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Developing competitiveness of the regional bioeconomy companies

This project will:
Find out what is known in research about structure elements of a regional business environment and an attractiveness.
Make questionnaire to all bioeconomy enterprises that operate in North Karelian. Furthermore, results of the questionnaire research will be complemented with interviews to at least 10 growth-oriented bioeconomy enterprises.
Find out current situation in forest bioeconomy business and the most important change forces in North Karelia.
Arrange a seminar about forest bioeconomy’s regional attractiveness elements.
Arrange a bench marking trip to Värmland to explore their Paper Province Alliance.
Arrange a public seminar in order to present results of the survey.
Publish a survey report.

Di Wu ([email protected])

My research interests mainly focus on the influence of extreme weather events on agricultural and forestry productions based on big data and modeling. My current work is the prediction of the fire weather index in Finland and the evaluation of frost risk of Finland boreal forests under a changing climate.

Diana Arbelaez Ruiz ([email protected])

I study the social and political dimensions of resource extraction to inform dialogue, and policy- and decision-making as part of the energy transition. My interests include the dynamics of raw materials for the energy transition, in particular Emobility, conflict and peacebuilding in mining regions, and indigenous rights and activism in natural resource extraction contexts. I have more than 25 years’ combined experience in the areas of development, social responsibility, peace and conflict studies, and sustainability, with a strong emphasis on the extractive sector.

My current focus is the EU funded SUMET project, Urban Sustainability Responsibilities in the Mobility Electrification – Energy Transition Mineral Demand Nexus (MSCA YUFE4 Postdoctoral Fellowship). SUMET supports sustainable and responsible urban mobility electrification by examining its connection to the demand for energy transition minerals.

At UEF, I have examined the geopolitical and socio-environmental aspects of energy transition minerals from a global perspective. My previous posting was as Senior Research Fellow in the Sustainable Minerals Institute’s Development Minerals Program, where I oversaw the establishment of an online knowledge exchange network for ASM miners and quarry workers – the Delve Exchange. My doctoral thesis dealt with Indigenous community participation in post-conflict mineral resource governance in Colombia. As part of this, I was a Visiting Endeavour Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Subsequently, I was a Rotary Peace Fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. I held Research Fellow and Research Manager roles at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining, Sustainable Minerals Institute, University of Queensland, where I worked on a broad suit of topics focusing on Latin American and Australian sites. I have been a consultant to NGOs and mining companies providing specialist knowledge and advisory services in connection to mining and development projects.

 

Diana Schenkwein ([email protected])

Designer gene transfer tools (vectors) are key in treating different inherited or acquired diseases safely with gene therapy. With the help of multilevel-optimized vectors based on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) and CRISPR/Cas, my team pursues to develop an effective and safe gene therapy treatment to familial hypercholesterolemia and severe heart failure, both important diseases in Finland but also leading causes of deaths worldwide. Our research also includes the creation of safe and optimally efficient CAR T cells for cell therapy of cancer, studying the role of nucleoli in health and disease, characterizing genome-wide effects of transgene integration, and assessing the safety of gene transfer. We have shown that the natural tendency of lentivirus vectors (LVs) to integrate in a nearly random manner can be modified so that they are less likely to destroy important cellular genes or cause other unwanted side-effects. The modified vectors can also be harnessed for the delivery of desired proteins into target cells. My research team aims to improve the safety and efficiency of gene therapy treatments include multi-level targeting of LVs to the cells and tissues most relevant to achieve a curative outcome and through minimizing the risks for undesired side effects, including insertional mutagenesis and immunogenicity.

I am part of and a PI in the The GeneCellNano consortium funded by the Academy of Finland’s Flagship Programme.

Dmitry Zimin ([email protected])

I am a human geographer with research interests in economic development and cultural geography. In particular, I focus on economic development and education in the Global South, as well as the idea of “culturalization of natural resources” for the purposes of local development. At present I lead the project “Business and Sustainable Economic Development: African and European Perspectives” (BUSEDA) with partners in six African countries.

Do IQ and personality predict risk-taking behaviour?

This research project investigates how individuals’ cognitive abilities, personality traits and socioeconomic background predict their risk preferences and behaviour in gambling markets. We use a unique data set which combines socioeconomic registry data on the Finnish population, player account data on horse race betting, and the Finnish Defence Forces’ cognitive ability and personality traits test data on conscripts. Our approach allows for drawing conclusions about individual behaviour in an actual market setting with a rich set of controllable attributes. Our findings provide novel insights into decision making under risk and gambling behaviour. The results can be applied in analyses of financial decision making and gambling markets. Research is funded by Academy of Finland.