, human-wildlife cohabitation and care of things. In my work, I have also had a chance to experiment with science-art collaborations.
Ongoing projects:
PlastLIFE SIP (2023-2029)
Sense of Water (2022-2026)
Recent publications:
Peltola T, Saarela S-R, Kotilainen J, Litmanen T, Lukkarinen J, Pölönen I, Ratamäki O, Saarikoski H, Salo M & Vikström S (2023) Researcher roles in collaborative governance interventions. Science and Public Policy, doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad034
Peltola T & Ratamäki O (2023) Sharing epistemic power: digitally mediated wolf monitoring in Finland. Science as Culture, doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2023.2214148
Peltola T, Arpin I, Leino J, Peltonen L, Salmi P & Ratamäki O (2023) Management plans as resources in conservation conflicts. Environmental Policy and Governance 33(2), 206-218. doi.org/10.1002/eet.2014
I also work at the Finnish Environment Institute, Societal Change Unit
Timo Lakka (timo.lakka@uef.fi)
Timo Lakka is a Professor of Medical Physiology at University of Eastern Finland, a Specialist in Internal Medicine, and an Adjunct Professor of Public Health. His research is focused on the identification of individuals at increased risk of overweight, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases and the prevention of these diseases and conditions by increasing physical activity and improving diet since childhood. He is a Principal Investigator in the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) study and a Co-Principal Investigator in the Stop Diabetes (StopDia) study and the Dose Responses to Exercise Training (DR’s EXTRA) study. He has also acted as a senior researcher in many other large-scale lifestyle intervention studies, long-term epidemiological follow-up studies, and wide international genetic-epidemiological studies. He has published over 360 scientific articles in international journals, and these articles have almost 60 000 citations and a h-index of 106 (Google Scholar). He has supervised 24 doctoral theses and is a supervisor of another 13 doctoral students.