I am a Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of Turku. My work examines how people and nature interact and shape each other across diverse contexts, ranging from Southern Africa to the Arctic. With nearly 25 years of experience conducting ethnographic research and working closely with communities, I focus on how local knowledge, everyday practices, and lived environments can inform more inclusive and sustainable policy-making. My recent projects explore community engagement in innovation and development processes — in the context of forest governance in Lapland, the human-geographical examination of flood dynamics, and the development of innovation systems in the Global South — highlighting the value of grounded, participatory approaches in shaping meaningful societal change.