Riikka Ullakonoja (FT 2011); tutkijatohtori, Jyväskylän yliopisto
Venäjän kieli, kielen oppiminen, fonetiikka, kielitaidon arviointi

Toimin tutkijatohtorina Suomen Akatemian rahoittamassa hankkeessa “Rikkinäistä suomea: Aksenttien arviointi yhteiskunnallisena portinvartijana“. Olen toiminut koko työurani (20 v.) Jyväskylän yliopistossa määrä-aikaisissa työsuhteissa eri tehtävissä, viimeisimmät vuodet tutkimustehtävissä. Olin myös pitkään tauolla työelämästä perhevapailla. Mentoroinnissa voin mm. jakaa kokemuksiani siitä, millaista on olla väitöskirjan tekijänä palkkatöiden ohessa. Pidän tärkeänä mentoroinnissa aktoreiden esiin nostamien teemojen käsittelyä. Asenteeni mentorointiin on: “kaikki järjestyy”.

Magda Karjalainen (PhD 2022); University teacher, Center for Languages and Communication Lingua/University of Oulu
See online portfolio

Currently, I work part-time as a university teacher at the Center for Languages and Communication Lingua at the University of Oulu. I teach a variety of English language courses for students in different faculties. I am also responsible for development and teaching of the courses for the university teaching and research staff.

For a variety of reasons, my academic path has not followed the typical curve, if there is even such a thing, although I have been working at the university for over fifteen years. It took me about ten years to complete my doctoral degree, alongside the work. In the process I changed entirely my research topic and supervisors. During that time, I have observed many changes regarding the nature of doctoral education and specific practices shaping that process. More importantly, this process opened up a lot of critical questions around the very nature of academic work, its agency, responsibilities and impact, particularly in the context of internationalizing Finnish higher education. These questions became the core of my doctoral dissertation and they continue shaping my thinking and doing.

I am interested in the general process of becoming a member of academia, particularly from the perspective of navigating different roles, such as researcher/teacher/student, in precarious times. I am particularly interested in writing as part of becoming a researcher. I am inspired by the approaches that see writing holistically as cognitive, emotional and embodied practice and that treat hidden processes behind a final product as an integral part of a research journey. 

I am also interested in the ways researchers can push the boundaries of what is thinkable and doable, particularly through creative, arts-based, embodied methods and modes of research articulation. I see these modes of being and thinking also central for our holistic well-being.  Through teaching, teacher tutor work and thesis supervision, I have been developing sensitivity, knowledge and skills that I hope can be put into good use in this mentoring program.

Language use in mentoring: I prefer to use English while speaking, especially when it comes to more complex and in-depth conversations, but I do also understand and speak Finnish, so a flexible bilingual approach works best for me. I am a native Polish language speaker, so that language can be also used in mentoring.