Name Tuulia Kiilavuori
Title Senior Lecturer
Affiliation: JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Professional Teacher Education
Short bio Tuulia currently works as a key expert in a capacity building project that aims to improve the accessibility and quality of Vocational Education and Training (VET) teacher education in Ethiopia. She also works for a project that develops training-of-trainer services in VET in Liberia. Previously Tuulia has worked as a project specialist in a structural project that developed equitable access to HE for students with disabilities and from marginalized groups in Nepal. She has also worked as a key expert in a project that developed a HE institutions’ capacity to start Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes in the open and distance mode in Nepal. Tuulia is interested in the well-being of multinational service-ecosystems in education.
Name Kaija Peuna-Korpioja
Title: Senior Lecturer
Affiliation: JAMK University of Applied Sciences, School of Professional Teacher Education
Short bio Specialized in special needs education, Kaija’s duties include training of vocational special education teachers; designing and implementing School’s in-service training programs for teachers and other educational personnel, in addition to which she acts as the Team Leader of the School’s SEN education team. Besides training of SEN teachers, her 20 years of experience in the field of SEN also includes working as a vice principal and other managerial positions in educational organizations, as well as project coordination, and management. Peuna-Korpioja has also worked as an expert in several national and international projects, e.g. in Nepal, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Name: Selome Fantahun
Title: Dean, Civil Technology Faculty
Affiliation: FDRE,TVT institute (Federal Democracy Republic of Ethiopia Technical and vocational Training Institute)
Short bio: At the faculty of Civil Technology of the Federal Democracy Republic of Ethiopia Technical and Vocational Training Institute, Selome teaches students from various social and cultural backgrounds theoretical and practical training. She has more than 15 years of experience working at TVET institutions. She is currently the dean of the civil technology faculty. She currently contributes as a key expert to a project that TVET pedagogy through digitalization around Ethiopia in partnership with JAMK University of Applied Sciences. Additionally, she works to advance inclusive education at Ethiopian TVET colleges. Moreover, Selome is involved in a variety of problem-solving research projects, including exploring practice of women leadership in Ethiopian TVET context, Exploring TVET related indigenous skills in Ethiopia and assessing the accessibility of TVET colleges physical and virtual environment for the person with disability are some of her works. :Selome is dedicated to making learning fun by fusing it with students' hobbies. She firmly believe that inclusive education is the solution rather than there being a "one size fits all" pedagogical strategy.
Name: Ruma Manandhar
Title: Assistant Professor
Affiliation: Nepal Open University, Faculty of Social Sciences and Education
Short bio: Currently she works as a key expert in a project that develops pedagogy for 21st century skills in Nepal in collaboration with the JAMK University of Applied Sciences. She also works as a programme coordinator of a one year Bachelor of Education programme that trains teachers in Nepal in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Nepal. Previously Ruma has worked as a coordinator in a structural project that develops equitable access to HE for students with disabilities and from marginalized groups in Nepal. She has developed curricula and teaching for Master and Bachelor’s programmes in the open and distance mode in Nepal. She has also been involved as a researcher in gender assessment in teacher education in Nepal in collaboration with UNESCO and she has also worked for studying the effectiveness of teacher professional support system in early grades.