Bwalya Chibwe is a conservationist, wildlife crime consultant, and co-founder of the Women for Conservation Network (Zambia). She seeks to learn more about decolonial approaches in environmental research, management, and governance. She has an academic background in ecology and conservation sciences and professional experience as a crime intelligence analyst. She is currently a doctoral researcher at the Department of Thematic Studies – Environmental Change and at the Center for Climate Science and Policy Research of the Linköping University, Sweden. Her research investigates the role of digital technologies in combating transnational organised environmental crime.

Anaïs Duong-Pedica is a PhD researcher from Kanaky/New Caledonia. Currently based at Åbo Akademi University, her research explores popular, media, political and scientific discourses around mixed-raceness in Kanaky/New Caledonia and (French) settler colonialism. Anaïs is also interested in feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial pedagogies and political practices which offer possibilities for and paths towards revolutionary change. She understands scholarship as connected to political struggle and militant practice. Anaïs learnt a lot from revolutionary anti-colonial and anti-capitalist Kanak feminists from the 1980s. Her areas of interest are racism, settler colonialism, feminisms, and whiteness.

Jerkko Holmi is a Finnish doctoral researcher of Contemporary History at the University of Turku. He is currently working on his dissertation examining the motivations of Finnish foreign relations towards Southern Africa in the latter part of the 1980s. His master’s thesis from 2019 examined the Finnish ambassador reports from Idi Amin’s Uganda from 1971 to 1979. His scientific interests include Nordic historical approaches to development cooperation, Finnish foreign security and domestic policy issues during the Cold War, African countries in international forums during the Cold War, and modern cultural impacts of sports in society.

Image: Suvi Harvisalo / University of Turku

Nia Sullivan is a doctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University and a part of the MadEnCounters Project funded by the Kone Foundation, which visibilises counter-narratives of mental distress at the intersections of lived experience and advocacy. Nia’s research explores the intersections of racialization, age, and affective touch, examining how these dynamics influence experiences of oppression, resilience, and joy. She integrates feminist, anti-racist, and decolonial perspectives to explore transformative approaches and strategies for systemic change. Her work employs qualitative methods to understand how affective experiences challenge and contribute to equity.