MEET! Michael Wilson – Department of Clinical Medicine
In this blog series you will get to know and meet the members of our Global South Network. We start by introducing:
Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson is Adjunct Professor and Docent at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine. His work and interests span a broad intersection of fields encompassing population health, anthropology and technology. More specifically the interest is in the study of injuries, their patterns and impact within well-defined populations. Michael’s doctoral dissertation, for instance, concerned pediatric traumatic brain injury and the contextual influences and threats to caregiver capacity in Finland. He has studied similar themes in various places and contexts.
Much of Michael’s work and experience has been within East Africa, especially Tanzania. The most recent fieldwork he carried out centred around data collection at the individual and household level in several cities but included also hospital-based research in Tanzania. Michael is also a member of PeerCorps Trust Fund and a co-founder of Tanzania’s first community-based center for injury prevention.
For Michael, the term Global South is a semi-modern way to reference emerging economies, many of which are located outside of the geographical North. He notes that the term is fought with some degree of over-generalization since there is significant diversity between and within the countries outside of the Global North – not to mention the advanced economies Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
In addition, the regions and countries have complex interrelationships. Finland is a high technology economy with a large percentage of its services and products being oriented toward export. A simple fact is that the largest share of the world’s consumers of products and services are located to an increasing extent outside the Global North. Finland’s integration into the global world is a necessity and already reality.
The University of Turku is rather connected internationally, also to the Global South. In this group, our aim is to create a network that connects these contacts as well as different disciplines and faculties. Michael says he has certainly benefited from being part of the Global South Network:
“Being able to discuss ideas with globally-minded colleagues provides a stimulating atmosphere for creating and co-creating new ideas. As the network grows and its scope of activities increases, I see the future very positively for both my own work and for the wider campus and academic community.”
Our university has also a diverse student population, and many of the students have origins in Global South nations. Michael reminds that these students are academic and cultural bridges to their countries of origin. He thinks there are definite opportunities for both the University of Turku academic community and other allied institutions in leveraging these links in mutually beneficial ways.
You may have a look at Michael’s work and contact details on the UTU webpage.
