KAISA K. VAINIO

Early Stage Researcher

PhD. student in the Department of Forest Sciences

MA in Cultural Anthropology

I'm doing my PhD study in the Trees near us-project, which studies the relations between humans and trees. I examine the personal affection humans have for individual trees and cultural relationship with trees. In my study I cover tree-relationships from several angles, such as nature-connectivity, ownership, memories, sensoral experiences, care, connections to previous generations, spirituality and Finnish forest-relationship.

Research interests:
- Cultural studies of environment
- Sosiocultural bioeconomy research
- Arctic Studies
- Cross-Border cooperation and cultural exchange (Finland-Russia)

Contact info

Organization

Faculty of Science and Forestry, School of Forest Sciences

Email

kaisa.vainio@uef.fi

Phone

+358 50 478 0465

Keywords

bioeconomy cultural anthropology environmental humanities forest culture forest relations non-human relationships post-humanism russian culture transdisiplinary studies

Societal Activities

Coordinator of the human-forest relationships – research network (2021-2022).

Coordinator of the SOBIO network at UEF on social scientific bioeconomy focused research (2020-2021).

Research groups and research projects

Trees Near Us, a study on the relations between humans and trees, which is a transdisciplinary research that combines approaches of science, humanities and arts. Project is run in Finland and Holland in 209-2023. The project is Funded by Kone Foundation from the thematic grant call: Our vital neighbours.