Tahani Aldahdouh
I research academics' professional growth, with a particular focus on professional learning and development in war settings
About Me
I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Tampere Institute for Advanced Study (IAS; 2024 - 2026). As a Palestinian-Finnish researcher originally from Gaza, I am deeply committed to promoting education equality and contributing to global sustainable goals. For the past ten years, I have explored university teachers’ professional development from multiple perspectives. My doctoral research (2015–2020) investigated teachers’ innovativeness and willingness to embrace change. I subsequently led a Tampere University-funded postdoctoral project (2020–2021) examining online teaching expertise during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, I was awarded a one-year grant to study online teaching expertise in conflict-affected contexts, focusing on Palestine/Gaza. In my IAS project, I aimed to understand the resilience of university teachers in Gaza following the genocide. Starting from September 2026, she will lead the GazaRISE research and art project that investigates how Gazan academics sustain teaching, research, and intellectual life during and beyond the genocidal war. Through narrative inquiry, artistic methods, and a digital archive, the project amplifies their voices while advancing new theoretical understandings of resilience, resistance, and sumud.
Methodological Approach: I combine expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methods and advocate for mixed-methods designs to capture the complexity of educational and professional phenomena.
Collaborative Research
Professional Growth and Learning
The PGL research group examines the development of expertise and professional growth in changing and varying work and learning environments.
Higher Education in Transition
The HET research group focuses on pedagogical and societal perspectives in higher education research.
Latest Research Agenda
- 01
Higher Education in War and Crisis
I investigate how students, academics, and higher education institutions sustain learning, teaching, professional life, and knowledge production amid war and crisis
- 02
Academic Professional Development and Learning
I examine how academics learn, develop their professional expertise, and adapt their practices across changing higher education contexts.
- 03
Education, Agency, and Social Transformation
I explore how education and agency, resilience, and possibilities for social transformation in conditions of colonization, inequality, disruption, and adversity.