Speakers

Yrjö Engeström is a professor of adult education and director of the Center for Research on Activity, Development and Learning (CRADLE) at the University of Helsinki. He is also professor emeritus of communication at the University of California, San Diego. Engeström applies and develops cultural-historical activity theory as a framework for the study of transformations and learning processes in work activities and organizations. He is widely known for his theory of expansive learning and for the interventionist methodology of developmental work research. His books include From Teams to Knots: Activity-Theoretical Studies of Collaboration and Learning at Work (Cambridge, 2008) and Learning by Expanding: An Activity-Theoretical Approach to Developmental Research (Cambridge, 2014).

Annalisa Sannino is a professor of education and leader of the research group RESET (Research Engagement for Sustainable and Equitable Transformations) at Tampere University. Professor Sannino develops and brings into use conceptual tools and interventionist methodologies from cultural-historical activity theory to foster collective analyses of major societal challenges. These analyses are carried out together with stakeholders and practitioners. RESET’s Change Laboratory research in the fields related to the eradication of youth homelessness in Finland are attracting national and international attention and are consolidating the collaboration of the research group with numerous organizations at the local, city-level and national level.

Dr. Giovanna Lauro: Giovanna Lauro, DPhil, has over two decades of experience working to advance gender equality and prevent gender-based violence. Her work centers on reshaping gender norms, particularly by challenging harmful notions of masculinity. For the past decade, she has overseen Equimundo’s research and programmatic efforts. Before joining Equimundo, Giovanna served as Associate Director of the Women and Population Programme at the United Nations Foundation, where she coordinated efforts and investments to advance the rights of adolescent girls worldwide through education. Her career also includes research on diversity, race, and ethnicity at the London School of Economics, alongside a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Oxford. At Oxford, she explored educational policies aimed at the prevention of harmful traditional practices across several European countries.

Giovanna holds a Master’s degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, with a focus on Public Health, and a BA from the University of Bologna. A native of Italy, she is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, and is on a never-ending journey to improve her Portuguese. She is also a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children (CASA), advocating for foster youth and providing mentorship and support to children in the foster care system in the US.

Anne Birgitta Pessi has been a professor of practical theology at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Theology, since 2012. She is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters since 2012. Pessi holds the title of a Docent both in Theology, church and social studies (University of Helsinki) and in Sociology, empirical and welfare sociology (University of Eastern Finland). Before becoming a professor Pessi worked from 2005 to 2013 as a Fellow (from 2008 to 2013 as a Academy Research Fellow) in the Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki. For the last four years she worked also as the Deputy Director of the Collegium.

Pessi has been awarded several international and national academic prizes, such as the prestigious Nils Klim prize (in 2008) and the Jutikkala prize (in 2013). Her dissertation gained awards (e.g. by the International society for third-Sector Research, in 2006). Pessi has several national academic positions of trust; for instance, at the University of Helsinki, she is a member of the Scientific Council (2013-2014) and a Board Member of the Network for European Studies (since 2007). Pessi is a member of several international and national academic societies, such as International Society for the Sociology of Religion, European Research Network on Philanthropy, International Society for Third-Sector Research, and Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. She also serves in several national positions of trust in public sector and in NGOs. Pessi directed several multidiciplinary projects: CoPassion, “The Revolutionary Power of Compassion” (www.copassion.fi), from 2015 to 2017, CoCare “Cooperation in Care – meaning systems, chances, and conflicts” from 2014-2018, and RiTS “Religion in Transforming Solidarity”, in 2008-2011.

Pessi’s research interests cover particularly compassion, altruism, meaningfulness, volunteering,  civil society, togetherness, church social work and experiences of good life, as well as individualized religiosity and experiences of the sacred. Her publications include, for instance, over 40 referee journal articles, and over 200 titles. Currently Pessi works, together with her two research teams, on analysis of the power of compassion in corporate business and the public sector as well as on content and reader experiences of self help literature and the construction of self in this genre.