Last week, our doctoral researchers Malin Ekelund and Obed Appiah, and PI @janantfolk.bsky.social took part in the (Re-)Constructing Credibility in Refugee Status Determination Workshop by @mobileucph.bsky.social. Thanks for having us!✨ Can’t wait for the upcoming special issue! 📖

📣 Upcoming talk alert! Our doctoral researcher Malin Ekelund will be delivering an insightful talk titled:🎙 “Adjudicating Asylum Claims of Sexual or Gender Minority Applicants”. 🗓️ Date: October 15 🕛 Time: 12:00–13:00 (EET) 🔗 Join here: aboakademi.zoom.us/j/6592539571...

We’re excited to have Anastasiia Valiavko join our team! 🎉 Please welcome Anastasiia, a doctoral researcher studying attitudes toward survivors of sexual violence in the Russia-Ukraine war. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us with questions or opportunities for collaboration!

📢 New pre-print alert by Malin Ekelund, Jenny Skrifvars, Hedayat Selim, and @janantfolk.bsky.social! 📑 The study explores how stereotypes and social perceptions shape credibility assessments in asylum cases involving sexual identity. Link below! 🔗https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/acwp3_v1

Welcome Siyu Li to the Psych-AID team! 🎉 Siyu joins as a doctoral researcher, working on Avatar Training to help interviewers use better questions & supportive statements. Reach out for collabs!

📢 New paper alert by Hedayat Selim and colleagues! 📑 In Finnish asylum interviews with sexual minority applicants, most questions focused on sexual orientation over persecution risk. More open questions could support fairer decisions. 🔗 lnkd.in/gz-2wPaD

The Psych-AID team is growing! We are happy to welcome Dilhan Töredi as a new postdoctoral researcher in our team. Dilhan will be working on applying an innovative experimental lie paradigm where the ground truth of asylum claims is known.

🍂 Psych-AID kicked off fall in the Turku archipelago! We welcomed our new members with a visit to Nauvoo—exploring Paratiisi (combined winery and art gallery), kayaking, and ending with pizza & board games. We are excited for the season ahead!

We are thrilled to bring back our Meet the Team series to introduce our newly recruited team members! Catharina Walldén has just joined the Psych-AID network as project manager. Aside from these responsibilities, Catharina is also a doctoral researcher in evolutionary psychology.

Some shots from Hedayat Selim's doctoral defence last month. Professor Hilary Evans Cameron (Toronto Metropolitan University) served as opponent, and Prof. @janantfolk.bsky.social as custos. Many congratulations to Dr Selim for this achievement! 🔗https://www.doria.fi/handle/10024/193050

Doctoral Researcher Hedayat Selim will publicly defend her doctoral thesis entitled "Psychological aspects in the evaluation of asylum claims based on sexual orientation" this coming Friday, 22 August 2025. More information below: 🔗 www.abo.fi/en/event/pub...

We are incredibly proud of our Psych-AID team members for bringing home three awards from this year’s @eapl.bsky.social Annual Conference 2025 (Lithuania)!

✨Psych-AID at the @eapl.bsky.social Annual Conference 2025 (Lithuania): Four members of the Psych-AID network had the opportunity to present their research on the psychology of asylum evaluations on day 2 of #EAPL2025.

✨Psych-AID at @eapl.bsky.social in Vilnius: Participating in a panel on investigative psychology at hashtag#EAPL2025, our Doctoral Researchers Hedayat Selim and Obed Kwame Appiah each presented their recent studies on the influence of cognitive bias in the context of asylum decision-making.

After an amazing conference in Vilnius, congratulations to the EAPL 2025 Student Award winners! 🏆 First Prize: Milli Melodia Marika Leinonen 🥈 Second Prize: Weronika Bandarzewska 🥉 Third Prize: Obed Appiah 🖼 Best Poster: Md Yeasir Yunus @yeasiryunus.bsky.social Details: eapl.eu/young-members/

✨Psych-AID & collaborators at @eapl.bsky.social: On day 1 of #EAPL2025, our team members and partners participated in the symposium "Novel perspectives on interviewing and decision-making in the asylum context," co-chaired by Drs Jenny Skrifvars & Laura Stevens.

✨ Psych-AID & collaborators at the @eapl.bsky.social annual conference 2025 (Lithuania): Before the official start of the #EAPL2025, our collaborators and researchers participated in the pre-conference workshop on Avatar Technologies in Interview Research and Training.

✨ The Psych-AID Network, along with our partners and collaborators, have had an incredibly productive week at #EAPL2025 (the annual conference of @eapl.bsky.social) held this year in the heart of the old town of beautiful Vilnius, Lithuania!

This was a great symposium on "Novel perspectives on interviewing and decision making in the asylum context". Thanks for organizing Jenny Skrifvars and Laura Stevens @psychaid.bsky.social!

📢 PROJECT FUNDING NEWS: To kick off the new academic year, the Psych-AID network is thrilled to share an exciting update: Our PI @janantfolk.bsky.social was recently awarded a research grant by the Research Council of Finland!

Last week, the Psych-AID Network was proudly represented at the 2025 annual conference of @officialsarmac.bsky.social (the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition), held in Ireland.

After a long Finnish winter, the Psych-AID team welcomed a refreshing change of scenery with a spring retreat to the beautiful island of Brännskär in the Turku archipelago last month!

📢 New pre-print alert! In their new manuscript, @janantfolk.bsky.social, Laura Stevens, Emilia Lundsten, Jenny Skrifvars & Hedayat Selim use data from 255 respondents to investigate how personal immigration attitudes, gender, and age shape beliefs about asylum decisions. 🔗 osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thank you for the shoutout, Prof. @anneliesvrede.bsky.social!

Dr. Jenny Skrifvars and Doctoral Researcher Hedayat Selim recently presented their research within the theme "The psychology of asylum interviewing and decision-making: Findings from Finland" at the PALOMA research network seminar hosted at THL, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

An interesting call for papers for a special issue on the role of credibility assessments in RSD, organized by @mobileucph.bsky.social, at the University of Copenhagen!

Calling all Finnish-speaking master's degree holders! There is still time to participate in our study on the factors that influence asylum decision-making. Completing the questionnaire takes no more than 5 minutes!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! @janantfolk.bsky.social is our Principal Investigator. He has conducted extensive research in legal psychology in general and asylum procedures in particular. Reach out to us with questions about Jan’s research or for collaborations!

📢 Study participants needed! Do you speak Finnish and hold a masters degree? Help us investigate the factors influencing asylum decision-making by answering researcher Juliana Raitis' questionnaire. Participating takes no more than 5 minutes! redcap.abo.fi/surveys/?s=L...

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Professor of Practice @juliakorkman.bsky.social is our project Co-Investigator. She specializes in research on memory in legal processes, as well as vulnerable victims, among other areas. Reach out with questions or for collaborations!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Jenny Skrifvars is a postdoc researcher within Psych-AID, whose research focuses on adapting interviewing techniques to the asylum context. Reach out to us with questions about Jenny's research or for collaborations!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Hedayat Selim is a doctoral researcher within Psych-AID, finalizing her thesis on credibility assessment of identity-based asylum claims. Reach out to us with questions about Hedayat’s research or for collaborations!

The 2024 annual report of Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi / The Åbo Akademi Foundation has been published! Among the highlights featured is our very own Centre of Excellence, @psychaid.bsky.social led by PI @janantfolk.bsky.social. Read it below here (available in Swedish)! arsberattelse.stiftelsenabo.fi

Last week, our doctoral researchers Obed Kwame Appiah, Malin Ekelund, and Rasmus Ahlgren represented the Psych-AID Network by presenting their doctoral projects at the Nordic Asylum Law and Data Lab workshop at the University of Copenhagen.

Our post doc researcher Jenny Skrifvars presented today at #APLS2025 on developing & evaluating a training program in legal psychology for Finnish asylum officials. They found that officials' knowledge of best practice questioning improved post training & at 5 month follow up.

Our PI Jan Antfolk presented research today at #APLS2025 on questions asked in official asylum interviews with sexual minorities. Findings show low use of open questions and reliance on western narratives of sexuality. Further research and training is needed!

🎧 New podcast alert! Our project co-investigator, Professor of Practice Julia Korkman, was recently interviewed by Oikeuspsykologia (the Forensic Psychology Podcast) about the role of legal psychology in asylum interviewing and decision-making. Available in Finnish. Link below!

Postdoctoral researcher Jenny Skrifvars delivered an inspiring and thought-provoking talk about her training for asylum officials last Wednesday at @invest-flagship.bsky.social! In case you missed it, you can access the content of her presentation here: sites.abo.fi/psych-aid/ev...

⌛️ Reminder! Tune into Dr Jenny Skrifvars' upcoming online presentation, this coming Wednesday at 11am EET! Link below.

Very excited that post doctoral researcher Jenny Skrifvars will be presenting on 'developing and evaluating a training program in legal psychology for Finnish asylum officials' on March 5th 11am EET at @invest-flagship.bsky.social. Event details and Zoom link here - invest.utu.fi/events/inves...

NEW PRE PRINT ALERT! Doctoral researcher Hedayat Selim and Psych-AID colleagues have conducted research on reasons reported by applicants for late disclosures of sexual orientation and consequences on the asylum decision. Read full pre-print here - osf.io/preprints/ps...

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Laura Stevens is a post-doctoral researcher within Psych-AID, focusing on cross-country differences in asylum practices. Reach out to us with questions about Laura's research or for collaborations!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Juliana is a masters student within Psych-AID, focusing on credibility assessments in asylum interviews. Reach out to us with questions about Juliana's research or for collaborations!

New paper alert by post-doctoral researcher Jenny Skrifvars and Psych-AID colleagues exploring the experiences of asylum interviews by asylum officials, interpreters and asylum seekers in Finland. Read full text here - www.emerald.com/insight/cont...

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Rasmus Ahlgren is a doctoral researcher within Psych-AID, focusing on interviewing techniques (e.g., rapport building) in asylum interviews. Reach out to us with questions about Rasmus' research or for collaborations!

NEW PAPER ALERT! Post Doctoral researcher Jenny Skrifvars, with Jan Antfolk & @juliakorkman.bsky.social, in collaboration with @migri.fi created and evaluated a training programme for asylum officials in legal psychology. Read full article here - www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Malin Ekelund is a doctoral researcher within Psych-AID, focusing on the impact of stereotypes on credibility and case decisions. Reach out to us with questions about Malin's research or for collaborations!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Obed Appiah is a doctoral researcher within Psych-AID, focusing on credibility assessments and decision making in asylum cases. Reach out to us with questions about Obed's research or for collaborations!

We are very excited to introduce you to our fab research team! Anna Ilmoni is a research assistant and masters student within Psych-AID, focusing on the experiences of asylum seekers with disabilities. Reach out to us with questions about Anna's research or for collaborations!

Read new pre-print by doctoral researcher Hedayat Selim and colleagues Jan Antfolk, Julia Korkman, Jenny Skrifvars, and Elina Pirjatanniemi titled -“How would you define your sexuality?” Analyzing the questions asked in official asylum interviews with sexual minorities! osf.io/preprints/ps...