Urban Mushroom Upcycling Operations pilot

The Urban Mushroom Upcycling Pilot offers students the chance to get involved in urban food production and the circular economy by growing mushrooms together with researchers, companies and fellow students.  

The Urban Mushroom Upcycling pilot is conducted in collaboration with Viikki Food Design Factory and the Wood, Science and Wellbeing research group at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry (MMTDK), Helsieni and CoolHead Brew. The pilot tests a model for optimizing circularity in the case of urban mushroom growing by using side-streams for cultivating mushrooms and mycelia and in developing use cases for leftover materials. 

Project Overview

For whom: Students at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry & Department of Microbiology.  Team players who are also capable of individual work and enthusiastic to learn and take on new challenges. Experience in mushroom cultivation and/or microbiology is a benefit, but not a hard requirement.  

Activities in the pilot:  

• Introduction to circular economy in food systems & introduction to fungi, fungal cultivation, the process of establishing a mushroom cultivation space, and fungal applicability.
• Helping to build a greenhouse cultivation space at CoolHead Brew.   
• Substrate preparation and fungal inoculation.
• Tending the mushrooms at CoolHead Brew.
• Practical work on applications using the leftover materials from mushroom cultivation.
• Exploring and innovating ideas for side streams for mycelia / mushroom growing and use cases for the leftover materials, based on your learnings.  

Study Credits: Earn 5-10 study credits (Course Code: AGRI-295). The number of study credits depends on the amount of time you spend on the project. For the credits you will need to write a plan (together as a group), a learning diary (individual), and a final report (as a group), as well as keep track of your hours.   

Sites: CoolHead Brew and Viikki Campus.  

Duration: From April to August 2026.  

Support: Helsieni and the Wood, Science and Wellbeing (Tuula Jyske’s) research group provide the material, equipment and guidance for mushroom growing, Viikki Food Design Factory offers coordination throughout the pilot, CoolHead Brew offers the production site & and Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry study credits.   
   

• Planning, setting up & Kick-Off Workshop (April 2026): Set up greenhouse for cultivation and start initial maintenance. Write a plan for the project to be approved by the responsible teacher.
• Mushroom cultivation and maintenance: (April-June/July 2026): Weekly tasks include for example substrate preparation, mushroom cultivation, fruiting body harvest and handling the used substrate, as well as communication within your team and with the collaborators, with ongoing support.
• Explore & innovate mycelia based circular economy solutions (July-August 2026): Explore ideas for side streams for mycelia / mushroom growing and use cases for the leftover materials.
• Wrap-up (August 2026): Assess outcomes and learning experiences, submit a final report.   

The hours for the pilot are flexible and can be done alongside e.g. a summer job. This is a unique possibility to enhance your hands-on skills in mushroom growing and circular economy operations!

Application process: Apply to be an Urban Mushroom Upcycler by 12th of March by filling out this  (includes 1-page motivation letter).

Info Session: we are organizing an info session on 4.3. at 16:30-17:00 where we will show the timeline of the project, main tasks, and there will be an opportunity for questions. 

Register for the info session by filling out this  

In case you have any questions, email  and  
 
Looking forward receiving your application! 
 
 Wilhelmina Mäntylä 
Pilot Project coordinator 
  

Tiia Pelkonen 
Project planner 
  

 Viikki Food Design Factory, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.

This pilot is part of the , co-funded by the European Union.