Professor Kristina Lindström is a professor in sustainable development, with emphasis on sustainable, legume-based agriculture and soil health. She is the coordinator of the Actor Group Ground for Growth and affiliated to HELSUS. Her special interest lies in interaction with farmers and other stakeholders both in Finland and in Ethiopia. She has worked on legumes, rhizobia and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) since 1979. Research approaches include microbiology, molecular ecology, phylogenetics, taxonomy and bioremediation with micro- and macrosymbionts, with regard to both Finnish agricultural legumes and native and agricultural Chinese and African ones. She has been involved in several EU projects and coordinated one, and has established and led a Nordic network on Soils and Society and a CIMO collaboration with African partners. She receives research funding from the Academy of Finland on a regular basis. Her research now includes sustainability aspects of BNF, especially regarding legumes and inoculation in Ethiopian and Finnish agriculture, as well as soil quality from a trans-disciplinary perspective.
In Ground for Growth, Docent Frederick Stoddard is the contact point for involvement of plant breeding and crop sciences. He has worked on faba bean since 1981, publishing on pollination, disease resistances, stress resistances, quality, agronomy, breeding, genetics, genetic resources and environmental impacts. He has also published on chickpea, lentil, pea, common bean and wheat. He advises farmers and agricultural consultants on grain legumes across the Nordic – Baltic region, and, particularly for faba beans, in sub-Boreal regions of Canada as well. He is on the Scientific Committees of the International Legume Society and the European Society for Agronomy. He has 131 refereed journal publications, has supervised or co-supervised 28 completed doctoral theses and four post-docs, and currently has four doctoral students.
Dr Sontag-Strohm has worked on food science questions since 1986, publishing on cereal grain proteins and related quality questions, prolamin protein analytical questions, gluten immunology, fermentation, dietary fibre, oat beta-glucan analytical and processing questions, milling technologies and food technology of the faba bean. She has had a role as a research coordinator in projects financed by the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, the Academy of Finland and Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. She has one patent accepted and a few invention awards.
Dr Sontag-Strohm has contacts with a large network of the food science and technology specialists in Finland and other Nordic countries. She has acted as a chairman of the Association of Finnish and Nordic Cereal Scientists and has 60 refereed journal publications, ten other refereed publications, other, unrefereed publications and an H-index of 15. She has supervised or co-supervised five completed doctoral theses and two postdocs, and currently has three doctoral students.
Casimir Schauman holds a BA in International Relations from University of Sussex and a MSc in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science from Lund University (LUMES). He works as Ground for Growth's project officer and is currently working on his PhD related to knowledge creation by looking at networks promoting and developing legumes as food for human consumption.
Email: casimir.schauman@helsinki.fi