Rauno Sairinen works as a professor of environmental policy and as a director of the RESOURCE rc (Sustainable Resource Society: Circular Economy, Energy and Raw Materials) at the University of Eastern Finland. His major research themes have concerned environmental and natural resources governance, sustainability of mining, sustainability transition and social impact assessment. He is adjunct professor in the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) at the University of Queensland, Australia. During 2017-19 he was member of the Board of Directors at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK). During his research career Sairinen has been responsible leader in 36 research projects. Recently he has been WP leader at the GOVERMAT project (concerning recycling of battery metals), the Horizon2020 IMP@CT project (concerning small-scale mining in Europe) and the CORE project (concerning collaborative environmental governance).
Reetta Kallanne ([email protected])
I am currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Tallinn University, supported by a grant from the Saastamoinen Foundation. My postdoctoral research examines Finnish cross-border experiences during the Second World War and their impact on the development of nationalism and Lutheranism.
My research focuses on transnational twentieth-century church history, with particular emphasis on war and nationalism. In my doctoral dissertation, I examined the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia through sources produced by Finnish bystanders. I have also studied the relationship between churches and war, including historical interpretations of wars and the use of history in conflicts. One of my current research interests is the theology of security.
Reetta Kälviäinen ([email protected])
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.
Reetta Riikonen ([email protected])
I am a doctoral researcher in social psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. In my research, I am interested in social identities and intergroup relations, and I have studied these particularly in two contexts: among mothers of young children in residential areas and in the context of national defense and conscription.
My PhD dissertation is part of the MAMANET project, where I study Finnish-background and foreign-background mothers’ intergroup contacts and outgroup attitudes in diversifying neighbourhoods in Helsinki. The project focuses on mothers of small children. My mixed-method dissertation explores 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. My dissertation is funded by the Kone Foundation, the Alli Paasikivi Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s North Savo Regional Fund.
I work as a researcher in the FriendMUM project. The project focuses on intercultural friendships between mothers with Finnish backgrounds and mothers with foreign backgrounds 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.
Reetta Ronkainen ([email protected])
I teach Finnish as a Second Language at the Language Centre of University of Eastern Finland. I mainly teach at the Kuopio campus or online.
During fall 2026, I teach the following courses:
- Suomi 1B
- Suomi 2A
- Suomi 2B
- Suomi 3
- Suomi 1A (for staff)
And in the spring 2027, my courses are
- Suomi 1B
- Suomi 2A
- Suomi 2B
- Suomi 1A (for staff)
I’m doing a PhD on the renewal process of the Finnish National Curriculum for Integration Training 2022 (JYU). My research interests lay within language policies (in Finland), ethnography, and workplace interaction. I combine discursive, ethnographic, and interactional approaches.
Reino Pöyhiä ([email protected])
Key topics of my research currently are spirituality in palliative care, hospital-in-the-home, academic teaching of palliative medicine and pharmacology of medicines in palliative care.