Funded projects

Project: A Bird of the Remote Sea

The documentary film tells the story of the Baltic Sea through the eyes of its iconic endemic species such as the Common Eider and Golden Eagle, and its local human residents, who try to make a difference.

Our planet faces unprecedented global threats, whose effects can be seen in motion at the Baltic Sea. For us to be able to tackle these gigantic issues we first need to understand how the complex ecosystems work and, in this process, learn to care about nature as something that is inseparable part of our lives. The film takes us on a journey that makes us see our relationship with the Baltic Sea through different eyes.

The project shows how can protect the natural world around us and create new sustainable structures that will be beneficial to us and all the other living beings around us.

Organisation
Bad Dog Productions Oy

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Improvement of the Garden birdwatch

The project will upgrade the technical systems of Pihabongaus, Finland’s largest citizen science event for nature observation. In Pihabongaus, ordinary people observe their local nature, detect changes in birdlife and understand the causes of these changes. The reform will make it easier to participate in the event and to report observations, and in particular to develop a rich set of results services for the event, linking changes and fluctuations in species occurrence to the factors that influence them, such as changes in habitats and climate, and research. These developments will significantly increase the visibility of Pihabongaus, number of participants, the visibility of the results and the impact of the event.

Organisation
NGO

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Nature-based solutions in building and housing innovations – Agency and sustainability transition (LUONTAISET)

Nature-based building innovations can improve the sustainability of construction and help adapt to the consequences of climate change, especially in urban environments. However, these innovations have slowly become more common both in Finland and internationally. The use of nature-based solutions is significantly influenced by, for example, the climate conditions of the area, so in addition to international guidelines, research tailored to local conditions is needed. The LUONTAISET project produces new information on the factors influencing the market development of nature-based building innovations in Finland and on the challenges and opportunities related to their implementation from the perspectives of different actors. The data used include literature, interviews, and a citizen survey. The information produced in the project promotes opportunities for the wider use of nature-based building innovations to strengthen urban sustainability, biodiversity and the well-being of residents.

Organisation
Natural Resources Institute Finland

Aim
Postdoc-tutkimus

Project: Nature restoration in adult education for planetary well-being: as applied in a city's climate action

We have the knowledge, but where are the actions? There is substantive knowledge of the elements of the sustainability crisis, as well as potential solutions. Knowledge has not fully transformed into actions however. In my PhD thesis, I am studying sustainability education for adults: what kind of pedagogy would be able to address the question of inaction, and how this pedagogy could be applied in informal learning settings. I suggest a combination of sustainability education and nature restoration as one pedagogical solution to the problem, and thus study nature restoration as sustainability education for adults, organized as part of a city’s climate action. I collect my data by taking part in a city’s climate action nature restoration project, which includes voluntary work by citizens. The study produces practical knowledge which can be of use to different public sector actors, who can apply it as informal adult sustainability education in their climate action.

Organisation
University of Jyväskylä

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Towards actionable knowledge for change: dialogue with North and East Syria

The project aims at advancing natural sciences teaching in North and East Syria and supporting the region’s environmental organizations’ work in the society. At the same time, the goal is to bring the region’s unique environmental thinking to Finland and to increase the equal exchange of ideas on sustainability issues between the Global South and the Global North.

Our project stakeholders in North and East Syria are the region’s autonomous administration’s health and environment body, environmental NGO Green Tress and the University of Rojava.

Our NGO will carry out the project in collaboration with Finland-based scientists who have expertise in distance learning, biology, the curricula of natural science education, and socio-ecological change studies. Also Finnish environmental activists are taking part in the project work.

Organisation
NGO

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Caring Commons: Exploring the Potential of Artistic Interventions for Reframing Human-Nature Relationship concerning Light and Darkness in Urban Environments

This 2-year postdoctoral project aims to empirically explore the potential of artistic interventions in reframing human-nature relationships, addressing biodiversity loss. It will focus on addressing light pollution in urban environments. Light pollution has a significant negative impact on human health and on plant and wildlife, accelerating human-induced biodiversity loss. The Nordics with long dark seasons contribute to this notably. I will collaborate with City of Helsinki, focusing on two sites: Lapinlahden Lähde and Suomenlinna. The objectives of the project are: 1) developing with stakeholders artistic interventions to reintroduce darkness into the urban environment and to challenge citizens’ urban lighting expectations; 2) exploring the potential of artistic interventions in reframing human-nature relationship through practice-based research. Community field research booklets will serve as base for artistic interventions and data collection; exhibitions for societal outreach.

Organisation
Aalto University

Aim
Postdoc

Project: Dialogical narratives as method and matter for meaningful fashion design practice

My research is titled ‘Dialogical narratives as method and matter for meaningful fashion design practice’. With the fashion industry being the world’s second highest polluter, I am working towards an alternative design practice by re-assessing what actually makes clothes meaningful and worth producing, on a functional and emotional level. The methodology comprises workshops and interviews which generate data in the form of dialogical narratives. Workshop participants are invited to share personal experiences and critiques around the use phase of clothes and on what kind of engagement they have with fashion. The data informs and shapes both a design process and emerging artefacts. Research findings aim to contribute to enriching garment-wearer attachment and extending product use times in the sustainable design field. The main question the research aims to answer is: How can meaning be designed into garments?

Organisation
Aalto University

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Municipality as Part of Nature - Dismantling Anthropocentric Thinking in Municipal Work

Who are the residents of your municipality? The Municipality as Part of Nature project aims to dismantle anthropocentrism in municipalities and bring the intertwined wellbeing of humans and the rest of nature to the centre. By questioning the paradigm that separates humans from nature, the project taps into one of the most powerful leverage points for sustainability transformation. The aim is to create visions of non-anthropocentric municipalities and bring them to practise by dismantling anthropocentric thinking and practices, and creating alternatives. The project is carried out in collaboration with Finnish municipalities as a set of four workshops. A publicly available checklist will be created together with the participating municipalities to support the work of municipal actors during and after the project. The contents of the project will be communicated to a wider audience through an open webinar, a podcast and networks of sustainable municipalities.

Organisation
Cooperative

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Resource recycling in aquaculture: Using microalgal biofilm technologies to optimize biomass production.

The project aims to develop and test biofilm-based Algal Turf Scrubber (ATS) technology for microalgal cultivation using wastewater from a recirculation aquaculture system (RAS) as growth medium. The project focuses on producing biomass with optimal fatty acid profile and content for use in e.g., sustainable aquafeed, while simultaneously reclaiming valuable nutrients and contributing to bioremediation. The ATS has a simple and scalable design to grow microalgae in biofilms, rather than suspension, simplifying the costly harvesting process. This approach has the potential to address key barriers in the European algal sector, such as high costs, energy demand, and low biomass yields. The project includes both laboratory and pilot-scale outdoor trials to evaluate the feasibility, scalability, costs, and requirements for large-scale integration at a RAS in regions with long winters and limited daylight hours.

Organisation
Finnish Environment Institute

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Chemical Pollution in Wetlands: Implications for Waterbird Conservation (CHEM-WET)

The CHEM-WET project aims to study the impact of chemical pollution on wetland conservation and biodiversity, with a special focus on waterbird populations in Finnish wetlands. The research will investigate the occurrence and effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and metalloids, and their bioaccumulation in the wetland food web. The study will cover natural, restored and constructed wetlands, with a holistic approach considering other important ecosystem stressors such as browning – a process associated with elevated dissolved organic matter (DOM) – and its role in altering the bioavailability of pollutants. By assessing the health of waterbirds, a key bio-indicator of ecosystem integrity, the project will generate valuable information for effective wetland restoration and biodiversity conservation strategies, with the ultimate goal of mitigating the impact of chemical pollution on wetlands biodiversity.

Organisation
University of Turku

Aim
Postdoc

Project: Justice and security in the era of environmental crises - The threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and rising inequity in Finnish policies

The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, as well as the benefits and harms from unsustainable use of natural resources, are unevenly distributed among people and regions, increasing inequity, human vulnerability, and conflicts. To ensure a sustainable and just future, climate change, biodiversity loss, and their security and justice impacts should be addressed simultaneously in policy. The way in which these threats are discussed shapes the actions taken to address them. This research aims to reveal how EU and national policies address environmental security and justice, and how the concept of human security can be utilized in practice to identify vulnerabilities, promote a just transition, and ensure sustainable well-being in a future marked by uncertainty and global crises.

Organisation
University of Helsinki

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Let it burn! Are the greenhouse gas emissions following prescribed burning in Nordic boreal forests a threat to climate change objectives?

Using prescribed burning in forest management is increasing in Nordic boreal forests to restore habitats for threatened fire-dependent species and increase the long-term resilience of this key biome. However, forest fires, including prescribed burning, play a role in climate change and quickly convert the boreal forest from a carbon (C) sink to a source of greenhouse gasses as they burn. Currently, it is unclear how long burned areas are a C source, what the rates of gas fluxes are, and what are the role of different forest management practices and environmental factors on these rates. This project will quantify greenhouse gas fluxes after burning to provide information that can be used to reduce the impact of prescribed burning on the C balance in Nordic boreal forests. Measurements will be conducted in cooperation with an ongoing international restoration burning project. This network gives us direct contact to prescribed burning practitioners and stakeholders in Fennoscandia.

Organisation
University of Eastern Finland

Aim
Postdoc

Project: Finnish Environmental Education Policy (YKAPO): Sustainability Projects Improving Basic Education

The study examines environmental education policy, particularly the processes of financial steering for environmental education in schools. The case study analyzes the journey of the €5 million granted by the government from advocacy work through resource allocation to school life. The research reveals new information on the governance of sustainability education at different levels. While research on environmental education policy is a rapidly growing field internationally, it has received little attention in Finland. The aims are to 1) study the political process that resulted in schools receiving resources, 2) investigate the perceptions of educational administration, officials, and teachers on sustainability education, and 3) examine the impacts of sustainability projects on everyday school life. Documents and interviews reveal perceptions of the development needs of environmental education, ways to address challenges, and results from the perspective of schools.

Organisation
University of Jyväskylä

Aim
Postdoc

Project: The Atlas Project

The Atlas Project prepares society to respond to the risks from the Earth system’s tipping points. As the climate heats up, scientific evidence of the critical state of natural systems increases. For example, ice sheets and the Atlantic meridional circulation are both approaching their tipping points, beyond which irreversible change is imminent. These natural systems carry the life on Earth on their shoulders, just as the Atlas holds up the heavens.

The Atlas Project aims to increase multidisciplinary and multi-voiced research, generalises science and creates the conditions for fair and science-based governance of tipping points. The project builds bridges between researchers, policy makers, Indigenous Peoples and the environmental movement, especially in Finland. In order to safeguard the livelihoods of young people and future generations, the risks associated with tipping points must be taken into account in today’s politics. Climate strategies need to be updated to the 2020s.

Organisation
NGO

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Rewetting forested peatlands: Impacts on warming climate (PEATRE)

My dissertation will focus on two main topics. The first part of the study will go over how restoration measures affect the carbon dynamics (CO2 & CH4) of peatlands that have been previously drained for forestry. The experimental setup includes forested peatlands restored at different times, pristine spruce and pine mires, as well as two peatland sites that will be restored in the fall of 2024. In total, there are 44 study sites.

The second part of the work will investigate the effects of vegetation community succession and other environmental factors on the changes in soil carbon stocks in restored peatlands. This section will also test how testate amoebae and plant macrofossils could potentially be used to help in calculating peat accumulation and in the spatial and temporal assessment of restoration effects.

The results will provide information how restored forested peatlands act as carbon storage and cycling, as well as their potential to mitigate climate change in Finland.

Organisation
University of Helsinki

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Disturbance dynamics of nature conservation areas

The aim is to study the disturbance dynamics of different nature reserves, with the purpose of increasing general understanding of the role of near-natural and old boreal forests in relation to, e.g. increasing bark beetle disturbances, and how and in what time forest regeneration occurs after such disturbances. The sub-studies aim to investigate 1) the general role of nature reserves in relation to bark beetle disturbances at the landscape level, 2) the regeneration of nature reserves, the development of carbon stocks and sinks after bark beetle disturbances, and 3) the effects of the mosaic landscape of nature reserves and commercial forests on these. In addition, the results can provide realistic estimates of whether the disturbance dynamics of nature reserves affect the risk of damage to surrounding forests. The results can also be applied and utilized in the management, restoration, and conservation of commercial forests as climate change and biodiversity loss progress.

Organisation
Natural Resources Institute Finland

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Climate heroes? Elephants, carbon sinks, and conservation conflicts

This project investigates the role of elephants in climate change mitigation through their impact on vegetation. It sets to identify demographic and habitat loss thresholds that can flip their role from carbon accumulators to releasers. Targeting both forest and savanna elephants, it seeks to uncover misconceptions about the two species and their hybrids. With elephants being increasingly threatened through poaching and escalating Human-Elephant-Conflicts (HEC), the project questions whether synergies exist between climate change mitigation and conservation goals, and whether these align with HEC reduction opportunities. Through a participatory approach, I will map and quantify the elephant populations of Ghana. I will study how their preference or avoidance of high wood density species varies along disturbance gradients, and how this impacts vegetation and carbon stocks. The study will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the role of biodiversity in climate discourse.

Organisation
University of Helsinki

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Energy and governmentality in the European Grean Deal

The dissertation develops a new social theory that challenges traditional ways of studying political power. The project explores the importance of energy production and use in the background of power relations in society. The research shows how the prevailing ways of thinking and speaking regarding society, nature and people as part of them have been built through the use of energy. The theory emphasizes in a new way how the internal relations of society cannot be separated from the nature and its resources. Through the constructed theory the project examines the EU’s Green Deal. The goal of the project is to reveal the power interests guiding EU’s energy policy and to study how energy-related thought patterns affect the implementation of the Green Deal. The project helps to understand how decisions about energy use are connected to the maintaining of power relations in society, and what changes the sustainability transformation requires in our ways of thinking and political action.

Organisation
University of Tampere

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Ecological communication and decision making to enable sustainability transformations

This postdoc research identifies the prerequisites for ecological communication and decision-making processes. Ecological communication refers to decentralized and mutual learning that occurs in all living systems. The study examines interactions among youth, political decision-makers, funders, social entrepreneurs, NGOs, and other stakeholders. Groundbreaking methods from applied complexity science provide a scientifically sound foundation for leveraging decentralized learning in decision-making. The work is transdisciplinary and contributes to the novel fractal approach to scaling sustainability transitions, where small changes can reflect across society at various levels. The goal is to reduce societal polarization, enhance citizen engagement, increase the sensitivity of decision-makers, and accelerate a nonviolent and inclusive sustainability transition.

Organisation
Aalto University

Aim
Postdoc

Project: The ecological impact of the interpretation differences in conservation regulation

Biodiversity legislation is a crucial conservation tool outside nature reserves, but its ecological effectiveness depends greatly on the interpretation of the laws and procedures. To date, however, there are only a few studies on the variation in interpretation of conservation legislation and its ecological relevance. Therefore, we do not know whether current procedures are effective in their purpose of securing biodiversity. Knowledge is needed, as Finland is committed to halting biodiversity loss by 2030. In this PhD project I explore the ecological impacts of ambiguity in biodiversity-securing legislation. My aim is to identify procedural problems and develop solutions to them in order to make the existing conservation regulation meet its purpose in safeguarding biodiversity.

Organisation
University of Jyväskylä

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Tire dust in northern stormwaters – Moss and its microbial associates in nanoplastic biodegradation

Plastic pollution is everywhere, it is estimated that every year eight million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans. The use of plastic is predicted still to grow, additionally considering the amount of plastic that has already ended up in the environment and is degrading into smaller pieces. Plastics are harmful to living organisms when plastic particles are smaller than a few hundred nanometers and can enter cells or tissues. Solutions to tackle plastic pollution are urgently needed. The project investigates moss-associated microorganisms that are involved in nanoplastics removal and uptake processes by the moss in cold climate conditions. The project identifies plastic removal (and biodegradation) processes by the moss-associated microorganisms, and tests novel nature-based plant-microbe nanoplastic removal method for arctic waters.

Organisation
University of Oulu

Aim
Doctoral thesis

Project: Planetbic and Planetary Workshops: Advancing Sustainability Transition Through the Synergy of Science and Art

The project fosters a sustainability transformation through a community workshop series that integrates science and art, as well as through the Planetbic community performance, which combines art, embodied knowledge, and planetary boundaries. Planetbic is rooted in the doctoral research of the project’s artist-researcher, which investigates the audience impact of climate activism art. The validity of the knowledge related to the sustainability transition and its artistic application, without losing focus, is ensured through the partnership with the Wisdom community of the University of Jyväskylä. The goal of the workshops is to enhance participants’ knowledge, commitment, and empowerment related to the sustainability transition and to produce and publish planetary science and art statements. Participants include first-year students from the JYU and individuals from diverse backgrounds who participate in the group activities of the local Cultural Center Villa Rana.

Organisation
Individual

Aim
Science-based action project

Project: Metamodernism in education: philosophy for hope in a fragmented world

This educational philosophy project examines the concept of metamodernism in education. Metamodernism involves reconciling two views: modernism which promotes hopefulness about the future, sensemaking narratives and definitive answers, and postmodernism which suggests uncertainty, critical stances and lack of closure. The project asks how the introduction of metamodernism into education makes sense of educational dilemmas about the uncertainty of the future, fragmented knowledge, and search for solutions, especially with regard to the role of education in creating sustainable futures. Such dilemmas include trust and distrust of institutions and scientific knowledge; technology as a source of hope and fear; and the urgency but complexity of sustainability. These issues are addressed in education in general, and science and technology education. The goal of the project is to argue how education can create hope, meaning and solutions in an age of unsustainability and uncertainty.

Organisation
University of Helsinki

Aim
Postdoc

Project: Water - the flow of life

The “Water – The Flow of Life” initiative is part of the broader Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss impact program at the Heureka Science Centre. The project showcases the water cycle and emphasizes the importance of sustainable water management as a foundation for life. Its goal is to share knowledge and increase understanding of the significance of water in combating climate change and biodiversity loss, while highlighting how human activities affect the natural water cycle. Education and awareness are crucial for ensuring that people can manage and protect water resources in the future. The scientific foundation of the project is based on water research, focusing on the water cycle as a systemic whole and the impact of human activities on it. The grant will be used to create interactive water-themed exhibits, develop educational programs and materials from early childhood to secondary education, organize events, and engage in communication and interaction with our broad audience.

Organisation
Finnish Science Centre Heureka

Aim
Toimintahanke