Environmental impacts of cultured meat
The Future Sustainable Food Systems research group (University of Helsinki), led by HELSUS Assoc. Prof. Hanna Tuomisto, is seeking for a doctoral candidate for 12 months or postdoctoral researcher for 10 months fixed-term scholarship. The research scholar will join a project funded by Wihuri Foundation that estimates environmental impacts of cultured meat by using consequential life cycle assessment (LCA).
Cultured meat (i.e. in vitro meat, artificial meat or laboratory-grown meat) is produced by cultivating animal cells in a nutrition medium by using tissue-engineering technologies. The technologies are still at research stage. A few studies have provided preliminary estimates of the environmental impacts of cultured meat, but further research is needed.
This project will develop consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) methods for comparing environmental impacts of cultured meat with livestock meat and plant based meat substitutes. The method considers the wider consequential environmental impacts that are not taken into account in the commonly used environmental assessments. These include the consequences in the land use change, energy generation and production of other commodities that occur as result of implementing changes in a system.
The grant-funded researcher have to hold a relevant master or doctoral degree (e.g. in environmental sciences, natural sciences, data science, engineering, agriculture or economics) and have good English language skills. Strong quantitative skills are essential.
The grant is approximately € 2000 / month for a doctoral candidate and € 2500 / month for a postdoctoral researcher. The applicants should read the documentation related to the pension and insurance as these will affect the net amount of the grant. The University will provide working space in Helsinki.
The application consists of the following documents in a single pdf-file:
- A cover letter explaining the applicant’s motivation for the research work and a short research plan (e.g. approach, research materials and methods) (up to 3 pages)
- Curriculum vitae showing the applicant's education, completed qualifications, work experience, possible list of publications and contact information of 2 persons for references
- Copies of Doctoral, Master's and Bachelor's degree certificates and official transcripts of the records, and their translations, if the originals are not in Finnish, Swedish or English
- A proof of proficiency in Finnish, Swedish or English, if the applicant is not a native speaker or educated in any of them
Send the application to hanna.tuomisto@helsinki.fi by 22.1.2021.
For more information, please contact Associate Professor Hanna Tuomisto, hanna.tuomisto@helsinki.fi
Read more about Future Sustainable Food Systems research group.
Read more about the grant recipient's statutory pension and work accident insurance.
Read more about taxpayer taxation.