Curriculum vitae

I am a doctoral researcher in the Trees For Development project (TreesForDev), which is a consortium project between University of Helsinki and Hanken School of Economics. Please check out our website to learn more about our project, www.treesfordev.fi 

In addition, I am PhD candidate in the Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Doctoral Programme (DENVI) in affiliation with the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS). I worked as the project coordinator from 2019-2022 for the Global Extractivisms and Alternatives Initiative (EXALT) at the Faculty of Social Sciences. I am still a co-host of the EXALT Initiative podcast, a monthly conversation with academics, artists, and activists (www.exalt.fi).

I previously worked as the Coordinator for Sustainability Science Days (SSD), which is co-organized between University of Helsinki & Aalto University.

Research interests

I have many research interests including:

• Ecological Restoration
• Tree planting schemes
• Extractivim(s) 
• Data/Intellectual Extractivisms
• Food system redesign
• Agroecology
• Agroecological urbanism
• Sense of place
• Geographic imagination
• Sustainable transitions
• Transition narratives 

Description of research and teaching

On the broadest level my work studies food systems. This discipline brings together ecological, social, cultural, political, and economic aspects. I specifically combine rural sociology and human geography methods to examine the socio-cultural aspects of food system redesign in the modern countryside. From rural sociology, I borrow ethnographic techniques to build an intimate understanding of the people involved in the food system. From human geography, I utilize spatial tools, like participatory mapping to understand individual’s conceptualizations of locality as it relates to food. I marry these methods to understand the potential socio-cultural barriers to food system redesign in the Finnish countryside.

I have co-taught a course for the Bachelor’s programme in Society and Change at the University of Helsinki. 

• Fall 2025 Qualitative Methods YK-262 

I have co-organized several different courses including:

• Spring 2022, 2023, & 2024 - UniPID course Extractivisms and Alternatives (Master level course)

Doctoral level courses for the DENVI and PSRC doctoral programs at University of Helsinki, including:

• Spring 2021 - HYMY 919: Popular Scientific Communication for Academics 
• Spring 2020 - PYAM 965: Global Extractivisms: Unpacking and Broadening the Concept
• Fall 2019 - DENVI 010: DENVI Writing Retreat (Tvärminne Zoological Station)
• Spring 2019 - DENVI 010: DENVI Writing Retreat (Lammi Biological Research Station)
• Fall 2018 - DENVI 503: The philosophy of sustainability science
• Spring 2018 - DENVI 101: Toward integrated perspectives for Sustainability research - A Baltic PhD alliance
• Fall 2017 - DENVI 501: Transformation: Food systems, agroecology, and the Web of Life

In addition, I have served as Teaching Assistant at University of Helsinki and University of Montana. 

• Fall 2017 - ECGS-002: Sustainability Science Concepts (University of Helsinki)
• Fall 2014 - GPHY 335: Water Policy and GPHY 468: Community/Regional Development (University of Montana)
• Spring 2013 - GPHY 433: Cultural Ecology and GPHY 338: Mountains and Society (University of Montana)
• Fall 2012 - GPHY 141: Geography of World Regions and GPHY 335: Water Policy (University of Montana)