I hold a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and forestry from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan; a master’s degree in wood materials science from the University of Eastern Finland; and a Doctor of Science (DSc) in Agriculture and Forestry. My research involves the remediation of potentially toxic elements and rare earth elements from wastewater using perennial plants. As part of my postdoctoral research project, I am investigating the role of woody biochar in the restoration of boreal acidic peatlands.
Muqiu Du ([email protected])
Muqiu Du is a PhD researcher specialising in Work Exchange Sharing Accommodation (WESA), where travellers exchange labour for lodging with local hosts. Her research systematically explores this niche travel form, focusing on reciprocal host-guest relationships, traveller motivations, and user behaviours. Her work mainly utilises big data analysis, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Large Language Models (LLMs).
Myele Rouxel ([email protected])
Myele Rouxel is a Doctoral Researcher in the field of EU environmental law. Her doctoral research focuses on EU law and sufficiency. She uses mixed research methods to identify legal constraints and opportunities for transformational change towards sufficiency in the EU legal system. She investigates these questions at EU constitutional level and in the food and energy contexts. Her doctoral research is conducted as part of the Sustainability Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot and the RELIEF project on the resilience of complex legal systems in sustainability transformation. Beyond her current PhD research, she previously published on international climate change law and animal welfare and practised environmental law in law firms and EU institutions.
Nader Abazari ([email protected])
I hold a PhD in Clinical Psychology and currently work as a postdoctoral researcher, exploring ways to enhance existential well-being through interdisciplinary approaches. I am particularly interested in how cultural contexts shape the fundamental human quest for meaning in life.
Nanxiang Jin ([email protected])
I am a neuroscientist and Docent of Neurophysiology with extensive experience in electrophysiology, neural signal analysis, and computational neuroscience. My research spans multiple biological systems, including Caenorhabditis elegans, honeybees, mice, and humans, with the common goal of understanding how information is encoded, transmitted, and processed in living systems.
Throughout my career, I have applied electrophysiological approaches ranging from single-neuron recordings to human EEG studies to investigate the neural basis of learning, memory, cognition, and behavior. A major focus of my work has been Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, where I have contributed to research on EEG biomarkers, neural dysfunction, and pharmacological interventions in both patients and healthy controls.
My expertise combines electrophysiology, neural signal processing, behavioral video analysis, feature engineering, and scientific software development. Recently, I have expanded my research into artificial intelligence and deep learning, with a particular focus on developing accurate and efficient AI methods for automated detection and analysis of sleep-related EEG events.
I am also involved in interdisciplinary research on social communication in honeybees. By applying concepts and analytical approaches originally developed for neural electrophysiology, I investigate how information may be encoded and exchanged through bioelectrical signals within insect societies, contributing to our understanding of collective intelligence and distributed information processing.
My long-term research goal is to bridge neurophysiology, biological communication, and artificial intelligence to uncover general principles of information processing across levels of biological organization, from neural networks in the brain to communication networks in social insect colonies.
Nelli Heiskanen ([email protected])
PhD research topic: From a Passion to a Profession. Case Ski Instructors. Ski instructors are skilled seasonal workers, whose profession is seasonal and mobile by nature. The aim is to study, what makes someone choose such a profession and what makes retain in the career or in a certain ski school, or quit or leave.
Neuro-Ethics and Law Research Group
Neuroinflammation research group
Neuromodulation research group
Nicola Kokkonen ([email protected])
Originally from western Canada, Nicola studied Forest Engineering at the University of British Columbia and completed her Bachelors studies in 2009. After a few years working in the forestry in central and northern British Columbia, she returned to her studies participating in the Trans-Atlantic Forestry Masters program (TransFor-M). In 2013 Nicola received her M.Sc. in Forest Biology and Management from the University of Alberta and M.Sc. in Agriculture and Forestry from the University of Eastern Finland (UEF). She competed her D.Sc. in Forestry and Agriculture at UEF in February 2024. Her doctoral dissertation focused on peatland vegetation ecology and dynamics with special attention to the potential effects of a changing climate on peatland ecosystems.
Currently, Nicola is working as a post-doctoral researcher in the Disturbances and Biogeochemistry group in the Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Here, her research focusses on greenhouse gas emissions from forest soils following fire.