Dr Mirja Tarnanen is a professor at the University of Jyväskylä, the Department of Teacher Education. Her research has focused on (multi)literacy and assessment practices across curriculum and educational levels, migrants in professional and educational communities, policies and practices in second language teaching, promoting multilingualism in schools and curriculum reforms in teacher education. She has been involved in numerous research, development and evaluation projects in different roles. Her current research interest lies in approaching school community from the systems theory perspective to understand mechanism of educational change. She believes that collaboration and teamwork make her a researcher.