People

Professor, group leader

Sirkku is a professor of urban environmental policy at the Ecosystems and Environment Research Program at the University of Helsinki and the leader of our multidisciplinary research group Urban Environmental Policy. She is also a guest professor at the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research, Linköping University in Sweden. Her area of expertise is environmental and adaptation policy, in cities in particular. She is interested in bringing different fields together to understand challenges associated with sustainability in cities. She is interested in theoretical and conceptual development, linked to methodological development.

She has led research projects in both developed and developing countries and she has been a deputy chief scientist of the Nordic Centre of Excellence on Adaptation Research (NORD-STAR) and spent four years (2 as vice-chair) in the Finnish Climate Change Panel, a scientific organisation to advice the Finnish Government on climate policy. She is also a member of Future Earth Finland core group.

University researcher

Janina joined the UEP group in 2017. Her research is focused on climate change adaptation related topics. She is currently working on urban climate health risks, adaptation policy development (national sectoral and local level), sustainable agri-food systems and inter- and transdisciplinary research methods. Her broader research interests cover the complex decision-making processes in changing socio-ecological systems and the development of novel methodological approaches, such as serious gaming, as well as dialogue in the science-policy-practice interface. 

Janina holds a MSc degree and a PhD (passed with distinction, 2020) in Environmental change and policy from the University of Helsinki. In her doctoral thesis she studied the societal and environmental change process and outcomes involved with adaptation in the Nordic agriculture. 

Doctoral candidate

Julia Tuomimaa joined the UEP group 2022. Her research focuses on urban heat island phenomenon adaptation and she is currently working on an analysis of urban heat island adaptation indicators and policy instrument effectiveness. 

Julia holds an MSc in Environmental change and global sustainability from University of Helsinki. Her interests include risk assessment, urban heat island management, climate change adaptation indicators, and climate risk and vulnerability.

Doctoral Candidate

Pontus joined the UEP group in April 2022. He is based in Uppsala, Sweden, sharing his time as a doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki with part-time work at the Baltic University Programme’s Coordinating Secretariat at Uppsala University. His PhD project looks into how local food security is impacted by the food production on a local and regional level in the Baltic Sea Region.

Pontus Ambros has his background in Biology and Sustainability Science, holding a MSc in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science from Lund University, Sweden and a BSc in Environmental Biology from Åbo Akademi University, Finland. He also works as a project administrator at the Baltic University Programme, Uppsala University.

Doctoral Candidate

Päivi joined the UEP group in 2023. Her research interests include climate risk management, modes of adaptation governance and just transition in adaptation. In her PhD project, she will be looking into ways to enhance regional adaptive capacity with a special focus on cross-border impacts and business sector in Helsinki-Uusimaa region. The project is funded by the EU Regional Development Fund and carried out in cooperation with Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council.

Päivi holds a M.Soc.Sc in International Relations from the University of Tampere and MSc in Carbon Management from the University of Edinburgh. She has previously worked as a researcher in the Climate Change programme in the Finnish Environment Institute, as a Policy Officer in Finnish Association for Nature Conservation and completed internships in the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn, Germany and in the Unit of International Environmental Policy in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Doctoral Candidate

Scott joined the UEP group as a doctoral researcher in 2023. His research focuses on the digitalization of climate change risk assessments and adaptation measures. He is currently working with partners in the Regions4Climate project to build an urban digital twin of the City of Helsinki and Uusimaa region that considers climate hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and response.    

Scott holds a MSc from the University of Helsinki in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability. His research interests include climate change adaptation, climate justice, sustainability transitions, participatory processes, and visualizations for decision-making.   

Doctoral Candidate

Maria joined UEP as a doctoral student in the beginning of 2024. Maria's research focuses on developing techniques for defining, collecting and validating the limits to adaptation in the context of extreme floods and droughts and studying the public-policy drivers and responses that influence the spatiotemporal distribution of limits. The work is partly supported by the Regions4Climate project. 

Maria has a background in water management and she holds a MSc (Tech) in Water and Environmental Engineering from Aalto University. In parallel with her doctoral studies, Maria also works as a Research Scientist at VTT. Her other research interests include stormwater management, the role of nature-based solutions and green-grey infrastructure integration in climate adaptation, policy and governance.”

Doctoral Candidate

Lotte joined the UEP group in August 2024, after finishing her MSc in Science for Sustainable Development at Linköping University. During her PhD, she will look at how digital tools can support the planning, monitoring and evaluation of climate adaptation measures at a city level. One example of a digital tool that she will focus on are urban digital twins. This research is part of the research project 'Virtual Worlds: digital technologies in climate and biodiversity governance', funded by Formas.

Lotte's research interests include climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, urban digital twins and their social and environmental dimensions, and local governance.

Doctoral Candidate

TzuHsiang joined the UEP group in September 2024 as a doctoral researcher. His PhD project focuses on examining the assumptions in using AI/DT for the application of nature-based solutions in flooding/water management and governance. The doctoral project is part of the European C-NEWTRAL Doctoral Network, funded by Horizon Europe Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. 

TzuHsiang holds MSc in Spatial Engineering from the Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation at the University of Twente. His research interests include flood risk management and governance, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, flood resilience, spatial planning, and climate adaptation measures.

Doctoral Candidate

Ara Joined the UEP group in September 2024 as a doctoral candidate of the C-Newtral Doctoral Network funded by the prestigious Horizon Europe Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. Her research focuses on the interconnectedness between citizen Science tools and Nature-based Solutions implementation. She will build a framework for sustainable urban nature regeneration.  

Ara is an Urban Planner and holds a master’s degree in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. Ara has an extensive five years of experience working with the marginalized communities in Bangladesh. Prior to joining the doctoral network, she worked as a Research Assistant for the University of Twente Climate Centre.  

Project Planner

Saila joined the University of Helsinki as a Project Planner in April 2024. She divides her time between the Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme and the Urban Environmental Policy research group. Her role includes a variety of tasks facilitating the research programme development process and coordinating UEP activities.

Saila holds a M.Soc.Sc in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability (ECGS) from the University of Helsinki and MSc in administrative sciences from the University of Tampere. For the last 10 years, she has worked in diverse monitoring and evaluation roles in international development cooperation. She is also a doctoral candidate in UEP, where her research relates to monitoring and evaluation approaches for local climate change adaptation, and adaptation indicators and metrics.  

Joint Doctoral Candidate

Yu Yan joined the UEP group in November 2024 as a joint PhD for one year. He employs remote sensing data, statistical analysis, machine learning, and physical models to investigate the dynamics between urban vegetation and thermal environments, as well as the resulting inequalities. He also evaluates the effectiveness of nature-based solutions in mitigating urban heat challenges.

Yu holds an MSc in Civil and Hydraulic Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Hydrology. His research interests include eco-hydrological processes, critical slowing down of ecosystem, urban environmental dynamics under climate change, and adaptation solutions.