Board 2022

Hello to all the friends of educational sciences! We are the current board of 2022, let us introduce ourselves:

Chairperson: JAMIE LEE

Jamie’s academic and professional background is mostly in business as she completed her Bachelor’s of Commerce with a Specialist in Management. She primarily worked in social enterprises tackling issues such as climate change and women’s health deficiencies. Her true passion lies in education, however, and she hopes that she will be able to contribute to making education more equitable. She feels most at home in the bouldering gym where she can relax and unwind while making new friends. She is excited to be a part of OSA this year and looks forward to a great year with many new anti-racism and equity initiatives!

Jamie’s role: The responsibility of the chair is to oversee all projects of the student association, delegate tasks to board members, and ensure that everything runs smoothly.

jamie.lee[at]helsinki.fi

vice-chairperson: Aparna shakkarwar

With a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Sciences and Economics, Aparna came into the Changing Education master’s program ready to learn about the education system through a social justice lens. Aparna is most interested in how to tackle the systemic inequities in the education system so that disadvantaged students have access to the same opportunities as everyone else. Aparna is also passionate about implementing anti-racism education at the University of Helsinki and throughout Finland.

Aparna’s role: Aparna serves as the vice-chair of OSA, where she supports the chair and helps lead the team. She is also the co-chair for the Anti-racism and Equity Committee, which is petitioning for the implementation of mandatory anti-racism courses in the Changing Education program.

aparna.shakkarwar[at]helsinki.fi

Events manager: Naike Gorr

With an academic background in psychology, Naike is currently a master’s student in the Changing Education program. But she is way more than a student; she is a nature and life loving individual who appreciates the small moments in life. While her research interest covers a wide variety of topics, she is most passionate about improving education to prepare the current generations for the upcoming challenges by taking an educational policy perspective. In her free time you can find her enjoying deep conversations with interesting individuals, running in the cold, and having a good coffee.

Naike’s role: As the Event Manager of OSAry Naike is responsible for planning and executing all events throughout the year.

naike.gorr[at]helsinki.fi

Student advocate: Lena Reher

Lena has an academic background in educational sciences and sociology, and a professional background in working with unaccompanied minor refugees in a housing project in Germany. Lena is passionate about categorisation practices of immigrants, power-relations in education, social justice, and democracy education.

lena.reher[at]helsinki.fi

Lena’s role: The student advocate ensures that the voices of the students of the CE program are heard. In practice this role in 2022 includes emphasizing the collection of feedback, strengthening the collaboration with the steering group and overall working on improving the situation for international students in our program

Secretary: Elena Liikanen

Elena’s academic background is in Psychology; she loves hearing and telling other people about interesting Psychology facts. Currently she enjoys studying the Master’s degree “Changing Education”, as she gets to learn new things and apply everything she has learned about Psychology in the educational setting. Elena’s hobbies are ultimate frisbee, running and languages and she gets easily inspired about new ideas. The most likely places where you can bump into her are coffee shops and nature.

Elena’s role: Secretary writes up agendas before the board meetings and writes down minutes on the topics discussed during the meetings. This year, the secretary also looks after the association’s website.

elena.liikanen[at]helsinki.fi

Social media: Laura Ramula

Laura has an academic background in linguistics and is currently completing her English degree to become a teacher, while studying in the Changing Education MA program. She loves spending time outdoors – especially ice swimming – and takes any opportunity to dip in a lake or sea by a sauna. For her, it is important to live and be present in the moment. As a creative person, she looks forward to running OSA’s social media channels so that everyone can find a way to get involved with OSA!

Laura’s role: As social media manager, Laura is in charge of communication and event promotion on our different social media platforms, such as instagram (@osa_ry), facebook & LinkedIn (OSA ry).

laura.ramula[at]helsinki.fi

Treasurer: Sophie Lehner

Sophie is an enthusiastic social justice activist with a hidden passion for book keeping. Sophie realized early on that the injustices given in our society are very much connected to education in many different aspects and hopes to fight for a more just education and society. Sophie is excited to explore possibilities for change from the individual neuronal level up to societal systems in both the Changing Education programme and OSA.

Sophie’s role: The treasurer oversees the associations’ finances and takes care of the financial reporting and budget.

sophie.lehner[at]helsinki.fi