environmental educator & SCHOLAR passionate about multispecies justicE
I’m a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Oulu currently working in the Strategic Research Council Project MUST: Enabling Multispecies Transitions in Cities and Regions where I co-lead the education work package. I also work in the Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning Project ‘Co-Designing Relevant & Responsive Teacher Education’ between the University of Oulu & University of Namibia where I work on developing environmental education in pre-service teacher education.
I earned my PhD in Educational Sciences in 2021 from the University of Oulu and my PhD, Animals as Stakeholders in Education: Towards an Educational Reform for Interspecies Sustainability, was awarded the Senior Animal Research Award by ICALP -The International Centre for Animal Law and Policy at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2022.
I am passionate about environmental education and multispecies justice. At the University of Oulu, I co-coordinate and teach courses on environmental education and multispecies childhood studies. I also serve as Co-leader of the Envisioning Sustainability Hub of the Biodiverse Anthropocenes Research Program, organizing regular events that aim to inspire critical debate on sustainability challenges and connect scholars across the globe and disciplines.
Prior to my research career I studied translation and intercultural communication and worked in the field of education in teaching and leadership roles before taking the leap to dedicate myself fully to animal rights and environmental education. My background as a third culture kid living in Finland, Australia, Russia, England, Spain, and now Portugal, has provided me with a unique perspective on the interconnections of multispecies life and planetary sustainability across and beyond cultures and geographical boundaries.
My work explores how education policy intersects with governance for planetary sustainability and how education research and practice could be more attentive to multispecies sustainability and justice.