People

Professor, Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme

Christopher is an Interdisciplinary Scientist who creates new policy and management options for engaging diverse actors in the design and implementation of nature-based solutions. He is globally recognised for my expertise related to the development and application of: conceptual approaches for assessing human-nature relationships; knowledge co-creation processes, and; analytical methods in the social valuation of land use and ecosystem services under global change.

Outputs have contributed to the standardised assessment of the co-benefits of nature-based solutions across the EU; the Australian Federal Government’s Strategic Environmental Assessment; the City of Helsinki’s Master Planning process and the engagement of Indigenous people in IPBES Assessments.

He is passionate about assessing the impact of environmental policies and programs on individual and group values, behavior and self-reported well-being. This passion is reflected in my mission of Connecting  People, Place and Prosperity.

He currently hold the position of Professor of Sustainability Science (Sustainability Transformations and Ecosystem Services) at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science, University of Helsinki and Guest Professor in Landscape Planning at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

In 2019, he was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher. Fewer than 6,300, or 0.1%, of the world's researchers, across 21 research fields, have earned this exclusive distinction.

University Researcher, PhD

Janina Käyhkö (PhD) is a university researcher in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Science, UH. She joined the HNT group in April 2023 through the Academy of Finland funded project Transformative Cities. In the project, she focuses on the cross-sectoral and multilevel governance issues related to urban sustainability transformations by developing and utilizing a serious game method. The game is used to explore the trade-offs and ways to overcome them in the current and future decision-making contexts

University Researcher, PhD

Milutin is an interdisciplinary researcher with interests spanning a range of disciplines relevant for sustainability science from economics, agrobiology, biomedical research, sustainable management, to the natural sciences. He holds a PhD on modeling in theoretical physics and the possibility of a reconstruction of scientific reasoning by means of mathematical logic.  His background in philosophy of science enables him to analyze sustainability problems from a systems level perspective, what at the same time enables filtering the plethora of approaches and ideas currently dominant within sustainability science which still lack proper scientific testing and foundations. He is keenly interested in metascience – empirically measuring the quality and trustworthiness of modern research – and his dream is to develop the field of meta sustainability science, where the already published SS research will be subjected to rigourous intellectual and scientific testing, and where future SS research will be conducted based on methodologically sound and philosophically justified principles, ideas and procedures.

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Overall, my research is focused on understanding the complex issues which surround human-nature interactions and how they relate to the long-term success of conservation, especially in remote or mountainous locations. Methodologically I use a participatory approach, working with a range of in-situ visual and acoustic mapping tools. Specifically, this research uses walking methods, ecoacoustics, as well as 360° audio-video, and has taken place at sites in the Scottish Highlands, the French Pyrénées and the Swedish and Finnish Arctic. Most recently this has included CONTOURS, a multidisciplinary research project looking at impacts of tourism on wilderness and CORRIDOR TALK, a conservation humanities research project on the future of Europe's National Parks and how connectivity can be understood from the perspective of both human and other animals, within and beyond the boundaries of protected areas. As part of these projects I have also participated in the development of Science Trails in the Kilpisjärvi area of Northern Finland to communicate our work on ecoacoustics to wider publics.

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Viola is a postdoctoral researcher at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) where she studies sustainability education in higher education institutes. Having a background in sustainability science, Viola’s focus is on knowledge processes, collaboration and inclusivity that can support just sustainability transformations.

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

I study human-nature connections in cities from a socio-ecological-technological systems perspective and particularly how participatory GIS methods can support planning and management of urban green spaces. My research interests also include multisensory methods for studying human experiences in urban nature, environmental justice and using new technologies to capture and analyse urban green space use. I am currently working on the Smarter Greener Cities project examining the links between landscape and soundscape quality and psychological restoration.

Doctoral Researcher - MSocSc, MA

Eugenia is a MSocSc graduate in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability from the University of Helsinki and has a background in Philosophical Sciences (MA from the University of Bologna). She is collaborating with the CO-CARBON project. Eugenia is a NATURA fellow and she is working in the European node for the NATURA Global Roadmap of Nature-Based Solutions.

Her PhD project focuses on social and transformative learning about NbS through the organization of educational activities for secondary school students. Her research interests include public participation practices and environmental justice.

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Eveliina is a doctoral researcher focusing on the complex relationships between urban planning and civil society in urban sustainability transformations. She wants to better understand how cities could be planned and governed with more consideration to their multiple users and functions while acknowledging the need for rapid changes due to climate change and other ecological challenges. Eveliina’s background is in sustainability science (MSc) and environmental sciences (BSc), with focus on urban studies and environmental policy. Prior to this, she worked with performing arts and dance pedagogics (BA), from which she draws her interest in collective learning processes and social practices. She is fascinated by interfaces between natural ecosystems and sociocultural systems.

Doctoral Researcher, LLM

Francesco is a PhD candidate at the University of Eastern Finland. His PhD project focuses on the legal feasibility of implementing urban nature-based solutions across European cities. The main research areas addressed by his project are conservation of urban biodiversity and improvement of climate change adaptation. The latter is examined through the lens of heat and flood management in urban areas. Francesco is interested in analysing the main legal challenges that hinder nature-based solutions implementation and scaling-up within the European Union. He received his LLM in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development in 2021 from the University of the West of England.

Doctoral Researcher 

Heidi is a PhD candidate at the University of Helsinki. Her background is in interdisciplinary environmental science and sustainability science. Heidi’s research focuses biodiversity policy and biodiversity knowledge. In her PhD she approaches knowledge from a comprehensive, pluralistic viewpoint, and aims to identify tensions and synergies between Finnish actors and their ways of knowing and sense-making. She works as a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute Syke in Finnish Ecosystem Observatory FEO and BOOST for biodiversity offsets projects.

Doctoral Researcher, MEng, BSc

John has a BSc in geology, a MEng in environmental technology and is currently completing a PhD in urban ecosystem ecology at the University of Helsinki. His primary research interests are in greenspaces and nutrient cycling in urban areas as well as in the use of passive acoustic monitoring to measure biodiversity. In the HNT group, John works to maintain monitoring equipment and to handle and to facilitate the analysis of data collected by the group's acoustic monitoring network in Finland.

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Sara Zaman received her MSc in Agricultural, Environmental and Resource Economics in 2020 from the University of Helsinki. She is continuing her doctoral research at the university's DENVI programme. Her current research interests lie in the construction of alternative economic imaginaries using socio-ecological justice and sustainability principles, via a pluralist approach. Since 2020, she has been involved in the SMARTer Greener Cities project researching Smart Kalasatama, and is examining how human-nature relationships are mediated by machine intelligent technologies. 

Doctoral Researcher

Satu Aavanranta is a doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Science at the University of Helsinki and a participant in the Sustainable Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot.  

Satu is interested in multispecies justice in decision-making. She works on the MUST Enabling multispecies transitions Project and her doctoral research focuses on geodesign and the representation and agency of multispecies in policymaking.  

Satu’s background is in sustainability and design (MA in Creative Sustainability at Aalto University and MA in Service Design at Laurea UAS), as well as in contemporary dance (BA in London). 

Doctoral Researcher, MSc, MEng

I'm a doctoral researcher at the University of Agriculture and Forestry from the University of Helsinki and participant in the Sustainable Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot.
Through my background in acoustics (master of engineering in vibrations and acoustics), specializing then in ecoacoustics (master of science in bioacoustics), the science of ecology using acoustic data, I'm interrested in using soundscapes to work on specie's ecology.
Today I'm part of the MUST project in order to develop ecoacoustic methods to help urban projects stakeholders to make decisions to improve multispecies transitions. My work will focus on the analysis of soundscapes recorded across Finnish forest areas, and the work of human perception of sounds through soundwalks an indoor psychoacoustic experiments.

Project Manager, MSc student, BSc

Jenna is a master’s student in the Environmental Change and Global Sustainability program at the University of Helsinki and has a BSc in Agricultural Economics from the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. Jenna works as a Project Manager on the Transformative Cities project. Her research interests center on the intersection of digital infrastructures and regional development, with a particular focus on energy transitions and the pursuit of urban sustainability objectives.

MSc student, BA

Kira is a master's student at the University of Helsinki in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability, with an academic background in international studies. They are working with the MUST project researching multispecies justice in nature-based solutions. Their research interests include urban transformation, climate vulnerability, and social equity in the face of climate change. Kira uses they/them pronouns.

MUST Project coordinator, MSc student, BSc

Margarita is a student in the ECGS Master's program of the University of Helsinki (UH) who majors in Urban Studies. Margarita has a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science (UH & exchange at the Fordham University, NYC) as well as a music degree from the Pop&Jazz Conservatory of Helsinki. Margarita's interests lie in nature-based solutions, environmental ethics, indigenous studies and multispecies justice. She is currently working on her thesis for the MUST-project (Enabling Multispecies Transitions), combining her passion for the more-than-human nature and music by doing soundwalk research. She is also working as a project coordinator for the project.

Research Assistant, MSc

Karoliina Koskinen is a technical assistant at the Transformative Cities project. She is an international relations Master’s graduate from Utrecht University and has professional experience in game studies with a special focus on environmental sustainability in game design and game studies. Her broader research interests include green transition, climate security and environmental governance. She aims to better understand how to apply discourse analysis, as well as historical and political perspectives, to gain insight into how current attitudes and political agendas have been formed – and what needs to be addressed in the present to ensure just green transition.