External Advisory Board

Position

Professor of Special Education,
Vice Dean (Societal Interaction)
Faculty of Educational Sciences,
University of Helsinki, Finland

Board Member, Finnish National Agency for Education
Adjunct Professor, University of Alberta, Canada
Title of Docent, University of Turku, Finland

Website

Research interest

My research and teaching are focused on 1) transitions and life-courses of individuals with diverse educational needs, and 2) comparative educational policy related to inclusive and special education.

Vita

• PhD (Special Education, 1998), University of Helsinki
• MEd (Educational Sciences, 1992), University of Helsinki
• Professor (Full), Special Education, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 1.7.2010–31.1.2012
• Assistant/Associate Professor, Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada, 1.7.2007–30.6.2010
• Senior Lecturer, Special Education, University of Helsinki, 1.8.2005–31.7.2007
• Academy Researcher, Academy of Finland, 1.8.2004– 31.7.2005
• Team Leader, Vocational Special Teacher and Career Counselor Education, HAMK
• University of Applied Sciences, Hämeenlinna, Finland, 1.1.2001–31.7.2004
• Post-doctoral researcher, Academy of Finland, 1.8.2000 – 31.12.2000
• Research Associate, University of Helsinki, 1.8.1995–31.7.2000

Selected publications

• Kirjavainen, T., Pulkkinen, J. & M. Jahnukainen (2016). Special education students in transition to further education: A four-year register-based follow-up study in Finland. Learning and Individual Differences 45 (1), 33–42.
• Kalalahti, M., Varjo, J., Jahnukainen, M. (2017) Immigrant-origin youth and the indecisiveness of choice for upper secondary education in Finland. Journal of Youth Studies 20 (9), 1242–1262.
• Holmberg, L., Kalalahti, M., Varjo, J., Kivirauma, J., Mäkelä, M.-L., Saarinen, M., Zacheus, T. & Jahnukainen, M. (2018). Educational trajectories of immigrant-origin youths in Finland: a mixed methods analysis. Journal of Education and Work, 31(7–8), 563–578.
• Talaslampi, H., Jahnukainen, M. & Manninen, M. (2019). The factors that contribute educational outcomes of adolescents placed in care due to severe behavioral problems. Children and Youth Services Review 102, 210-221.
• Kalalahti, M., Niemi, A-M., Varjo, J. & Jahnukainen, M. (2020) Diversified transitions and educational equality? Negotiating the transitions of young people with an immigrant background and/or with special educational needs. Nordic Studies in Education, 40 (1), 36-54.
• Niemi, A-M. & Jahnukainen, M. (2020) Educating self-governing learners and employees: Studying, learning and pedagogical practices in the context of vocational education and its reform. Journal of Youth Studies, 23 (9), 1143-1160.
• Varjo, J., Kalalahti, M., & Jahnukainen, M. (2020). The reasoning behind the envisioned educational trajectories of young people from Finnish and immigrant origins. Education Inquiry, 11(4), 360-378.

Position

I am Professor in Educational Work at Umeå University since 2002. I am a visiting professor at Gothenburg University, Sweden, 2022-23 and acted as a visiting professor at University of Turku, Finland 2015 – 2020. I was appointed an Honorary Doctoral degree at University of Turku, Finland, in 2021.

Website: https://www.umu.se/en/staff/lisbeth-lundahl/

Research interest

My research mainly concerns education policy, and young people´s trajectories and choices in policy, institutional and individual perspectives.

Vita

I have been the principal investigator of numerous research projects, commonly funded by the research councils, and in addition I have participated in a range of Swedish and international research projects.

I am the leader of the cross-disciplinary research program “Education Policy and Young People´s Transitions”, engaging some 20 senior and junior researchers.

I have had a number of leader assignments at the universities of Lund and Umeå, where I moved in 1987. I was a vice rector of Umeå University in 2003-2008. I was a member of the Social Science Research Council, the Swedish council for working life and social research (FAS), and the Educational science committee (UVK) of the Swedish Research Council. I acted as Secretary General of the European Educa­tion­al Research Asso­ciation (EERA) 2005-2008 and I am one of the founders of the Swedish Educa­tion­al Research Asso­ciation (SWERA, 2013).

Selected Publications

Sundelin, Å., & Lundahl, L. (2022). Managing critical transitions : Career support to young people risking ineligibility for upper secondary education. European Educational Research Journal (Online). Epub ahead of print. https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041221094439

Rönnberg, L., Alexiadou, N., Benerdal, M., Carlbaum, S., Holm, A.-S., & Lundahl, L. (2022). Swedish free school companies going global: Spatial imaginaries and movable pedagogical ideas. Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 8(1), 9-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/20020317.2021.2008115

Brunila, K., & Lundahl, L. (2020). Youth on the Move: Tendencies and Tensions in Youth Policies and Practices. Helsinki University Press.

Lundahl, L., Linde, J., Lindgren, J., Rosvall, P.- Å., & Sundelin, Å. (2020). Locality and the Prevention of Early School Leaving: Supporting Youth Transitions to Upper Secondary School in a Highly Decentralised Education System. Nordic Journal of Transitions, Careers and Guidance, 1(1), 38–52. https://doi.org/10.16993/njtcg.27

Position

I am Professor at the Department of Education and Community Studies, School of Education and Professional Development, University of Huddersfield, and a member of the Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society (HudCRES).

External positions:

• Executive Committee, Society for Educational Studies, 18 Nov 2021 → currently
• External examiner, University of Greenwich, 2 Jan 2020 → 31 Dec 2024
• External examiner, National University of Ireland, Galway, 1 Sep 2018 → 31 Aug 2022
• External examiner, Ulster University, 1 Sep 2015 → 31 Aug 2019
• Executive Committee, Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education, 5 May 2015 → currently
• External examiner, University of Bolton,1 Sep 2013 → 31 Aug 2017

Website https://pure.hud.ac.uk/en/persons/robin-simmons

Research interest

• Education policy
• The sociology of education
• Education and de-industrialisation
• Educational and labour market experiences of marginalised youth, and those of teachers, support workers and other practitioners working with young people

Vita

Currently, I am Professor of Education at the University of Huddersfield, where I have been since 2004. My research focuses on a number of related themes including education policy, the history of education, and the sociology of education. I am, however, perhaps best known for my research into youth unemployment and the lives of marginalized young people, especially those categorised as NEET (not in education, employment or training) or vulnerable to becoming NEET.

Selected Publications

Simmons, R., & Thompson, R. (2011). NEET Young People and Training for Work: Learning on the Margins. Trentham Books.

Simmons, R., Thompson, R., & Russell, L. (2014). Education, Work and Social Change. Young People and Marginalization in Post-Industrial Britain. Palgrave Macmillan.

Simmons, R., & Smyth, J. (Eds.) (2018). Education and Working-Class Youth. Reshaping the Politics of Inclusion. Palgrave Macmillan.

Simmons, R., & Simpson, K. (2022). Education, Work and Social Change in Britain’s Former Coalfield Communities. The Ghost of Coal. Palgrave Macmillan.

Position

I am a professor for inclusive education at the Martin-Luther-University in Halle-Wittenberg/Germany. I am a member of the Board of the German Educational Research Association (GERA) and represent GERA in the World Educational Research Association (WERA).

Website

Research interest

My research interests are construction of diversity and difference, inclusion and exclusion in educational settings, Praxeological Sociology of knowledge and documentary method, especially videography of classroom practice.

Vita

My academic training started at the University of Hamburg, Germany, where I studied to become a special ed teacher and finished my PhD in the field of school and professional development. I habilitated in educational research at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University in Mainz/Germany.

Selected publications

• Sturm, Tanja. (2016). Lehrbuch: Heterogenität in der Schule (2. überarbeitete ed.). München, Basel: Reinhardt Verlag, UTB.
• Sturm, Tanja. (2019). Constructing and addressing differences in inclusive schooling – comparing cases from Germany, Norway and the United States. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 23(6), 656-669. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1444105
• Sturm, Tanja. (2022). Relation von Norm und Praxis erziehungswissenschaftlicher Zugänge zu Inklusion und Partizipation in der Grundschule. Zeitschrift für Grundschulforschung, 15, 1-14.

Position

Ronald G. Sultana is professor of education at the University of Malta, where he is also founding Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research.

Research interest

The main research interests of Professor Sultana are in youth transitions from school to work, the role of career education and guidance in compulsory school settings and curricula, and education in the Global South. All his research and lecturing are informed by sociological analyses drawing especially on critical theory.

Vita

Professor Sultana studied at the University of Malta, Reading University (UK), and Waikato University (NZ) where he obtained a PhD in educational sociology. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship at Stanford University (USA), and has carried out research for several international entities including European Commission agencies (CEDEFOP, ETF), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the ILO, and GIZ. In 2021 Professor Sultana was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Université Laval (Quebec).

                        Website

Selected publications

• Sultana, R. G. & Buhagiar, M. (Eds.) (2021). Educational Scholarship across the Mediterranean: A Celebratory Retrospective. Leiden: Brill Publishers.
• Hooley, T., Sultana, R.G. & Thomsen, R. (Eds.) (2019). Career Guidance for Emancipation: Reclaiming Justice for the Multitude. London & New York: Routledge.
• Hooley, T., Sultana, R.G. & Thomsen, R. (Eds.) (2018). Career Guidance for Social Justice: Contesting Neoliberalism. London & New York: Routledge.
• Sultana, R.G. (Ed.) (2017). Career Guidance and Livelihood Planning Across the Mediterranean: Challenging Transitions in South Europe and the MENA Region. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Sultana, R.G. (Ed.) (2017). Yesterday’s Schools: Readings in Maltese Educational History. Malta: Xirocco Publications (2^nd expanded edition).
• Bray, M., Mazawi, A.E. & Sultana, R.G. (Eds.) (2013). Private Tuition across the Mediterranean Region: Power Dynamics and Implications for Learning and Equity. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Sultana, R.G. (2011). Educators of the Mediterranean: Up Close and Personal. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Mazawi, A.E. & Sultana, R.G. (Eds.) (2010). Education in the Arab World: Political Projects, Struggles, and Geometries of Power. New York: Routledge.