Profile
Jose A. Cañada
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About Me:
I am a Finnish-Spanish social scientist who just moved to Exeter. I love making music and recording it 🎼🎙. I play bass guitar 🎸 in a rock band. I also enjoy indoor climbing 🧗♂️, playing handball 🤾♂️, and going to the movies 🎞.
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I grew up in a Mallorca (an island in Spain) and studied social psychology in Barcelona. About 10 years ago I moved to Finland because I love remote places and Finland has lots of those!
I have played music since I was a child (I started playing french horn and then started playing bass when I was 16), so even if research is my profession (and one of my passions!) I continue to make music as often as I can.
I also love sports (practicing and watching) in general, which is super important when you spend most of your day seated in an office in front of a computer (important to stay active!). I have played handball since I was 8 but in the last few years I have gotten really into indoor climbing. I am not very good but I have a lot fun anyway 😅.
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Science is a way to know the world around us but is also a ‘social activity’. This means that, for science to work, people need to work together, understand the society they live in, its problems, and the political situation that surrounds them.
I use a method called ‘ethnography’, where you go to a new place that you know little about and try to understand how everything works. So in practice, I go hang out with scientists doing cool and important things, like figuring out how to deal with pandemics like COVID19, or why some medicines might stop working. I then ask lots of questions about what they do, I observe, and listen and try to learn a lot about what do they need to do for their work to be successful and help make the world better.
At the moment I am planning to go hang out with marine biologists in Mallorca and Finland to see how they try to know better what happens to the sea when the temperature of the earth rises or when we mistreat our environment (for example, by throwing waste on the water).
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My Typical Day:
In my tipical day I wake up and go to the office at around 9am. There, I usually focus on reading and writing, sometimes discussing some of my work with friends. Often this happens over coffee breaks, which are my favourite part of the day. After my work day is over at around 5pm, I go do one my hobbies, like climbing or making music.
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Most of my days consist of office work, where I mostly read books about science and try to write my own ideas. Often I do this with my friends at work, which is a lot more fun, because you can tell each other all the interesting stuff you are learning.
However, this all changes when I am doing ‘fieldwork’, which means that I travel somewhere new to meet scientists and lear what they do (last time I did this, I visited Benin in West Africa). Usually I go on trips that last for one or two months and then my typical day will depend on the typical day of the scientists I am meeting.
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What I'd do with the prize money:
I would organise a “The science around you” workshop, where attendants will learn the impact that science and technology have on our lives by thinking together about how they affect our surroundings.
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Education:
Son Quint School – State school in Mallorca – 6 to 11 y.o.
Guillem Sagrera High School – Secondary state high school in Mallorca – 12 to 18 y.o.
Autonomous University of Barcelona – State university where I studied psychology and social psychology – 18 to 24 y.o.
University of Helsinki – State university in Finland, where I did my doctoral degree – 26 to 31 y.o.
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Qualifications:
2005 – Spanish A Level, with specialization in social sciences. Grade: 7,13/10.
2009 – BA in Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Average grade: 7,42/10.
2010 – M.Soc.Sc in Research in Social Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Average grade: 8,56/10.
2018 – PhD, Doctoral Programme in Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland.
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Work History:
September 2019 – August 2021 – Postdoctoral researcher in the project “Social study of antimicrobial resistance: health care, animals, and ethics (SoSAMiRe)” funded by the Academy of Finland and led by Senior Lecturer Salla Sariola at the University of Helsinki.
April 2019 – August 2019 – Postdoctoral researcher in the project “Microbial Lives: Practices of New Human-Microbial Cultures” funded by the Kone Foundation and led by Senior Lecturer Salla Sariola at the University of Helsinki.
October 2018 – April 2019 – Postdoctoral researcher in the project “Occurrence, sources and prevention of antimicrobial resistance in West Africa (AMRIWA)” funded by Academy of Finland and led by Prof Anu Kantele at the University of Helsinki.
January 2016 – February 2016 – Internship at the World Health Organization (Egypt, Country Office) under the supervision of Riku Elovainio. Responsible for the drafting of an internal report by interviewing personnel and conducting ethnography.
October 2015 – July 2018 – Grant researcher in the project “Securing the living: governance, materiality and understandings of life during biosecurity emergencies” funded by Kone Foundation and under the supervision of Dr Sakari Tamminen and Prof Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman at the University of Helsinki.
October 2014 – September 2015 – Grant researcher in the project “Securing the living: governance, materiality and understandings of life during biosecurity emergencies” funded by Alfred Kordelin Foundation and under the supervision of Dr Sakari Tamminen and Prof Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman at the University of Helsinki.
January 2014 – September 2014 – Technical assistant in the project “Patients, business and the state: translating health information into sustainable benefits” funded by TEKES and directed by Dr Karoliina Snell at the University of Helsinki.
June 2013 – December 2013 – CIMO Research Fellow with the project “Technological biosecurity: the emergence of new forms of governing life through the analysis of contemporaneous biological emergencies” under the supervision of Dr Sakari Tamminen and Prof Anna-Maija Pirttilä-Backman at the University of Helsinki.
March 2012 – May 2013. Kitchen and waiter assistant for Sabor a México Oy, at Patrona Restaurant.
March 2011 – November 2011. Passenger Service Agent for Jet2.com in Son Sant Joan’s Airport (Palma de Mallorca)
November 2010 – January 2011. English revision tutor
June 2009. Pollster in “Creafutur” research project
September 2008 – June 2009. Social psychology researcher (Internship)
July 2008 – September 2008. Food delivery in Pizzeria Ragazzi in Palma de Mallorca
July 2006 – September 2006; July 2007 – September 2007. Food delivery in Pizzería Via Tacciolli in Palma de Mallorca
June 2005 – September 2005. Security assistant in Son Sant Joan’s Airport (Palma de Mallorca)
June 2004 – September 2004; June 2003 – September 2003. Cleaner and waiter assistant in Hotel Jamaica in Magalluf (Calvià – Mallorca)
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Current Job:
01/09/2021 – Present – Postdoctoral research fellow in the project “Aquatic Intersections: Temporality and more-than-human intersectionality in marine ecosystems” funded by the European Commission at the University of Exeter.
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My Interview
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How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
bassist loves thinking
What did you want to be after you left school?
A psychologist
Were you ever in trouble at school?
Only the right amount of times 🙄
Who is your favourite singer or band?
Talking Heads
What's your favourite food?
Mexican food
If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
Be able to play all instruments in the world. A mountain cottage in a remote place. My own picture theatre.
Tell us a joke.
Always look on the bright side of life.
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