Leo Pekkala [Ph.D.(Ed.), LIc.Ed., MA (Ed.), MA (Hist.)]

Leo has more than 30 years of experience in research and development in higher education, media education, teacher training and school development sectors both in the developing country context and in the developed country context.

In his academic career Leo has built a solid experience in international networking in research and educational cooperation. He has coordinated and participated in several international multidisciplinary research endeavours and networks. In his research he has had the possibility to engage in number of cross-cutting issues and to work with researchers and experts from different fields of sciences. His training and skills as a teacher have provided opportunities to be involved in various capacity building initiatives both short and long term.

Having worked as a project leader and the Team Leader in several international projects he has consistently received positive feedback on his leadership, mentoring and supervision skills. Part of this leadership experience is from the most remote areas in the World; part from politically challenging multicultural environment; part from the extensively competitive higher education research community.

Leo has a primary school teacher background and later a PhD with majors in education and history. He has worked in media education, teacher education and development cooperation. Together with his colleagues he has developed the first MA –level degree program in Media Education in Finland.

He has also studied and worked in the USA, England, Germany and South Africa and lived in Tanzania and in Ethiopia. He has worked with the University of the Arctic, a networked university in some of the most remote and sparsely populated areas in the World. Leo has worked at the University of Lapland, Finland as the University Lecturer in Media Education. He has given more than 60 scientific presentations over the years and also published widely.

Currently Leo works as the Deputy Director of the National Audiovisual Institute and the head of its Department for Media Education and Audiovisual Media (MEKU), a government authority under the Ministry of Education and Culture.