The asylum process is based on interviews with the applicant and an assessment based on these interviews to determine if the applicant meets the criteria for international protection. Troublingly, current interviewing and decision-making methods are not entirely supported by psychological science. We are partnering with researchers and practitioners across Europe to develop and assess evidence-based asylum determination methods and train European asylum officials to improve the ways in which asylum applicants are heard and the ways their cases are assessed.

Recent Activities

Upcoming event: Conference on SOGI and asylum decision-making, October 2026

Conference on “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) in Asylum Decision-Making: Towards an Infrastructure for Evidence-Based Practice.” Where: Turku, Finland When: 15–17 October 2026

Psych-AID attends the (Re-)Constructing Credibility in Refugee Status Determination Workshop

Doctoral researchers Malin Ekelund and Obed Appiah, together with Psych-AID principal investigator Jan Antfolk, participated in the (Re-)Constructing Credibility in Refugee Status Determination Workshop at the University of Copenhagen. The workshop aimed to foster discussion on research related to credibility assessment in the asylum context and to clarify what researchers mean when they refer to credibility.

Psych-AID Presentation at Åbo Akademi Lunch Seminars in Minority Studies

Doctoral Researcher Malin Ekelund delivered an insightful talk titled “Adjudicating Asylum Claims of Sexual or Gender Minority Applicants” at the Lunch Seminars in Minority Studies. In this, she presented research that the Psych-AID group has been conducting and the findings from her recent experiment.

Recent Publications

Field reflections from training Finnish asylum officials

20.2.2026

In the published field reflection, Dr. Jenny Skrifvars and Prof. Julia Korkman aimed to describe the everyday challenges and organisational constraints reported by Finnish asylum officials during the training. The reflection aimed to discuss the areas of concern in relation to empirical literature and proposed solutions and recommendations for future practice and research.

‘How would you define your sexuality?’ analyzing the questions asked in official asylum interviews with sexual minorities

16.10.2025

The study of Finnish asylum interviews with sexual minority applicants found that, while problematic questioning styles were largely avoided, officials relied heavily on closed-ended questions and focused more on verifying sexual orientation than on experiences of persecution. Improved training and further research are essential to enhance interview practices.