Vivien Reh is a doctoral researcher in the climate law group of CCEEL at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research positions itself at the intersection between international climate law and the natural sciences with a focus on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement in the context of climate tipping point science.
Other areas of interest and research include adaptive law, principles of international environmental law and scientific uncertainty.
Leader of the Nanomedicine team (Drug-D), Department of Technical Physics, UEF. Main research interest is focused on the development of novel porous Nanomaterials for Biomedical and environmental applications
My research interests focus on resilience as a moderator of Finnish university students’ coping and well-being during and after the pandemic. Specifically, my PhD project explores the diverse patterns of university students’ coping profiles at the beginning of the pandemic, the development of resilience and well-being during the pandemic, and how resilience moderates the relations between perceived demands and recovery over time.
My research explores the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and welfare technologies into gerontological social work practice, with a focus on enhancing the occupational well-being of care workers in elder care. I am interested in how technology-enhanced social work interventions can support older adults. My work adopts a comparative perspective, primarily examining practices and policies in Finland and China, to better understand how digital interventions and AI-supported care influence both care outcomes and workforce sustainability in aging societies.
Project Researcher
AI is viewed as a promising and inevitable development in home care, with the potential to tackle challenges linked to societal aging, such as diverse care needs, workforce shortages, and inefficiencies in welfare systems. However, its implementation raises ethical concerns about how AI may produce or exacerbate vulnerability through exclusion, marginalization, labor exploitation, and emerging risks for older adults and care workers. This project examines how vulnerability is constructed, negotiated, and practiced in using and implementing AI-automated home care in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It focuses on four empirical dimensions: (1) how AI, aging, and care are represented in regulatory frameworks; (2) how innovation leaders frame user needs, opportunities, risks, and worst-case scenarios; (3) how older adults perceive and experience AI in home care; and (4) how care workers respond to AI integration in the workplace. We propose “vulnerability intersections” as a conceptual approach to examine how vulnerability emerges at the intersection of biographical histories, social identities, and shifting structural conditions. The project draws on political economy, life course theory, intersectionality, and the sociology of translation to enable a multi-level understanding of vulnerability as socially and institutionally produced.
Empirically, the study examines policy texts, expert interviews with innovation leaders, and life course narratives of older adults and care workers, using qualitative methods. A critical and comparative perspective informs analysis, ensuring sensitivity to cross-country variations in sociocultural contexts. The project will generate new knowledge on how AI-driven automation shapes care experiences, labor, inequality, and welfare systems, while informing policy and practice by identifying structural disadvantages and highlighting promising and problematic responses to vulnerability. To maximize societal impact, we will implement a targeted communication, dissemination, and stakeholder engagement strategy to involve policymakers, practitioners, and the public in support of strengthening social resilience of older adults and care workers and fostering ethical and responsible use of AI. An interdisciplinary team of early-stage, junior, and senior researchers will conduct the research, supported by capacity building and academic exchange activities.
My research is centered on understanding how microorganisms interact with other organisms, including phytoplankton, plants, and mycorrhizal fungi, across various ecosystems. Currently, I am investigating the interactions between bacteria and phytoplankton in lakes using molecular approaches to uncover the pathways that regulate micronutrient exchange. This work aims to deepen our understanding of these interactions and assess their impact on lake primary production, with the broader goal of exploring how microbes can be harnessed to enhance lake health.
Major Positions and Appointments
Doctoral Thesis
MRI Characterization of Human Acute Ischemic Stroke: Diffusion and Perfusion Weighted Imaging and Phase Contrast Angiography. Kuopio University, Kuopio Finland, 2003.
Research area: Sustainable business models, scaling, bio-based textiles. Research focus: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Horizon Europe project, DESTINY: International business models and scaling of bio-based textile firms, focusing on organisational development, consumer preferences, stakeholder engagement, and global value chain alignment under sustainability pressures.
Yamineva’s primary area of expertise is climate law and governance, where she has engaged mainly with the international level, as well as with the EU and selected countries in Europe and Asia. Her approach to research is interdisciplinary, drawing on the fields of climate and environmental law, policy and governance, and often in close collaboration with climate scientists. Yamineva has published in leading interdisciplinary and disciplinary journals, including Nature Climate Change, Earth Systems Governance, Transnational Environmental Law, and Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL). For over 15 years, she has also participated in UN climate negotiations in various roles. Her current research focuses on two themes. The first one concerns climate mitigation, including short-lived climate pollutants (methane, black carbon) and linkages to air pollution policies. Currently, Yamineva leads the ClimAirPathways project consortium with the Finnish Meteorological Institute to develop science-based legal pathways for reducing black carbon emissions. The legal WP focuses on evaluating the integration of climate and air quality policies across the EU and China in a multilevel context. Within the same theme, she has co-edited a book volume on the law and governance of reducing emissions of short-lived climate pollutants and a special issue on air pollution law in RECIEL. Since 2025, she has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Panel of the UNEP Climate and Clean Air Coalition and has contributed to the Coalition’s assessment activities. The second theme concerns science and risk in climate law. She has published widely on the design and role of science-policy interfaces, especially the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Her recent interest relates to climate tipping risks and how to accommodate them in international climate and environmental law. She has contributed to several international reports, including the 2025 Global Tipping Points report as a lead author for the governance chapter sections. Additionally, Yamineva maintains a strong interest in climate and sustainable finance law. At the UEF Law School, Yamineva is the Co-Director of the Master’s Degree Programme in Environmental Policy and Law, overseeing its climate law specialisation, and the Director of the UEF-UNEP Course on Multilateral Environmental Agreements. Prior to academia, she worked for the UN Convention on Climate Change Secretariat and the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Earth Negotiations Bulletin. She holds PhD in International Studies and MPhil in Environmental Policy, both from the University of Cambridge, and a Specialist diploma in Law (Master of Law degree) from South Urals State University. Current projects: Principal investigator of the project consortium with the Finnish Meteorological Institute ‘ClimAirPathways: Science-based legal pathways to reduce black carbon emissions in the EU and China: Towards integrated climate – air quality approaches’ (Research Council of Finland, 2023-2027) Co-PI, climate law package, Atmosphere and Climate Competence Centre (Research Council of Finland flagship, 2020-2028) Successfully defended PhDs:
Current PhD students:
