From a dark cave to peer review – How do you become a Doctoral Researcher?
Educational paths are shaped by many individual, social and structural factors. For some, an academic career is a clear goal from an early age, while for others, an interest in research emerges much later. I know several people who ended up pursuing doctoral studies after being encouraged by their master’s thesis supervisor or through working […]
Why is workplace loneliness a timely issue in working life right now?
Loneliness currently appears as significant societal challenge. WHO has even described loneliness as the next public health issue and call for strengthening community and social connections across different areas of life to sustain a socially well-being of society (WHO, 2025). In Finland, one in three young adults and on in five working-age adults experience loneliness […]
Facing Change at the British Academy of Management Conference
In early September, I attended the British Academy of Management’s 40th anniversary conference at the Royal Holloway campus of the University of London. The anniversary theme, “Thriving Together: Impact, Innovation, and Inclusion in Business and Management”, emphasized the importance of fostering a collaborative and supportive environment within the business and management community, where individuals and […]
Focusing on Foundational Skills – Nordic-Baltic PIAAC Conference in Jyväskylä
My autumn got off to an exciting start when I attended the Nordic-Baltic PIAAC Conference in Jyväskylä at the end of August. This two-day event was organized by the Nordic-Baltic PIAAC network and the Nordic Network for Lifelong Learning (NLL), with a focus on the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The […]
TYSTI Project Moving Forward: Research Findings and New Initiatives
Autumn has been an active period for the TYSTI project from the perspectives of research, publications, and new development initiatives. The project examines the connections between workplace learning, innovation, well-being, and workplace pedagogy in Finnish working life, and during the past months we have taken several significant steps forward. Publications Completed and New Manuscripts Underway […]
Spontaneously, strategically, directly and indirectly – leaders have a wide range of tools at their disposal to support learning in day-to-day work
Learning at work is both an everyday experience and a subject of academic research, but what exactly lies behind it? Learning and the support of learning in the workplace naturally affect all employee groups, but in an article published last summer we focus on the leadership point of view. In our article How Can Learning […]
Highlights from the NFF 2026 conference in Aarhus, Denmark
One of the strengths of our JATKOT research group has been its multidisciplinary nature. We each represent slightly different academic disciplines, with adult education serving as the unifying factor. These different perspectives enrich our group and ensure our focus remains broad. In this blog post, we take a journey into the world of business and […]
What I Chose to Know: Notes from the Possibility Studies Conference
The6th International Conference of Possibility Studies took place this July at the University of Sussex, Brighton, England. I’d like to share my experiences with you, for two reasons. The first reason is personal. Obviously, for an academic, there are many reason to attend a conference: research dissemination, visibility, networking, visiting a place you would otherwise […]
Mythical Breakthroughs or Everyday Experiments? Insights from the EDLI Project on Innovation, Learning, and Competence at Work
Between 2022 and 2025, the Research Council of Finland funded my postdoctoral research project, Employee-Driven Learning and Innovation (EDLI), which examined employee-driven innovation through a learning-theoretical lens in both policing and the technology sector. The project sought to understand how employee-driven innovation emerges and manifests itself in these contexts, as well as the challenges associated […]
Humanly Sustainable Use of Digital Technology in Learning at Work
Digital technology is a central work tool, especially in knowledge work, and thus also in learning at work. It offers many opportunities, but its use is also associated with negative effects. Thus, I wanted to study more on the humanly sustainable use of digital technology. Research increasingly identifies, for example, technology-induced workload and stress. Continuous […]