👉 Finally, the Educational Impact Award was presented to none other than Professor of Practice Julia Korkman, our co-investigator, for her work on the Åbo Akademi Specialization Course in Legal and Forensic Psychology.
Warmest congratulations to all the award recipients and their collaborators!

👉 Dr. Jenny Skrifvars received the Dissertation Award for her thesis, Investigating and Improving the Quality of Asylum Interviews and Decision-making Practices in Finland.

👉 Doctoral Researcher Obed Kwame Appiah earned third place in the Paper Presentation Award for his work on cognitive bias among asylum decision-makers.

Lastly, Doctoral Researcher Rasmus Ahlgren shared the findings from two studies which investigate asylum interviewers' and interpreters' perceptions regarding rapport building, and how attempts at building rapport are apparent in official Finnish asylum interview transcripts.

Next, Doctoral Researcher Malin Ekelund presented her experimental study investigating the hypothesis that asylum applicants claiming protection based on their sexual minority status are more likely to be granted asylum if they conform to appearance-based stereotypes.

Master's student and Research Assistant Anna Ilmoni then presented her thesis, a qualitative archival study investigating how intellectual disabilities are considered in decisions issued by the Swedish Migration Agency.

Juliana Raitis presented her master's thesis, which experimentally investigates whether asylum applicants' signs of being affluent influence their perceived credibility and need for international protection.

Obed Kwame Appiah presented the findings from his recent survey study, in which 100+ asylum officials and appeal judges were asked to report their beliefs about cognitive bias and any strategies they undertake to prevent its influence on their asylum judgments.

Hedayat presented a theoretical paper entitled "Behind the 'Asylum Lottery': Sources of Cognitive Bias in Asylum Decision-Making", in which she reviews the relevant literature and maps factors that introduce bias in the asylum context, to propose preliminary bias counter-measures.

Finally, Professor @anneliesvrede.bsky.social (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) shared important insights from a recent cross-cultural communication training tailored to investigative interviewing contexts, including asylum interviews, based on the "cultural humility" approach.