The University of Eastern Finland leads a unique doctoral education pilot in sustainability transformations research, which will train 40 doctoral graduates in Finland. The pilot involves 10 universities and the Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE. The doctoral education pilot will be launched in the autumn of 2024.
Research within the doctoral education pilot will focus on sustainability transformations in different sectors of society to find solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss, and sustainable use and management of natural resources. The research themes include, for example, citizens’ lifestyles, planetary well-being and planetary health, production and consumption, governance and legal systems, and cultural transformations.
“Our research is solution-oriented. Our society needs solutions that are based on facts and considerate of ethical issues, and that will increase citizens’ trust in a good future,” says Professor Arto O. Salonen, the academic director of the doctoral education pilot.
The Ministry of Education and Culture, together with the Research Council of Finland, has granted 10.2 million euros to the doctoral education pilot in sustainability transformations. The participating universities will hire the students admitted to the doctoral education pilot.
A doctoral degree provides graduates with the skills needed for working as independent researchers or in demanding expert positions in the academic and other sectors. The goal of the doctoral education pilot is for students to submit their doctoral dissertation for preliminary examination within three years of starting their doctoral studies.
Further information on the doctoral education pilot in sustainability transformations can be obtained from the academic director of the pilot, Professor Arto O. Salonen, and from the professors in charge of the pilot in the participating universities, who are listed in the table below. The table is indicative. In reality, the research themes are intertwined, as sustainability transformations are an interdisciplinary phenomenon.
Systems orientation, goals of education and futures competencies
- Hannu L.T. Heikkinen, Finnish Institute for Educational Research (JYU)
- Ilkka Ratinen, Faculty of Education (UL)
- Lassi Linnanen and Jarkko Levänen, Sustainability Science (LUT)
Sustainable business and working life
- Minna Halme and Tiina Ritvala, School of Business (Aalto)
- Leena Aarikka-Stenroos and Johanna Kujala, Faculty of Management and Business (TAU)
Leadership and management in societal change
- Hanna Lehtimäki, Business School (UEF)
- Harri Jalonen, School of Management (VU)
Human-nature interconnectedness, social imagination and cultural transformations
- Katriina Siivonen and Petri Tapio, Finland Futures Research Centre (UTU)
- Nora Fagerholm, Department of Geography and Geology (UTU)
- Reetta Toivanen, Faculty of Arts (HU)
- Maria Huhmarniemi, Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland
Environmental policy, natural resource governance, legal systems and means of regulation
- Irmeli Mustalahti, Department of Geographical and Historical Studies (UEF)
- Niko Soininen and Seita Vesa, Law School (UEF)
Ecosystems, planetary health and planetary wellbeing
- Jouni Jaakkola and Timo Hugg, Faculty of Medicine (OU)
- Janne Kotiaho and Mikko Mönkkönen, School of Resource Wisdom (JYU)
- Ilari Sääksjärvi, Biodiversity Unit (UTU)
- Christopher Raymond, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences (UH)
- Marko Keskinen, Water and Environmental Engineering (Aalto)
Sustainable living, civil society and democratic development
- Tiina Kontinen, Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy (JYU)
- Arto O. Salonen, Department of Social Sciences (UEF)
