Our alum Lauren Stevens: Tampere felt like a particularly meaningful place for peace studies
Deep passion for history and peace research
Lauren Stevens has been deeply interested in history since she was a little girl. During her childhood museum visits, Lauren always wanted to read all exhibit texts from beginning to end – while the rest of the family waited for her in the cafe.
“The same still applies. I recently visited an old classmate who works in Luxembourg, where we visited the National Museum of Resistance and Human Rights. I wanted to hear everything the tour guide had to say, and afterwards I asked him a few more questions," Lauren says with a smile.
Lauren’s interest in history and international relations led her to apply to study in Finland, in continuation of her Bachelor's degree in International Development Studies in the UK. At Tampere University, Lauren completed a Master's degree in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research taught in English. She graduated in 2019, after completing a Master’s thesis on the impact of Brexit on the peace process in Northern Ireland.
“Tampere is a place of historical interest, so it felt like a particularly meaningful place for peace studies. Tampere played a major role in the Finnish Civil War, and this is still visible in the city – there are monuments and traces of ammunition on the walls of Tampere Theatre, for example,” Lauren says.
Tampere is a place of historical interest, so it felt like a particularly meaningful place for peace studies. Tampere played a major role in the Finnish Civil War, and this is still visible in the city – there are monuments and traces of ammunition on the walls of Tampere Theatre, for example."
Lauren Stevens
Lauren's studies included courses on peacekeeping, human rights, civil war, the environmental impacts of war and peacekeeping, and gender in peacekeeping.
“Studying abroad and being taught by multinational teachers brought a new perspective to historical events. They changed my thinking on historical events such as the Cold War and colonialism.”
Seeking a dream job in a multilingual and diverse organisation
Since 2023, Lauren has been working as a project planner in an integration project at the Uusimaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment. She is part of a team of five and is mainly responsible for the project’s administrative and financial aspects. What helps her in the work are her systematic character and Finnish language skills, acquired through admirable effort. She aims to do a good job in her current, temporary position, but also to acquire skills for her next professional challenges.
Lauren says that finding a job in her field in Finland has proven to be a challenge. She dreams of working in a multilingual and diverse organisation where she can use her expertise and passion for peace and conflict studies. She believes that she would have more career development opportunities by changing to the tech field and the private sector through networking, self-study or further studies.
“The minority stress is intense; I won’t deny it. It’s hard to compete with native Finns whilst job seeking, even though I’ve learned Finnish and currently work solely in Finnish. I’m grateful for the Finnish language studies that I participated in free of charge at the Tampere University’s Language Centre,” Lauren says.
The minority stress is intense; I won’t deny it. It’s hard to compete with native Finns whilst job seeking, even though I’ve learned Finnish and currently work solely in Finnish. I’m grateful for the Finnish language studies that I participated in free of charge at the Tampere University’s Language Centre.”
Lauren Stevens
Lauren’s wish is that Finland would do more to address the structural problems related to the employment of foreign-language speakers. She also wishes that attitudes would adapt.
“Expectations of what actions foreign-language speakers should take to become employed could be more in line with reality. There is a lot of talk about us learning Finnish and Swedish, but many native Finns seem confused when someone who has a foreign-sounding name and who speaks with a foreign accent actually applies for an expert-level job or appears in the work community,” Lauren says.
Volunteering, museum visits and intense sauna bathing
Volunteering has been an important part of Lauren's life in Finland since her student days, and it has also opened doors to multilingual and diverse communities. During her studies in Tampere, she was involved in the UN Association and the Student Union's Committee for Development Cooperation, for example. Currently, she is a facilitator for Helsinki Pride.
Museum visits remain another dear hobby for Lauren, nowadays also nicely contributed to by Lauren’s employer through cultural benefits. In Tampere, she warmly recommends the Vapriikki Museum Centre, the Finnish Labour Museum Werstas, the Amuri Museum of Historic Housing and the Nootti Museum of Finnish-Russian Relations.
Another thing that Lauren loves about everyday life in Finland is sauna. She says that eight years of living in the sauna capital of Finland, Tampere, may have had an influence on this.
“I still go to the sauna a couple of times a week. I even took my child to the sauna for the first time when she was about three months old. My relatives in the UK were admittedly a bit surprised,” Lauren says with a smile.
Who?
Name: Lauren Stevens
Degree and major: Master of Social Sciences (Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research)
Graduation year: 2019
Current work: Project Planner, The Uusimaa Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment
Text: Tiina Leivo