Global Education Research in Finland SIG (GERIF)

About GERIF

The purpose of the GERIF-network is to bring together researchers working with global education in Finland. We focus on encouraging academic debate and cooperation, bridging gaps between research and practice as well as presenting research in an accessible way.

Global education is an emerging field of research that focuses on understanding global phenomena, global responsibility and global citizenship in educational contexts. Central themes within global education are peace, equity, diversity, human rights and sustainable development.

Each year, the network organizes events for researchers and practitioners, for instance in connection to the annual Finnish Educational Research Association conference. The network communicates through an email list, which you can subscribe to by following the link at the bottom of this page.

The network transmits information about current academic events and publications. Importantly, it also takes part in continuous critical discussions on the position and objectives of global education. Research on global education encompasses early childhood education, basic education, secondary education, higher education as well as non-formal education and life-long learning.

Global education research includes – but is not restricted to – the following topics:

• the history and development of global education
• the value base of global education
• perspectives on and definitions of global education
• the position and objective of global education
• learning within global education
• developing understanding of the links between the local and the global
• global educational themes in teaching, education and lifelong learning
• definitions and evaluations of global competences
• internationalization, cultures and diverse identities in teaching and learning

The GERIF-network was established in 2018. We cooperate with the European ANGEL-network (Academic Network for global education and learning):  https://angel-network.net/ GERIF website: https://gerif.home.blog/

GERIF coordinating group 2023–2024

Vihtori Kylänpää (co-chair), Siviilipalveluskeskus (Non-Military Service Centre in Finland)

Riikka Suhonen (co-chair), University of Helsinki

Meri Häärä, Tampere University

Tuija Kasa, University of Helsinki

Anna Kivimäki-Pelluz, Fingo

Selja Koponen, University of Helsinki

Suhao Peng, University of Eastern Finland

If you wish to join our email list, more information can be found here (https://fingo.fi/palvelut/uutiskirjeet-ja-sahkopostilistat/globaalikasvatuksen-tutkimusverkoston-sahkopostilista/). The guidance is unfortunately only in Finnish, but basically you need only to send an empty e-mail to the gerif-join -address there and follow instructions.

Contact details: Please contact always both co-chairs, vihtori.kylanpaa(a)ely-keskus.fi and riikka.suhonen(a)helsinki.fi