Working group

Project leader

I am a University researcher in urban ecology at the University of Helsinki. While my background is in plant ecology, my current projects are largely interdisciplinary. This is because biological and ecological innovations spread widely and effectively only when they are convenient, affordable, appealing and legal, that is, when they align closely with human activities and needs. I would like to see the media adopt approaches that foster systemic understanding, rather than dealing with issues in isolation. This project and the HELSUS Media Group were founded in response to the observation that media content rarely presents a systemic picture of the serious crises threatening life on Earth, or of humanity’s role in them.

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Project coordinator

I work as Project Planner for the project Media at the Planetary Boundaries. With a master’s degree in sustainability science and experience in communication and coordination at HELSUS, this might be the most exciting project of my career so far. I hope that, after our three-year project, sustainability will be covered much more broadly in the Finnish media. If you are interested in learning more about our project or collaborating with us, please get in touch!

Media Specialist

I work as Media Specialist for the project Media at the Planetary Boundaries. I hope to combine my extensive background in the media, my research training and my passion for promoting sustainable development. I want to inspire researchers and journalists to enhance sustainability reporting in the media. Most importantly, we need a broad perspective, a systemic approach and deeper knowledge. I also hold a Doctor of Social Sciences degree in media and communication studies and remain active in media research. My academic experience includes leading Tampere University’s Hypermedia Laboratory. My other professional focus is journalism and the media. Over the decades, I have written thousands of stories for major Finnish and international outlets and have been involved in developing media across print and digital platforms. In addition, I contribute to media and sustainability expertise through the Sustainable Innovation and Leadership Accelerator (SILA) at the University of Lancashire, where, as Senior Research Associate, I am developing a pathway for media leaders to enhance their sustainability knowledge.

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I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. I began my research career in aquatic sciences, but for the past decade my work has centred on the biodiversity hypothesis of health. It suggests that exposure to diverse microbiota is necessary for the development of the human immune system. Experimental evidence supports this idea. It is one example among many of how human wellbeing is fundamentally linked to the planet’s carrying capacity. I think it is important for the media to highlight planetary health in all news coverage and to especially focus on what society needs to change and how that change can happen. When covering individual choices, I hope that more affluent groups are challenged to assume greater responsibility for their consumer behaviour.

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I am Substitute Professor of Transdisciplinarity for Sustainability Transformation at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany. My research promotes just sustainability transformations by engaging with diverse values and knowledges and addressing both systemic and individual change. Collaboration and learning are key themes. Most recently, I have researched how biodiversity can be conserved in urban areas and the administrative issues involved. I would like news reporting to be more critical and ask difficult questions about the underlying causes of the sustainability crisis and how to resolve them.

I am Senior University Lecturer of Agroecology at the University of Helsinki’s Department of Agricultural Sciences. My research is highly cross-disciplinary, addressing a wide range of sustainability challenges in agricultural production. I have worked actively at the science–policy interface at both national and EU levels. I am particularly interested in the impacts and implications of food production for biodiversity loss. I am concerned that debates are increasingly framed in simplistic, oppositional ways that distort research knowledge. This has recently been seen in discussions about animal production and food.

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I am a Doctoral Researcher in the Doctoral Programme in Interdisciplinary Environmental Sciences at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences. I study how humans recognise the emotions of other animals. My background is in animal ecology, with most of my professional experience in academic and science communication. After taking a year out to complete a master of applied sciences in service design at the LAB Institute of Design and Fine Arts, I am now in my third year of postgraduate study. 

I am an Associate Professor at the Centre for Consumer Society Research at the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Social Sciences. My work focuses on consumption culture as social practices. While my background is in environmental social science, in recent years I have concentrated on sufficiency, sustainable wellbeing and everyday practices, including the conditions under which they can change. My most recent projects have addressed sufficient energy consumption and a just energy transition. I would like the media to discuss consumer behaviour more broadly, in the context of consumption culture and environmental crises, rather than mainly as something that supports economic growth. At the same time, I believe that discussions about sustainable consumption should be hopeful and encourage people to think about their role in consumer society and how it could change.

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I am Associate Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and study the effects of climate and environmental conditions on ecosystems and, in turn, the influence of ecosystems on climate. My expertise lies in tree ecophysiology, focusing on tree structure and function in a changing environment. I lead the research group Ecosystems and Climate Change () and am involved in the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center (ACCC) Flagship ().

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I am a Researcher in the Politics of Knowledge group at the Finnish Environmental Institute’s Societal Change unit. I have examined the relationship between climate change and economic growth in the Finnish media, and in my recent work have aimed to provide critical perspectives on the hype surrounding generative AI and its research applications. Prior to my academic career, I contributed to the award-winning non-fiction book of journalistic texts on climate change, Hyvän sään aikana – mitä Suomi tekee, kun ilmasto muuttaa kaiken (‘Fair weather no more: Finland’s future in a changing climate’, 2017). I would like the media to address more openly the taboos of climate and environmental crises, ranging from systemic problems such as growth dependency to factors that hinder society’s preparedness for the future, including disregard of uncomfortable research findings, deliberate climate inaction, and disinformation campaigns.

I am a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki’s Department of Economics and Management, studying sufficiency in climate policy and the environmental movement. I hold a master’s degree in environmental and sustainability science and a bachelor’s in journalism, and have worked on environmental issues since 2011 in organisations such as the City of Helsinki’s Environment Centre and LUT University. I was involved in editing the book Sufficiency in Nature (Brill, 2025) and the Finnish Climate Change Panel’s report The Sufficiency Perspective in Climate Policy: How to Recompose Consumption (2020). I would like the media to showcase existing sustainable practices at multiple levels, as criticism is more constructive when paired with viable alternatives.

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I am a Doctoral Researcher in the University of Helsinki’s Doctoral Programme in Sustainable Use of Renewable Natural Resources. My doctoral thesis examines Finnish forest policy and its approach to sustainability challenges at both national and EU levels. I also explore the Finnish forestry sector’s influence on land use in tropical countries, focusing on Finnish investments in fast-growing tree plantations and their impact on local communities. In Finland, forest use has been covered well in both the media and informal discussions. Looking ahead, I hope the media will foster more solution-focused dialogue that takes scientific findings into account and reduces the focus on conflict.

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I hold a Doctor of Science in Economics and am Senior Researcher and Docent of Sustainable Economy at the University of Helsinki. I am Principal Investigator of the research project Underdogs of Just Transition (2024–2027) and an editor at the publishing house MayFly Books. I have been involving in editing the books Sustainability Beyond Technology (Oxford, 2021) and Sufficiency in Nature (Brill, 2025) and authored Reproduction Revisited (MayFly Books, 2019). My research, alongside critiques of capitalism, technology and urbanisation, focuses on the economy of sufficiency, self-provisioning and the post-productivist rural. Theoretically, my work is informed by ecological Marxism, ecological phenomenology and ecological feminism.

 
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I am Professor of Indigenous Studies at the University of Helsinki. My key research themes include the relationships between humans and the environment, the sustainabilities of Indigenous peoples, cultural concepts of biodiversity, biocultural heritage, land-based and multi-species thinking, Indigenous-led methodologies and research ethics. For the past 20 years, I have worked with the Apurinã and Manchineri peoples of the Arawakan language family in the Brazilian Amazon. My publications include Indigenous Youth in Brazilian Amazonia: Changing Lived Worlds (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), Creating Dialogues: Indigenous Perceptions and Changing Forms of Leadership in Amazonia (Colorado University Press, 2017) and Indigenous Research Methodologies in Sámi and Global Contexts (Brill Sense, 2021). I was a member of a 2024 working group that developed community-oriented ethical principles for research with the Sámi. I currently lead the projects (Finnish Academy of Science and Letters) and (Kone Foundation). I would like the media to showcase a wider range of perspectives on sustainability and values.

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