About me
I am a Finnish-Australian researcher based in Tampere. With a background in fine arts and art teaching, I am greatly interested in the ways that art and storymaking give young people opportunities to explore and express their identities and experiences. In Australia I have researched how Aboriginal children’s storybooks have challenged and subverted dominant Eurocentric discourses on Aboriginality. I am currently working on a number of research projects in Tampere University investigating refugee education and wellbeing. I am also completing a doctoral study on the significance of nature contact in the resettlement experiences of young refugees in Finland.
My other strong research interest is environmental education, in particular the roles that education and education systems can play in responding to the ever growing global ecological crises. My Master's thesis (Tampere University) concerned the conceptions Finnish teachers have about their role in climate education and in student climate action.
Since settling in Finland I have also co-created and managed the creative working group We Who Smile (www.wewhosmile.com), which organises and runs art projects in refugee centres around the country. These grant-funded projects aim to give asylum-seeking children and youths the opportunity to share, through storybooks and animations, their stories with the wider community.
Responsibilities
I am a Junior Researcher in the NordForsk-funded project Relational Wellbeing in the Lives of Young Refugees in Finland, Norway and the UK (2020-2024) and in the Kone Foundation-funded project From panic solutions towards equitable refugee education. Participation, support and inclusion of students migrating from crisis countries (2023-2027). I am also a student within the Doctoral Program of Education and Society in the Faculty of Education and Culture. Outside of the university I am co-manager of the We Who Smile creative working group
Research unit
Research fields
Refugee education, refugee studies, multicultural education, relational wellbeing, practice theory
Selected publications
Haswell, N., Kaukko, M., Fylkesnes, M. K., & Sullivan, P. (2023). Keeping each other safe: Young refugees’ navigation towards a good life in Finland, Norway, and Scotland. Living Well in a World Worth Living in for All (Vol. 1): Current Practices of Social Justice, Sustainability and Wellbeing. Springer Nature:
Kaukko, M., Alisaari, J., Heikkola, L. M., & Haswell, N. (2022). Migrant-Background Student Experiences of Facing and Overcoming Difficulties in Finnish Comprehensive Schools. Education Sciences, 12(7), 450.
Kaukko M., Wilkinson J., Haswell, N. (2022). ‘This is our treehouse’. Investigating play through a practice architectures lens. Childhood. DOI:10.1177/09075682221091419
Kaukko, M., Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H. L., Kiilakoski, T., & Haswell, N. (2021). Learning to survive amidst nested crises: can the coronavirus pandemic help us change educational practices to prepare for the impending eco-crisis? Environmental Education Research, 27(11), 1559–1573. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1962809
Yli-Jokipii, M., Zavrtanik, L., Haswell, N., & Pinto-Bello, R. (2021). Elements of success: Finding good practices of integration for teachers with refugee backgrounds. Kieli, koulutus ja yhteiskunta, 12(4).
Yli-Jokipii, M., Jousmäki, H., Huion, P., & Haswell, N. (2021). Employ refugee teachers. Now!: Teachers with a refugee background benefit European education. European School Heads Association magazine, Autumn 2021, pp. 13-19. Available at: https://www.esha.org/eshamagazine/