Johanna Eklund

Johanna Eklund is an Associate Professor in geography at the Department of Geosciences and Geography, Faculty of Science, University of Helsinki. She is affiliated with the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and the Digital Geography Lab. Her roles include being a Supervisor for the Doctoral Programme in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences and holding the Title of Docent in the Department of Geosciences and Geography.

Her research interests focus on evaluating the effectiveness of conservation actions, particularly examining the links between funding, governance, and ecological outcomes of protected areas. She is also interested in developing new tools and methods for protected area effectiveness evaluation. Her interdisciplinary background combines geosciences, conservation biology, and environmental governance.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on protected area effectiveness, with particular focus on methodological approaches to conservation impact evaluation. Her work increasingly incorporates digital and mobile big data for visitor monitoring, while maintaining strong connections to field-based conservation work in regions like Madagascar, Bhutan, and the Canary Islands. There's a clear trend toward interdisciplinary approaches combining social and ecological dimensions of conservation.

• 2nd price for best talk at student conference: Spring Symposium 2010
• Chancellor's travel grant (for ECCB 2012 Scotland)
• Third prize for best student presentation. Spring Symposium, University of Helsinki

Dr. Eklund currently supervises PhD student Tatu Leppämäki and has been involved in multiple research projects including the Mobile Big Data for Understanding People in Nature (MOBICON) project. Her current funded projects include Kone Foundation funding (2024-2026), MOBICON (2022-present), The interplay between funding and governance factors in achieving sustainable conservation outcomes for protected areas (2020-2023), and Conservation Legacies (2019-2021).

She is actively involved with the Digital Geography Lab and HELSUS, collaborating with international partners across multiple continents. Her work connects academic research with practical conservation implementation, particularly through her involvement with protected area managers and local communities in Tanzania and Madagascar.