Sustainability Science Days 2023 is excited to invite our conference participants to join us at the third installation of the Sustainable Cities Discussion Forum series, as we discuss SDG 13: Climate Action. Hosted by the City of Helsinki and UNU-WIDER, this event is being organised in collaboration with Sustainability Science Days.
Please note that while participation is included in the registration fees, seating is limited in the event space and ticket will be confirmed during in-person registration in Helsinki. For those not able to join us in the in-person event space there will be a facilitated viewing space for participation in the event’s livestream at University of Helsinki.
Speakers include leading climate resilience researcher Aditya Bahadur and many other top experts in the climate action field on the local, national and global level. UNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen and Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen will co-host the event.
Time: 26 May 2023 at 9.00-10.30 EET / 8.00-9.30 CET
Place: Join us at Helsinki City Hall or follow the livestream on Helsinki-kanava
The event will be livestreamed and available for later viewing on the city’s video service, Helsinki-kanava.
9.00–10.30
The Sustainability Science Days programme will continue after the close of the event.
Dr Aditya V. Bahadur has worked at the intersection of urbanisation, climate change adaptation and sustainable development for over 15 years. He has written on these issues extensively, for example, contributing to the IPCC AR6 WG2 report and writing a treatise on urban resilience ‘Resilience Reset: Creating Resilient Cities in the Global South’ that was published by Routledge in 2022. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the Research Strategy Team and Principal Researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development, UK. Dr Bahadur has previously worked with Oxford Policy Management, the Overseas Development Institute, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and in the private sector. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Delhi, India, his PhD at the University of Sussex, UK and a postdoctoral programme as a Fulbright scholar at Columbia University, USA.
Juhana Vartiainen has been the Mayor of Helsinki since 2021. He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Helsinki and has many years of experience leading economic research institutes in both Finland and Sweden. In 2003, Vartiainen was the named the Director of Stockholm’s Trade Union Institute for Economic Research (FIEF), moving in 2005 to become Research Director of the Swedish National Institute for Economic Research. In 2012, he became the Director General of Finland’s VATT Institute for Economic Research. Mayor Vartiainen served as a Member of the Finnish Parliament from 2015 to 2021.
Professor Kunal Sen has over three decades of experience in academic and applied development economics research. He is the author of eight books and the editor of five volumes on the economics and political economy of development. Sen has been the Director of UNU-WIDER since 2019, and he is also a professor of development economics at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. He is a leading international expert on the political economy of growth and development, with extensive research on international finance, the political economy determinants of inclusive growth, the dynamics of poverty, social exclusion, female labour force participation, and the informal sector in developing economies. His research has focused on India, East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.
Tuuli Kaskinen is CEO of the Climate Leadership Coalition, the largest non-profit climate business network in Europe promoting the transition to sustainability. Her work has allowed her to develop strategies with corporations and actively shape climate policies for 20 years. Prior to CLC, Kaskinen worked at Demos Helsinki in several positions, including that of chief executive. In addition to her duties at CLC, Kaskinen is Vice Chair of the board at University of Turku and the technology construction company Fira.
Edwin Moses Sitati works as a partnerships specialist supporting private sector development and innovation efforts at USAID Kenya and East Africa. He provides assistance to various technical teams (Agriculture, Finance, WASH, Energy, Resilience, and Trade) in the economic growth office to foster productive partnerships across sectoral actors. He has previously worked as Data Lab Manager for East Africa at the Humanitarian Data Exchange (UNOCHA); Innovation and Developer Lead for Microsoft East Africa; Economist/R&D Specialist at Nokia Research Centre; and as Project Officer at the Millennium Development Goals project unit in the Government of Kenya. He holds an MA (2006) in Sustainable International Development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, MA and a BA (2003) in Economics and International Development from McGill University, Canada.
Iina Oilinki is a project director at the City of Helsinki’s Climate Unit, which implements the city’s ambitious Climate-Neutral Helsinki Action Plan. Oilinki has a master’s degree in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki. She has previously worked as a Chief Innovation Officer at Helsinki Metropolitan Smart & Clean Foundation, as a senior advisor at Dark Matter Labs and as a team leader, chief advisor and project manager for the City of Helsinki, Aalto University and University of Helsinki.
Mia Malin works as a sustainability and strategy advisor for the City of Helsinki and coordinates the city’s SDG work. Malin has extensive experience in strategic sustainability management for the city, especially in the areas of environmental and climate issues and sustainable procurements. Her interests lie in co-development and urban research and how these approaches can be used to promote global sustainable development.
Denise Wall is a journalist who has spent nearly 25 years working in print, radio, television and online news and podcasts. She has reported on a range of social issues at media organisations such as the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle, the Paris-based AFP and DowJones Newswires/The Wall Street Journal. Wall has also held senior roles in corporate and marketing communications with Finnish firms operating globally. She currently works as an independent consultant and has her own multimedia communications company Wallcomms.