Program

Hannu Takkula is a Finnish member of the European Parliament (2004 - ). His work focuses mainly on the areas of Education, Culture, Sports, Foreign Relations and
Research & Innovation. He is a member of the ALDE group (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe) and the Finnish Centre Party.

Before attending university, Hannu studied music at the Tampere Conservatory and majored in singing. In 1993 he graduated with a Master of Education from the University of Lapland, going on to teach at Anetjärvi comprehensive school in 1992-1995. Hannu was then elected to the Finnish Parliament and acted as a member on the Education and Culture Committee, Environment Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee until 2004.

Presently, Mr Takkula is the coordinator for his group, ALDE, in the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education, a member of the EP Delegations to Israel and to Australia & New Zealand, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean as well as a substitute member in the Committee for Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE).

Lea Pulkkinen, President of the Jyväskylä-Päijänne Rotary Club in 2013-2014, has been Professor of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland (1972 – 2005), Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Director of the Programme on Human Development and Its Risk Factors, approved as the Finnish Centre of Excellence from 1997 to 2005, and President of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD) from 1991 to 1996. She has conducted a longitudinal study on personality and social development in which the development of the same individuals have been followed from age 8 to age 50, collaborated in a longitudinal twin study since 1991 in which the development of twin pairs has been followed through adolescence, and organized a three-year school experiment for improving the educational offering of schools in the 2000s in which the significance of supervised leisure activities for children’s development was examined. In the applied field, she has been interested in how results of longitudinal studies can be utilized for improving the quality of childhood. She has about 470 publications. She received the Finnish State Award for her life-time work in 2011, the Finnish Science Award in 2001, the Aristotle Prize from the European Federation of Psychologists’ Association (EFPA), and the Distinguished Scientific Contributions to the Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) in the United States in 2005. (home page: http://users.jyu.fi/~leapulkk).

Sanna Salanterä is Professor of Clinical Nursing Science at the University of Turku, Finland. She also holds a part-time position of Head Nurse at the Hospital District of South West Finland. She is a registered nurse and public health nurse from her background. Her research areas are clinical decision-making and knowledge management, empowering patient education and children's nursing. She has about 150 scientific publications and extensive teaching experience in Nursing Science in graduate and postgraduate level both nationally and internationally. She is head of the scientific committee and member of the board of European Academy of Nursing Science.