HELSUS Deep Dive Seminars

Next HELSUS Deep Dive Seminar

HELSUS-RESET Deep Dive Seminar: Collective imaginations of protein safety and resilience 

Where: The event is held on-site at the Main Building meeting room 2069 (old side Unioninkatu 34), (City Centre campus), with a possibility to participate via Zoom:   

When: Thursday 4 June 2026, 11:30–13:00 

The world’s social-ecological-technological conditions are changing, as reflected by the increasing popularity of the term polycrisis. This calls for a corresponding shift in our thinking. No longer can we rely only on existing, historically based ways of making sense of the world. By definition this demand to update environmental thinking extends to ways of making sense of crisis preparedness, including preparedness for crises related to food security. 

In this HELSUS-RESET Deep Dive Research seminar, we delve into the question of what the demand of updating the thinking of crisis preparedness in times of polycrisis could mean in the context of the protein transition, that is, the rebalancing between animal and alternative proteins in diets. The context of the protein transition is particularly well-suited for the exploration of this question due to its highly multidimensional and interdisciplinary nature. There is evidence that the application and progress of the notion are hampered by diverse and often conflicting narratives among stakeholders, with the isolation of the underlying scientific evidence for those narratives nurturing a growing polarization of collective imaginations of protein safety and resilience. How can we update our thinking on food crisis preparedness given this multi-voiced and potentially fragmented setting? 

This challenging topic is addressed in the form of two academic presentations on how to get a grip on crisis preparedness in times of deep and growing uncertainty, one by Dr. Matti Heino, and the other by Associate professor Pauli Rautianen and Doctoral student Matias Heikkilä. 

Program: 

11:30 – Opening words 

11:35 – Presentation by Matti TJ Heino (20 min), followed by a short Q&A (5–10 min) 

12:00 – Presentation by Matias Heikkilä and Pauli Rautiainen (20 min), followed by a short Q&A (5–10 min) 

12:25 – Short presentation by Nina Janasik on what protein safety and resilience means according to the  project 

12:30 – General discussion 

Speakers: 

 is a complex systems behavioural scientist, interested in the implications of complexity on behaviour change processes. During his time in the Finnish Behavioural Policy Team, he became acutely aware of the increasing pace of global change, and the European vulnerabilities it has revealed. This led to an acute interest in societal resilience topics – spanning from fighting non-communicable diseases and pandemics, to multi-hazard community preparedness. His currently ongoing research focuses on helping communities find their next steps to thrive under uncertainty. He blogs at , and hosts . 

 (Dr.Admin.Sci., M.A., M.Sc., M.Soc.Sc., Docent) is a university lecturer in social law at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki. He has worked on numerous interdisciplinary and policy-relevant research projects. In his research, he has highlighted how the law functions in concrete terms as a social practice that shapes people’s life courses, opportunities, and limitations. He is a constitutional expert regularly consulted by the Constitutional Law Committee of the Finnish Parliament. 

 is a political scientist at the University of Tampere specializing in theory-driven research, combining political theory and systems theory with empirical research, particularly in the fields of politics and health. 

The event is organized by the research project From a False Sense of Protein Safety to Protein Resilience: Building Bridges for Protein Sustainability (), funded by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation, together with HELSUS and RESET.