During the years 2021–23, Tellervo Ala-Lahti served as a researcher in the interdisciplinary CEIWA project (Circular Economy of Waters in Industrial Processes). Currently, Ala-Lahti works on her doctoral dissertation to the University of Helsinki, examining the interplay between European Union environmental legislation and innovation policy. The study focuses particularly on disruptive and eco-friendly technologies, legal innovations, the precautionary principle, and its interrelation with (techno)science in the EU’s most polluting industrial sectors. Delving into regulatory frameworks at the national level, Ala-Lahti examines Finland’s regulatory solutions and judicial practices.

tellervo.ala-lahti@bios.fi

Jussi Ahokas is an economist and political economy researcher. He started working at BIOS in 2022 after being the chief economist of SOSTE Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health for seven years. Ahokas (MSc, economics) is doing a PhD in the University of Eastern Finland. Previously (2009-2014), he has worked as a researcher in the Government Institute for Economic research. His research subjects include the structural change of the economy of Finland and Finnish economic policy.

Jussi T. Eronen concentrates on the study of ecosystems and the climate. He has studied the past, the present and the future conditions of land ecosystems and climate evolution. Eronen keeps the research unit updated on the latest research in the natural sciences. Starting in June 2018, he works as an Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS), University of Helsinki, and participates in the research unit’s activities on a case-by-case basis.

jussi.t.eronen@bios.fi

In her PhD dissertation, Emma Hakala examined the concept of environmental security and the role of international organizations in its promotion in the case of post-conflict Western Balkans. Her research utilizes the securitization framework to consider how environment and climate change have entered into the security discourse and what kinds of consequences this has had. Hakala has previously worked in the field of environmental cooperation for example at the UN. She is a Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

emma.hakala@bios.fi

In his doctoral thesis Paavo Järvensivu studied organisational culture and corporate strategy; afterwards, he has broadened the scope to the relationships between the economy, environment and culture. He has developed collaborative forms between art and science in the Mustarinda Association, and has also written a book which merges political economy, ecology and cultural research, called Rajattomasti rahaa niukkuudessa (Like) [Abundant Money in Scarcity]. In the research unit he has studied the political economy of “ecological reconstruction” or sustainability transformation, with a recent focus on active industrial policy and science-driven planning.

paavo.jarvensivu@bios.fi

Karoliina Lummaa specialises in ecological studies from a humanities point of view; she has developed methods of multidisciplinary environmental studies in her co-edited books Monitieteinen ympäristötutkimus (Gaudeamus) [Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies] and Posthumanismi (Eetos) [Posthumanism]. With the help of these methods the research unit studies how media, art and popular culture represent and shape our understandings of nature.

karoliina.lummaa@bios.fi

Ville Lähde is a researcher in environmental philosophy and politics, and has co-written several books for those fields. He has worked as an editor of the niin & näin magazine since the beginning of the new millennium (chief editor 2011–2012). In his books, Niukkuuden maailmassa (niin & näin) [In a world of scarcity] and Paljon liikkuvia osia (Savukeidas) [Many moving parts] he has created intellectual tools for observation of complex phenomena connected to environment and politics. In the research unit he has popularised and synthesised research on natural and social sciences.

ville.lahde@bios.fi

In his work, Antti Majava has brought together experts and viewpoints stemming from science, arts, and other fields. He is the founding member of the Mustarinda Association, and through it has created a platform for experimentation in artistic and everyday practices which take into account the material underpinnings of society. In his doctoral thesis, which employs socio-ecological methods, he studies the effects of nature, society and science on the development of artistic phenomena, and correspondingly, the role of art in socio-ecological and scientific breakthroughs. In the research unit his role has been to look at forests and bioeconomy, and to develop ways of collaboration with representatives of the media and art worlds. His texts have been published both in scientific and popular journals; alongside writing, he continues his visual artistic work.

antti.majava@bios.fi

Tero Toivanen has studied political economy and economic history; he has also developed social scientific methods for analysing and describing materialities. In addition to research, he has been working in the field of education for a considerable time, for instance as a didactitian of history and an expert in education. In the research unit he has connected current environmental phenomena to historical developments in economics and politics.

tero.toivanen@bios.fi

As a philosopher, Tere Vadén has looked at the material and intellectual underpinnings of politics and culture, in particular the experiential dimensions of energy. In addition, he has immersed himself in the potential developmental paths of the digital world.

tere.vaden@bios.fi