I focus my research and teaching on digital pedagogy as well as students’ reading enjoyment and motivation. Recently, my interest has expanded to the pedagogical design and application of AI agents in both basic education and university teaching. I am actively involved in developing teacher education and work in close collaboration with the teachers of the University of Eastern Finland’s teacher training school in Joensuu. I also supervise bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral theses.
Susanna Riekkoniemi ([email protected])
I am a doctoral researcher in social work at the Department of Social Sciences. In my doctoral research, I examine out-of-home care and young people’s experiences of life in care. The aim of my research is to develop a deeper understanding of everyday life in out-of-home care from the perspective of young people. I am particularly interested in research methods that enable an in-depth exploration of lived experience and bring forward the voices of young people.
Susanna Rikkola ([email protected])
Teaching
Reflection; reflection prompts; metacognition; academic emotions; qualitative methods; advising for bachelor’s thesis
Research
My research focuses on key themes of reflection, reflection prompts, metacognition and academic emotions.
In my doctoral research, I examine how students’ reflection can be supported and made visible in comprehensive school mathematics. I am particularly interested in what pedagogical practices reveal about students’ thinking and emotions — and what students’ reflections, in turn, tell us about the practices used.
The aim of my research is to generate practice-oriented knowledge that helps to understand what is important to consider when supporting reflection with school-aged learners in a subject-specific context.
Some of my earlier publications are published under the surname Toikka.
Sustainable Forest Bioeconomy: American-Finnish Collaboration for Research, Innovation and Education
Suvi Linna-Kuosmanen ([email protected])
Suvi Linna-Kuosmanen is a Senior Researcher at the A.I. Virtanen Institute and a Principal Investigator and Group Leader of Linna Lab. The lab was established in October 2023 and is currently located at the University of Eastern Finland.
Linna-Kuosmanen uses single-cell and spatial omics, data integration, and machine learning / AI models to identify novel drug targets and biomarkers for clinical applications and more personalized medicine. Her ongoing work combines unique human patient samples and engineered human tissue models with state-of-the-art experimental and computational methods, to elucidate disease mechanisms of major aging-related chronic diseases, as well as aging itself, with special emphasis on coronary artery disease, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation. In addition to mapping molecular changes in clinical samples, she investigates the effects of environmental exposures, such as micro- and nanoplastics, in the cardiac cell and tissue environments to estimate their impact on disease manifestation and progression.
Prior to her current position, Linna-Kuosmanen trained as a postdoctoral researcher mapping cardiovascular disease-associated changes in the cells of ex vivo human heart samples, and establishing high-resolution maps of microvasculature in these clinical samples at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) of MIT and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA. She received her PhD in Molecular Medicine at the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, where she examined the disease mechanisms and putative biomarkers of atherosclerosis through cardiovascular genomics. Linna-Kuosmanen holds a Masters degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kuopio, Finland, and studied Neuroscience in honours program at the University of Glasgow during her Bachelors stage.
Suvi Savinen ([email protected])
I am a clinical psychologist by training and my research interests include causes, consequences, and treatment of substance use disorders and related psychopathology. My current research project investigates the effects of social policies on mental health and criminality of youth. This work is funded by the Research Council of Finland via the Academy Research Fellowship.
I am also affiliated with the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden (https://ki.se/en/people/suvi-maria-virtanen)
Education
PhD in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2021)
MA in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2018)
MSSc in Economic and Social History, University of Helsinki (2017)
BSSc in Economic and Social History, minor in Psychology, University of Helsinki (2015)
Funding and Awards
Academy Research Fellowship, Research Council of Finland (2024)
Early Career Excellence Award, European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (2022)
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2022)
Finalist for the title of “Young Epidemiologist of the Year”, Finnish Epidemiology Society (2021)
Studentship (salaried position) at the Doctoral Programme in Population Health, University of Helsinki (2020)
Publications
For a full list of my publications, see Google Scholar link above the profile.
Suvi-Maria Saarelainen ([email protected])
My research interest is focused on the experience of meaning during/in life changes and transitions of life. My doctoral thesis focused on how emerging adults with cancer appraised their life as meaningful. In addition, I was interested to study the role of spirituality in the coping process. During the post doctoral phase, I am studying meaning in life among the elderly; furthermore, I am scrutinizing how they see gerontechonlgy as part of their care. In our Meaningful Relations -project, the focus is in the experiences of patients and carers going through palliative care at home.
While working as a post doc at the department of applied psychology, Univ. of Huddersfield, UK, I worked in two (ongoing) project. In the first project we are analysing the dyadic interviews of patient and carer during the end-of-life care. Second, we launched a new project focusing on well-being of the post graduate students (PGR).
Visual research methods I found very intriguing. In all of my studies, I have employed visual elements.
Suvi-Tuuli Puharinen ([email protected])
My research focuses on themes related to water, marine environment and biodiversity law. The leading theme of my research is understanding the influence of the broader legal and economic systems on the effectiveness of water, marine environment and biodiversity protection law, particularly how their current organisation, institutional structures and underpinning notions impede addressing the widescale environmental crises such as biodiversity loss and pollution. My background is on EU law, but my research moves between levels of international, EU and national law.
Suvianna Hakalehto ([email protected])
Suvianna Hakalehto is professor of law teaching tort law, child law and education law. The topic of her PhD thesis from the University of Helsinki (2008) was tort liability of public authorities. Since 2010 the main focus of Suvianna’s research has been children’s rights. Her post doctoral study (2012) was on pupils’ rights at school.
Suvianna is interested in the special legal status of a minor in various context (family, school, health care etc) and the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Finland. Her recent publications are from the field of education law (school discipline, inclusion, supervision of education providers). She is now writing a book on children’s rights in early childhood education and care.
Suvianna has been training lawyers as well as professionals on several fields on tort law and children’s rights more than twenty years. She was one of the founders of Child Law Lawyers and was a chair of the association 2013-2020.
Swetha Pala ([email protected])
A doctoral researcher at the Department of Technical Physics, studying methods of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI).