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 at the American Psychology–Law Conference 2026
The Psych-AID Network, together with its partners, took part in the American Psychology–Law Conference 2026, held in Reno, Nevada. Dr. Dilhan Töredi and Prof. Jan Antfolk presented on PsychAID research examining cognitive bias beliefs among asylum officers across Europe and the reverse halo effect in the asylum context.

Psych-AID at the Shaping Tomorrow: Queer Asylum in Europe 2025 Conference
Doctoral Researcher Malin Ekelund took part in the Shaping Tomorrow conference in Amsterdam on 20–21 November 2025, organised by COC Nederland. At the conference, Malin presented her study, “The Effect of Stereotype Congruence on Credibility Assessments of Sexual Minority Asylum Claims: Psychological Mechanisms and Intersectional Influences.”
Recent Publications
Field reflections from training Finnish asylum officials
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
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.

