Guido Caniglia is the PI of WEIRD research project.
Guido Caniglia works in the field of sustainability science. His research is interdisciplinary (as it mobilizes multiple disciplines), transdisciplinary (as it engages with actors and perspectives outside of academia), and transformative (as it attempts to support research processes that foster change, in academia and in society). In collaboration with numerous colleagues, over the years Guido has developed new theories, conceptual models, and practical methodologies to combine environmental sustainability and social justice through research.
In WEIRD, Guido is motivated by a sense of accountability towards people from the queer and disability communities. Through this project, he aims to create academic and societal coalitions between scholars, practitioners, and activists from these communities around issues related to environmental and climate change. By co-designing and co-leading the inter and transdisciplinary research in WEIRD, Guido aims to shape new theories and methodologies for just sustainability transformations that mobilize and leverage disability and queer perspectives.
Currently, Guido is also a Work Package Leader (together with Marina Knickel) in the project
Before joining the University of Helsinki as an Associate Professor in September 2024, Guido was for six years the Scientific Director of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Klosterneuburg, Austria). Previous to that, he held a Marie-Curie post-doctoral fellowship at Leuphana University (Germany). Guido earned a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Florence (Italy) in 2010 and a PhD in Biology from the Center for Biology and Society at Arizona State University in 2015 (USA).
Jaakko Harkko is an adjunct researcher at WEIRD with a background in social and public policy. His contribution to WEIRD focuses on advancing transformative science and practices led by people with disabilities (PwD), who are among the most affected by environmental crises.
In this project, Jaakko will draw on his expertise in conducting systematic literature reviews. He will also actively contribute to collaborative processes and is committed to engaging in mutual learning around alternative and transformative approaches to environmental justice, sustainability, and systemic change.
Maija Koivisto is a postdoctoral researcher in the WEIRD project, working on the disability–environmental track.
Maija is a multidisciplinary researcher with a background in Deaf Studies, Disability Studies, Gender Studies, Education, and Finnish Sign Language. Her research focuses on how the bodies of deaf individuals and people with disabilities have historically and contemporarily been perceived as threats, and how these perceptions continue to shape society, the rights of deaf individuals and people with disabilities, and their communities. This line of inquiry builds on her doctoral dissertation, in which she examined the impact of eugenics on deaf individuals and the Finnish Sign Language community.
She is also interested in how the ontologies and epistemologies of deaf individuals, people with disabilities, and their communities can contribute to a broader understanding of humanity and sustainability. In her work, she reflects on and explores participatory and experimental methods grounded in embodied and disabled experiences.
Maija defended her dissertation in the fall of 2025 at the University of Helsinki, where she received her Doctor of Social Sciences (DSocSci) degree.
Sasha Krikkerik is a research assistant contributing to the queer track of the WEIRD research project.
They are currently studying social psychology and are particularly interested in social change, social justice and inclusivity, queer studies, and the intersections of these themes with environmental issues.
In WEIRD, Sasha is involved in a literature review on queer-environmental topics and also supports organizational tasks and event planning.
Helena Kärppä works as a research assistant in the disability section of the WEIRD research project.
Helena is currently completing her master’s degree in Theology and Religious Studies, with a minor in Global Development Studies, and with a specific focus on sustainability and disability themes.
In WIERD, she is involved in the initial stages of the project by reviewing existing literature and is also part of the team facilitating communication and organizing events.
Ely/iott is a postdoctoral researcher in WEIRD, as part of the queer-environmental track of the project.
Ely/iott is a philosopher with an interdisciplinary background in environmental- and ecological sciences-related questions. His main specialization is in philosophy of ecology and philosophy of environment, as well as feminist philosophy of science and animal philosophy.
Ely/iott is currently focusing on queer and trans* ecologies and environmental studies, as well as queer and trans* anticolonial research practices. His particular research interest is in non-human animal predation and the various theoretical and practical challenges it raises for conservation. Finally, he has a strong and personal interest in trans* studies and philosophy of sport.
He holds a PhD (2023) in philosophy from University of Montreal, Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Canada, and University Paris 1-Panthéon Sorbonne, France. He is an alum of the Konrad Lorenz Institute (KLI), Austria, and since 2023 a collaborator of The Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST), France.
Athulya Purushothaman is a doctoral researcher in the queer track of WEIRD.
Athulya is a queer, non-binary researcher interested in reimagining sustainability through justice and lived experience. Transformations, to them, begin with the knowledge of people and communities who have long resisted exclusion and built alternative ways of living. Drawing on intersectional and decolonial perspectives, they explore how those struggles can open space for more inclusive futures.
In WEIRD they look at how queer perspectives unsettle ableist, heteronormative, and colonial assumptions in sustainability, and how practices of care, reciprocity, and resistance open space for transformation.
Before joining WEIRD, Athulya worked internationally across Europe and Asia on sustainability governance and policy, connecting research with practice in areas such as biodiversity finance and climate and energy systems.
Mae Van Veldhoven is a doctoral researcher in WEIRD.
Mae's background is in sustainability science, with a specific focus on governance and societal transitions. During their studies, they became increasingly interested in the role of art and the body in understanding the wicked problems of our world today. More specifically, their interest lies in the role of art and the body in questioning, unlearning, and reshaping the pervasive power dynamics and injustices that uphold our unsustainable practices.
In this, Mae engages with their work through a queer and disabled body. It is here where their main research interest lies: the transformative potential of the embodied knowledge different bodies hold. The WEIRD project has offered them a beautiful space to explore this topic as a doctoral researcher. As part of the disability–environmental track within the project, they aim not only to research the relationship between disability and the environment but also to practice critical disability studies as a method throughout their work – cripping academia in the process.
Riikka Sarasjärvi is the project coordinator for the project, taking care of administrative issues and assisting in various support task to ensure that the project runs smoothly.
Project coordinators are part of
Riikka's tasks include, for example, assisting with funder requirements such as reporting, checking compliance with university guidelines, as well as various tasks related to communications.
The WEIRD team will also be supported by an Advisory Board that will contribute to the developmental evaluation of the project and that will be composed scholars with complementary expertise in sustainability science, disability studies, and queer studies. The advisory board members are going to be announced soon.