Marja Tiilikainen received her PhD in study of religions from the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2003, and the title of associate professor (docent) in the same subject in 2011. She is a senior research fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland. Her research has focused on such issues as Muslim minorities; everyday lived religion; the cultural dimensions of health, illness, and healing; everyday security; and transnational family life. She recently led the research project Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security: Experiences and Strategies of Vulnerable Migrants´, funded by the Academy of Finland (2018 ̶ 2022).
Johanna Hiitola (PhD, associate professor) is the director of gender studies at the University of Oulu, Finland. Her research includes intersectional feminist family studies, migrant integration, interpersonal violence, forced migration studies, citizenship scholarship, family separation of forced migrants and, most recently, DNA testingfor genetic ancestry. She has recently conducted research as part of the Academy of Finland-funded project Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security´ (2018 ̶ 2022).
Abdirashid A. Ismail holds a DSc in economics (2010) from Hanken School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. He has recently been a senior researcher and research fellow at the Migration Institute of Finland and was part of the Academy of Finland-funded research project Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security´. He is also an economics policy fellow with the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu, Somalia. His research interests span two broad fields: immigration and diaspora studies and political economy of conflict and state formation.
Jaana Palander has a master´s degree in administrative sciences (2008) and is currently completing her doctoral studies in public law at the University of Tampere, Finland. Her doctoral thesis deals with human rights and family reunification. Currently, she teaches migration law and human rights law at the University of Eastern Finland Law School. Recently, she has been a researcher at the Migration Institute of Finland in the project Family Separation, Migration Status, and Everyday Security´, funded by the Academy of Finland.
