Programme 2018

Part­ner­ships for sus­tain­able solu­tions

Partnerships for sustainable solutions was an event where HELSUS and stakeholders met. The event aimed to foster collaboration between academia, cities, companies and startups, and contribute to solving the most pressing sustainability challenges through co-creation. After the event, participants should have an idea how to bridge the latest academic knowledge with innovation - and which great examples are already taking place.

During the event, participants were invited to work together on collaborative sustainability solutions within challenges identified within the HELSUS core themes of the Urban, the Global South, the Arctic, and Sustainable consumption and production.

Welcoming words, Jari Niemelä, Director, HELSUS
Keynote speech: Mari Pantsar, Director, Carbon-neutral circular economy, Sitra
Four viewpoints about the need for sustainable solutions:

1. Urban: Carbon neutral cities?
   Pekka Tuovinen, Senior Advisor, Sustainability, Neste Oyj, Esa Nikunen, Director of Environment Services, City of Helsinki and Sirkku Juhola, Associate Professor, University of Helsinki
2. Global South: Sustainable value chain
   Susanna Horn, Life Cycle Manager, Outotec Oyj, Eija Ranta, university lecturer, University of Helsinki
3. Arctic areas
   Tuuli Ojala, Senior Specialist, Ministry for Foreign Affais of Finland, Reetta Toivanen, professor, HELSUS
4. Sustainable consumption and production: Towards sustainable consumption
   Anu Kaukovirta-Norja, SVP Research and Technology, Valio Oyj, Virpi Jonson, Innovation Manager, Valio Oyj, Annukka Valkeapää, Conservation Officer, WWF, Annukka Berg, Senior Researcher, SYKE and Petteri Repo, researcher, University of Helsinki

Co-creation workshop around the four HELSUS themes
Pitches from researchers, startups and student teams on sustainable innovation
Get-together with informal networking (wine and snacks)

Sustainability Science – Discipline or something else?

Morning plenary session

9.00 Opening, Rector Jukka Kola, University of Helsinki
9.10 Sustainability science: its disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity, Prof. Uskali Mäki, University of Helsinki

9.50 Coffee break

10.10 Notes from the Frontlines: why Sustainability Science is more than just another discipline, Dr. Katharine N. Farrell, Humboldt University Berlin
10.50 Prospects for Interdisciplinarity in the Sustainability Sciences: Challenges and Solutions, Prof. Miles MacLeod, University of Twente
11.30 The limits of extra-academic transdisciplinarity in sustainability science,
Prof. Janne Hukkinen, University of Helsinki

12.10-13.15 Lunch (No host)

Interdisciplinarities in Sustainability Science

Academic group discussions

13.15 Short intro to group discussion and instructions, Henrik Thorén, Lund University/HELSUS fellow

Participants work in groups integrating the morning session themes and the HELSUS thematic issues (each group having a moderator and a reporter, who takes notes of the group work).

13.45 Group discussions (coffee between the discussions)

1. Sustainability Science methodologies/theories
2. Interdisciplinarity in Sustainability science of the Arctic
3. Interdisciplinarity in Sustainable consumption and production research
4. Interdisciplinarity in Sustainability science of the Global South
5. Interdisciplinarity in Sustainability science of the Urban

15.15 Reporting back and summing up, Michiru Nagatsu, University of Helsinki
16.15 Wine and snacks