This project is on-going ethnographic research of migrants in North Karelia. Since the beginning of the 2000s, I have been carrying on my research among Russian migrants from the everyday ethnographic perspective, in the border areas of North Karelia. The theoretical framework of the project lies in the intersection of welfare politics, transnational everyday life, rural border areas and everyday geopolitics (see e.g. Pöllänen & Davydova-Minguet 2017). Methodologically the study continues the border ethnography tradition (Davydova & Pöllänen 2010, 2011; Vila 2003). This project conducts research on migration and transnationalism in the contexts of border areas in the era of austerity policy and politics.
Mikko Nissi (mikko.nissi@uef.fi)
Dr. Nissi is a Professor at the Department of Technical Physics at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. Dr. Nissi leads a research group focusing on pre-clinical quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI). In 2021, Dr. Nissi also served as a deputy head of the department. The research topics in the group include relaxometry methods, such as various rotating and laboratory frame relaxation methods and imaging strategies, as well as quantitative susceptibility mapping. While the primary field of target applications for qMRI in Dr. Nissi’s group has been musculoskeletal diseases and their diagnostics, the research interests of his group concern especially methodological development of ultra-short echo time / SWIFT imaging sequences as well as image acquisition and reconstruction strategies for various target applications.
The most recent project fundings granted to Dr. Nissi concern development of AI-assisted virtual histology using magnetic resonance fingerprinting (Research Council of Finland, grant #354693), depelopment of rapid quantitative ultra-short echo time MRI methods using primarily the SWIFT sequence and its variants and iterative compressed sensing reconstruction methods (Research Council of Finland, grant #325146) and developing an innovation and development environment for industrial applications of material research using microMRI, consisting of investment of an 11.74 T microMRI device and of various pilot projects on microMRI of agricultural and industrial products (European Regional Development Fund, grants #A73998 and #A74016).
Mina Azimirad (mina.azimirad@uef.fi)
Dr. Mina Azimirad (PhD, MNSc, BSc, RN) is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). As an enthusiastic and passionate researcher, Dr. Azimirad has been involved in several research projects, where formed an international network, and study visits to the University of Genova (Italy), University of Thessaly (Greece), AWV & AFBB (Germany), Northumbria University (UK), Surrey University (UK), University of Limerick (Ireland), University of Østfold (Norway), and Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland).
Dr. Azimirad’s research interest mainly focuses on medical emergency teams and nurses’ competencies in managing deteriorating patients. Dr. Azimirad has received a significant amount of competitive research grant (77,400 €) including a 12,000 € travel grant (to an Australian university and the National University of Singapore) for her post-doc research proposal, and published 14 peer-reviewed journal articles, 12 publications intended for professional communities and the general public, published one book chapter, and supervised a Master’s degree nursing student. She has presented 17 research studies at national and international conferences and was a chairman at the latest HTTS conference (Kansallinen hoitotieteellinen konferenssi).
The post-doc research study (eTSiMMe project) main members are Dr. Mina azimirad (UEF), Prof. Hannele Turunen (UEF), Prof. Roman Bednarik (UEF), and our international collaborator from the National University of Singapore Prof. He Hong-Go. The project also has members from the Kuopio University Hospital ICU department who will help us in implementing the project. The project focuses on the assessment of teamwork and shared mental models within the MET.
Mohamed Abdelgalil (mohammed.saqr@uef.fi)
Mohammed Saqr an Academy of Finland researcher who leads the lab of learning analytics at UEF School of Computing which was, according to Scopus, Europe’s most productive learning analytics lab in 2021. Mohammed had a PhD in learning analytics from Stockholm University, Sweden. Before joining UEF in Finland, Mohammed had a post-doc at University of Paris. Mohammed’s research is interdisciplinary including learning analytics and big data, network science, science of science and medicine. Mohammed’ PhD was awarded the best thesis, he got several international research awards (e.g., best papers) and obtained the University of Michigan Office of Academic Innovation fellowship. Mohammed obtained funding from prestigious institutions: Swedish Research Council (as Co-PI) and Academy of Finland (as PI) for Idiographic learning analytics as well as several other grants. Mohammed is an academic editor in four prestigious academic journals, organised and contributed to several international conferences and presented several invited keynotes. Mohammed’s current collaboration network includes Finland, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Australia, France, Switzerland, UK, and USA. For a full list of papers see Researchgate.
Natalie Joubert (natalie.joubert@uef.fi)
Natalie Joubert is currently a Welfare, Health and Management (WELMA) doctoral student at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio. She is a professionally qualified social worker who completed the Nordic Master in Social Work and Welfare in 2019. Her interest is in cultural diversity, parenting practices, the mental health and well-being of children in migrant families and social inclusion in Scandinavia and Europe.
Publications
- Joubert, Natalie, Anand, Janet Carter and Mäki-Opas, Tomi, (2020), Migration as a Challenge to the Sustainability of Nordic Gender Equality Policies as Highlighted through the Lived Experiences of Eritrean Mothers Living in Denmark, Sustainability, 12, issue 23. Impact Factor – 2.567
- Joubert, Natalie Lynette. “Parenting in a New Context–Eritrean Parents Living in Denmark.”ERIS Journal–Winter 2021–Forced Migration and Minority Groups (2021): 36.
- Farahani, Hadi, Natalie Joubert, Janet C. Anand, Timo Toikko, and Mohamad Tavakol. (2021). “A Systematic Review of the Protective and Risk Factors Influencing the Mental Health of Forced Migrants: Implications for Sustainable Intercultural Mental Health Practice” Social Sciences 10, no. 9: 334
Paula Paajanen (paula.paajanen@uef.fi)
I am a doctoral researcher in the field of social psychology in MAMANET project. With ethnographic approach, I study intergroup contact and lack of it between mothers of young children with Finnish and immigrant backgrounds in two multiethnic neighborhoods of Helsinki. My research produces knowledge about intergroup contact experienced in everyday life and challenges related to such contact. My doctoral research is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, City of Helsinki, Kone Foundation and Alfred Kordelin Foundation. I am working on my dissertation in the Doctoral Programme in Social and Cultural Encounters (SCE).
Petra Kuivala (petra.kuivala@uef.fi)
Petra Kuivala, Doctor of Theology, works as an Assistant Professor of Global Christianity at the School of Theology, University of Eastern Finland.
Previously, Kuivala has worked as a postdoctoral researcher of Area and Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Art and as a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology, University of Helsinki (2014-2023). In 2020-2023, she held an appointment as a Visiting Scholar and an Associate at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, at Harvard University. In 2016-2017, Kuivala held an appointment as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Cuban Research Institute, Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, at Florida International University. She has received fellowships and research grants from the Academy of Finland, University of Helsinki, the Lutheran World Federation, The Osk. Huttunen Foundation, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Aune Vappula Fund, and The Research Center of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Finland.
Dr. Kuivala’s research and teaching intersect with the study of religion, history, Cuban studies, and Latin American studies, addressing Christianity in the Americas, with a particular focus on religion in Cuba, the Cuban Revolution, and socialist society.
Kuivala’s dissertation (2019), Never a Church of Silence: The Catholic Church in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1986, focused on Catholicism in socialist Cuba, drawing on archival and oral sources as well as ethnographic work conducted in Cuba. During the fieldwork for her dissertation, Dr. Kuivala became the first scholar to access previously unstudied archives of the Catholic Church in Cuba, working on classified sources dating to the revolutionary period. In total, she perused more than 40,000 pages of previously unexplored documents in nine Cuban archives.
Most recently, Kuivala has written about religious material culture and lived religion in Cuba, and religious moral authority confronting totalitarian state power in Latin America. Her articles have been published in, among others, Cuban Studies, Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, and the International Journal of Cuban Studies. Kuivala is also the Editor-in-Chief of The Yearbook of the Finnish Society of Church History.
Dr. Kuivala’s current research project, The Revolution, Religion, and Social Experience in Cuba, 1961–1991, funded by the Academy of Finland, analyzes the intersections of vernacular religion and lived experience in the social histories of the Cuban Revolution.
Reetta Riikonen (reetta.riikonen@uef.fi)
I am a doctoral researcher in the field of social psychology in the MAMANET project, where I study Finnish majority and immigrant mothers’ intergroup contacts and outgroup attitudes in multiethnic neighbourhoods in Helsinki. The project focuses on mothers of small children. The MAMANET project has found that there are only few encounters between Finnish majority mothers and immigrant mothers in neighbourhoods. In my mixed-method dissertation, I explore the factors influencing this situation and how motherhood as a common ingroup identity can support the development of positive intergroup contact and positive outgroup attitudes in neighbourhoods. The results shed light on how to support the development of positive contacts between mothers which may also support mothers’ wellbeing, inclusion and integration in the Finnish society. I am a doctoral student in the doctoral program in Social and Cultural Encounters (SCE). My dissertation is funded by the Kone Foundation, the Alli Paasikivi Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s North Savo Regional Fund.
After the completion of my dissertation, I will start working as a post doctoral researcher in the FriendMUM project in spring 2025. The project focuses on intercultural friendships between Finnish majority mothers and mothers with an immigrant background in the “Friend for an Immigrant Mum” program organized by Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. The FriendMUM project is funded by the Alli Paasikivi Foundation and the Kone Foundation.
Saara Koikkalainen (saara.koikkalainen@uef.fi)
I work as a university researcher in the Cultural encounters, mobilities and borders (CULTCHANGE) -profile area (2020-2023). My research focuses on various mobility phenomana in Europe, such as on the experiences of Nordic migrants in London during the Brexit era and mobility caused by the war in Ukraine. This research has also been funded by the Kone foundation, the Alfred Kordelinin Foundation and the Kansan sivistysrahasto -foundation. My PhD (University of Lapland 2013) examined the labour market experiences of highly skilled Finns in the European labour markets. I have published also on migration decision making, the labour market position of return migrants, intra-European mobility and Iraqi asylum seekers in Finland.
Sari Havu-Nuutinen (sari.havu-nuutinen@uef.fi)
Sari Havu-Nuutinen: PhD, Education. Professor on education, especially early years education. Havu-Nuutinen works at School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education involved e.g. in minor studies of pre-primary education, international master’s degree program and postgraduate studies in education. She has more than 20 years’ experience of teacher education in Finland and during the period she has actively participated in the curriculum development in teacher education.
She is internationally collaborative researcher in her research field addressing young children’s teaching and learning in science education. She has participated in science education research and developmental projects internationally and nationally. In addition, she is leading national school related projects relating to science education and flexible learning environments. She worked as a Fulbright scholar (ASLA Fulbright senior research grant) at Ohio University 2015.