My duties consist of teaching and research in church music, as well as administrative tasks within the School of Theology. I am responsible for delivering lectures on the church music degree programme, from the foundation level through to the advanced level. I supervise Master’s theses and doctoral dissertations on church music. My research interests include the development of Finnish-language Orthodox musical practice and liturgical literature, as well as national discourses within Finnish Orthodoxy in the 19th and 20th centuries. I am also researching the development of the Eastern Rite liturgy and music in Poland-Lithuania during the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as the significance of church music in today’s worship experiences and processes of conversion. I am in the editorial board of the following academic publications:
Ortodoksia, The
Journal of the International Society for Orthodox Church Music,
Review of Ecumenical Studies,
Acta Musicologica, ja
Труди Київської Духовної Академії. I am the vice-chair of the
International Society for Orthodox Church Music (2021–) and co-chair of the Church Music Group of the
International Orthodox Theological Association. I am also a board member and treasurer of the Finnish Society for Byzantine Music. I am also in the board of the
Foundation of Orthodox Culture, and the folk dance and youth association
Motora.
In addition to teaching, Marianna writes her dissertation in marketing and consumer behavior research group. Marianna’s dissertation focuses on scent marketing and she is especially interested in processes behind the effects of scents on consumer behavior, and whether using scents could increase sales of products that are more environmentally friendly in comparison to conventional products. Marianna’s research interests also include sustainable consumption and she has written her master’s thesis about adoption of wood-based products. Prior to her academic career, Marianna has worked in a company specialising in sensory marketing solutions and in retail.
In addition to working on my own dissertation which focuses on accessible and inclusive tourism, I work under the University of Eastern Finland’s Tourism Business research group as a project researcher. My bachelor’s thesis dealt with the tourism product development for the hearing-impaired; and now, the focus of my dissertation is researching the impacts of such products on the experiences of social inclusion and well-being of the hearing-impaired participants in tourism.
My focus is on working life and its change; my specific research fields are mental health, work capacity, and sickness absence. The present externally funded projects include a consortium study in the Academy of Finland program “Digital Humanities” (2020-23) in which we, together with Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and University of Helsinki, examine the potential of digital data pools in the assessment of workload in health care. We are also part of the Academy of Finland program “Climate Change and Health” (2020-24). I have collaboration with the unit of Insurance Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
I have always been fascinated by the environment, especially the huge diversity of microorganisms that live on Earth. I have a background in microbial and peatland ecology, as well as processes related to soil carbon dynamics. My main research interests lie in peatland ecology, particularly the functioning of the carbon cycle in peatlands, and the threats posed by global changes (warming, drought, vegetation change, restoration…). I completed a master’s degree in environmental microbiology and molecular biology at the University of Pau (France) in 2022. Following a PhD and postdoctoral research in peatland microbial ecology at the University of Toulouse (CRBE laboratory, France) from 2022 to 2026, I have now joined the Peat and Trees group. As a nature lover, I am particularly interested in the changes occurring today and their impact on microbial communities, and I am looking forward to seeing what we will discover!
I work as a project researcher in the KOTOPE research project. In my work I examine the employment of early education teachers and the differentiation of public early education services from the perspective of sociology of education.
Marina Dutra Trindade is a doctoral researcher at the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law of the Law School, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, University of Eastern Finland. Her research focuses on EU and international climate and energy law. Her broader research interests include jurisprudence, public international law, international environmental law and EU law. She is a member of the RELIEF Project (2023-2026), which is funded by the Strategic Research Council of Finland and focuses on the interdisciplinary analysis of the role and impact of legal systems on sustainability transformation.
My research is mostly focusing on medication, patient and client safety. I am an Academy Research Fellow and Professor at the University of Eastern Finland, Department of Nursing Science. I have the title of docent (medication safety) at the University of Helsinki and title of docent (nursing science) at the University of Eastern Finland. I am also working as a Research professor at the Research Centre for Nursing Science and Social and Health Management, Kuopio University Hospital, Wellbeing Services County of North Savo, Finland. I have also a Visiting Fellow position at King’s College London. Years 2023-2024, I was working as an editor-in-chief of the Finnish Journal of Nursing Science and since 2025 as an editor in the Nurse Education Today – journal.
I am responsible for maintaining the library system’s customer interface UEF Primo and managing the library’s publication metrics services. I am actively involved in both the assessment of responsible research and the promotion of open science.
Marja Laasonen is a psychologist, special psychologist of clinical neuropsychology, and teacher. Since 2021, she has been a professor of logopedics and the head of the subject at the University of Eastern Finland. In addition, she works as an adjunct professor and principal investigator at the University of Helsinki, as well as directs research at the Helsinki University Hospital. Previously, Marja Laasonen has held professorships in psychology and logopedics at the University of Turku and worked as a university lecturer in clinical neuropsychology specialisation at the Department of Psychology at the University of Helsinki. Laasonen has extensive experience in clinical neuropsychology and has been conducting research on developmental and learning difficulties for over 20 years. Her research areas have included dyslexia, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and developmental language disorder. In her most important current project, Laasonen focuses on developmental language disorder in a longitudinal setting and at multiple levels of analysis, ranging from genetics and brain research to multilingualism and interaction: https://www.hus.fi/helsli-seurantatutkimus The project applies advanced machine learning methods, comparisons to international cohorts, and register-based research. In education development, Laasonen has promoted blended and digital practices, and most recently, artificial intelligence experiments. She also utilises the possibilities of artificial intelligence in science communication and in making scientific knowledge accessible to the public: https://childdmatters.substack.com/
