Päivikki Lahtinen

Päivikki Lahtinen serves as a Researcher in the Research and Innovation Department at the University of Agder (UiA), specializing in social innovation and co-creation through UiA CoLAB. She actively supports the FORTHEM Alliance's Labs and Co-creation Mission Board and represents UiA in the FOR-EU group for Research and Innovation, driving transnational collaboration across European university alliances.

She holds a Master's degree and completed Ph.D. research in Educational Sciences at the University of Helsinki, establishing her foundation in sociocultural learning theories.

Her research centers on organizational learning and development through interprofessional collaboration, utilizing cultural-historical activity theory and the Change Laboratory method. Key applications span criminal justice reform, healthcare integration, and educational innovation, with emphasis on human-centered co-evaluation and workplace transformation. Her methodological expertise includes ethnographic fieldwork in complex institutional settings like prisons and hospitals.

Publication analysis (2015-2022) reveals consistent focus on collaborative interventions in criminal justice systems, highlighting interagency challenges, social innovation frameworks, and creativity enhancement through learning design. Her work bridges theoretical activity theory with practical organizational development across sectors.

Lahtinen has secured significant research funding including:

• EU Horizon 2020 MSCA-RISE project "Improving collaborative working between correctional and mental health services" (2017-)
• "Pilot of a Change Laboratory in a Norwegian Criminal Justice System" (2017-2018)
• "Concept Formation and Volition is Collaborative Work" (2011-2015)
• "Implementation Conditions of Integration Innovations in Health Care" (2010-2012)

She currently contributes to nine multidisciplinary international Labs through the FORTHEM Alliance and co-developed the "Better Together" podcast (2022) amplifying prisoner voices in service development, demonstrating her commitment to vulnerable populations and systemic change.