Description of research and teaching

My research focuses on the interconnections between humans and non-human nature, including both broader ecosystems and the different beings in them. I completed my doctorate in Global Development Studies in 2025, with a dissertation examining the political ecology of wolf conservation in Finland. The work encompassed the historical societal transformation of nature-relations from nature religions to resource extraction, non-human perspectives in relation to the political ecology of responsibility, and the role and effects of post-truth strategies on conservation discourses.

My research interests include human-non-human nature relations, political ecology, power relations related to nature governance, post-truth discourses and discursive power, eco-feminism and intersectional viewpoints. My current research is focused on Finland, where I apply critical theories often reserved for Global South contexts to issues in the Global North, thus widening the scope of topics usually focused on in Global Development Studies. I also have research experience in Latin America.

Methodologically, I draw on a wide range of qualitative approaches, including ethnography, comparative analysis, and integrative literature and documentary review. I’m also a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer with a 20-year career, and utilise my unique position by experimenting with creating music from, as a part of, and as an output of my research. My latest solo album, KO:MI – Belonging in Nature, was created as part of my doctoral research.

I have served as treasurer for the Finnish Society for Development Research (2022, 2023) and I am a member of The Global Extractivisms and Alternatives (EXALT) research group and the Helsinkin Institute for Sustainability Science (HELSUS).

I have taught a range of courses in Global Development Studies at both Bachelors and Master’s levels, and am currently supervising a number of Master’s theses.