Riikka Räisänen is a professor in craft science and craft pedagogy in the University of Helsinki. Her background is in chemistry and natural sciences, craft studies and education. She has over twenty years of experience in research of natural colourants and textiles, and has published numerous articles and books on the topic. In 2016 she was awarded with the Silver Medal of the Society of Dyers and Colourists (UK) for the research in the field of natural colourants.
Gisela de Aragão Umbuzeiro is a full professor at School of Technology – Universidade de Campinas, UNICAMP, Brazil and an adjunct professor at Wilson College of Textiles, NCSU, USA. She is a biologist with a Ph.D. in genetics. She worked for 22 years at the Environmental Agency of São Paulo State (CETESB) and participated in the construction of several legal norms in Brazil. She was a visitor professor at NIEHS and USEPA. She has experience in environmental mutagenesis, ecotoxicology and regulatory toxicology with emphasis on dyes. She authored several papers and books.
Kirsi Niinimäki is Associate Professor in Design, especially in Fashion Research in the Department of Design at Aalto University, Finland. Niinimäki approaches the subject of sustainability from a variety of perspectives and her scientific results form a cohesive collection of new knowledge in the sustainable fashion field. Her research group – Fashion/Textile Futures – at Aalto University is involved in several significant research projects that integrate the closed loop, bio-economy and circular economy approaches into fashion and textile systems and expand the understanding of strategic sustainable design. Niinimäki has published widely in top scientific journals and is a leading scholar in the field of sustainable fashion
Päivi Laaksonen is a principal research scientist and leads the research group of Long-Term Durability at HAMK Tech research unit. She has a DSc. degree in physical chemistry and has worked over 15 years with nanomaterials, biomaterials and recently also with biocolourants. She has research and educational interest in sustainable materials, especially related to built environment. The current research projects relate to bio-based materials and their applications.
Kristiina Wähälä is a Professor em. in organic chemistry at the University of Helsinki. She has studied polyphenols, such as flavonoids and lignans and their bioeconomics for more than twenty years. She has published numerous articles on natural product synthesis, analysis and in green chemistry. She has organized several international conferences on natural products and chemistry. She is the former vice president of the International Association of Groupe Polyphenols and is one of the editors of just released book Recent Advances in Polyphenols vol. 8, Wiley (ISBN 978-1-119-84478-5).