Dr. Kang’s research focuses on understanding how students’ competence, motivation, and social experiences are translated into confidence, participation, and future educational trajectories. Situated at the intersection of learning sciences, educational psychology, and STEM education, his work examines how classroom learning environments and social interactions shape these developmental processes. A particular focus is on equity in STEM learning, including gender differences in the development of confidence and participation in collaborative learning. He also investigates how educational experiences influence students’ environmental attitudes and climate action. Methodologically, his research combines large-scale educational data with emerging computational approaches, including voice-based classroom interaction analysis, social network analysis, automatic speech recognition, and machine learning. Through this work, he aims to develop a deeper understanding of how cognitive, motivational, and social processes interact in authentic learning environments and how these insights can support more effective and equitable education.

Johanna Järventaus works as a Project Coordinator at the UEF Brain Research Unit. Her responsibilities include monitoring project schedules and practical arrangements, as well as contributing to the implementation of internal and external communications. Johanna supports the unit’s research activities by managing meeting arrangements, documentation, and ensuring smooth information flow between researchers, administration, and collaboration partners.

I am a doctoral researcher at the School of Educational Sciences and Psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. In addition to my doctoral research, I am involved in various teaching duties and serve as the treasurer of the Finnish Educational Research Association (FERA). My research focuses on learning support needs in higher education and is part of the SupportUNI project. More specifically, my work examines prior support needs, learner-centered pedagogy in higher education,
and the definition and implementation of pedagogical support at universities.

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I am responsible for the operation and development of the University of Eastern Finland Teacher Training School (e.g. general, human resources and financial management, stakeholder cooperation and international affairs).

Research interests

My main research interests are related to hospital school pedagogy, intensive multidisciplinary support, teacher cooperation, well-being at work, school culture and the development of learning environments.

I work as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education, and I lead the Support for Lifelong Learning research group, where we study learning, participation, and well-being from a lifelong learning perspective. I utilize diverse research methods, with an emphasis on visual and participatory approaches. I have participated in numerous transdisciplinary research projects both nationally and internationally. Currently I coordinate a Horizon Europe project called Supporting the mental health of youth in education, training and work – SUPPORT-Y (2026-2031). I have worked as a visiting scholar at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, Karlstad University in Sweden, and the University of Siegen in Germany. In addition to research, I teach and supervise master’s and doctoral students. I hold the title of Docent in Lifelong Learning at the University of Lapland.