Pia Koirikivi (née Niemi)

Pia Koirikivi (Niemi), PhD, MTh works as university lecturer at the Department of Educational Sciences (University of Helsinki) where she conducts research especially related to personal and environmental factors promoting students' sense of belonging and wellbeing in schools. Her research interests include particularly the ways in which schools, teacher education, and students address issues related to different types of values, attitudes, and worldviews both in and through education.

Pia teaches several under-graduate courses for future classroom teachers, subject teachers, and early childhood educators as well as supervises doctoral dissertations in the field of educational sciences. Pia spent the academic year of 2018-2019 at McGill University (Montreal, Canada) where she worked as a visiting professor and collaborated with several research groups focusing on the prevention of violent extremism through education. The year-long visit was funded by a grant provided by Alfred Kordelin's Foundation. 

During 2018-2022 Pia is on reacher-leave working in the project Growing Up Radical?, funded by the Academy of Finland, where she works as a full-time post-doctoral reseacher. The international project is focused on increasing knowledge about the role of educational institutions in guiding young people's worldview and preventing violent extremism. Project website: www.helsinki.fi/growing-up-radical