Kaisa Pihlainen

Kaisa Pihlainen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Eastern Finland's School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Department of Special Education. She specializes in lifelong learning, inclusive education, and participatory research methods. Her work focuses on digital literacy for older adults, peer interactions among children with autism spectrum disorder, and student teacher well-being. She has held visiting scholar positions at Queensland University of Technology (Australia), Karlstad University (Sweden), and Siegen University (Germany).

Pihlainen holds a PhD in Special Education (2016) and a title of Docent in Lifelong Learning from the University of Lapland. She leads projects such as PEICAS (Peer Interactions in Inclusive Classrooms) funded by the Finnish Research Council. Her research employs mixed methods, including visual and participatory approaches, emphasizing real-world applications in education and technology.

Key contributions include studies on ICT adoption by older adults, narrative research in teacher training, and multimodal data collection in special education. She actively collaborates internationally, publishing in journals like International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, and co-edits books on autism across life stages and digital inclusion. Pihlainen teaches and supervises master's and doctoral students while advocating for inclusive educational practices through innovative technology integration.