Towards an inclusive and equitable global academic landscape

The Finnish University Partnership for International Development, UniPID, reached its 20th anniversary and this is a cause for celebration!

Date: 2 December, 2022
Location: Minerva-tori K226, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A, Helsinki, Finland (Online participation will be available for the seminar).
Time: 13:00 - 19:00 (EET, Helsinki time)
Registration: Participation is free of charge but requires registration. Registration closed!

Since its establishment, UniPID has highlighted the value and role of global academic partnerships in finding solutions for grand challenges and supporting sustainable development pathways. Throughout the years, UniPID has served as an avenue for bringing global responsibility and Global South perspectives into Finnish higher education institutions’ education, research, and societal impact activities. By promoting collaboration between the global science community as well as between researchers and policy makers, UniPID has fostered the co-creation of glocally relevant knowledge as well as research-informed decision making in higher education policy, science policy and development policy.

The anniversary event will celebrate global academic partnerships as an impactful tool for finding solutions for global challenges. It will also offer an opportunity for students, researchers and other university staff, as well as policymakers and practitioners to reflect on UniPID’s legacy and role in building pathways for sustainable development. The event is divided in three sessions: seminar, performance, and cocktail event.To mark this anniversary, UniPID will host an afternoon event, composed of a seminar and a cocktail. The seminar will kick of with an introductory session My way or our way? Reflections on stepping through the academic career paths in Finland, with invited reflections of two PhD researchers on their current and future career paths in the Finnish academia. After that there will be a panel From globally relevant research to science diplomacy - In search of a Finnish approach to strengthening global academic partnerships for a sustainable future, where the discussion will focus on how to better recognize and utilize synergies between the national higher education and research policy, and development policy. The panel will also explore how Finnish actors could contribute to a more equitable global landscape for academic collaboration, also through globally inclusive science diplomacy. The seminar will be followed by a theater performance Sivullinen - Stranger, created by Teatteri Metamorfoosi in collaboration with New Theatre Helsinki. The anniversary event will close with a cocktail to celebrate with UniPID friends and colleagues. Check the concept note of the event here!

Programme:
13:00 Welcoming words & opening words
13:30 Introduction My way or our way? Reflections on stepping through the academic career paths in Finland
14:00 Panel From globally relevant research to science diplomacy - In search of a Finnish approach to strengthening global academic partnerships for a sustainable future
15:30 Coffee break
16:00 Theatre performance Sivullinen - Stranger, Teatteri Metamorfoosi in collaboration with New Theatre Helsinki
17:00 Cocktail

For questions regarding the Anniversary celebration, please contact Kelly Brito, kelly.brito(at)helsinki.fi.

Session descriptions

Introduction: My way or our way? Reflections on stepping through the academic career path in Finland

Coming from such different parts of the world, why build an academic career in Finland? Why stay? This introductory session will present reflections of two PhD researchers on their current and future career paths in the Finnish academia, the opportunities, the challenges, their partnerships with their country or region of origin, and their respective support needs. What could be the ideal inclusive and equitable landscape for the internationalization of the Finnish academic community?

Speakers

Panel discussion: From globally relevant research to science diplomacy – In the search for a Finnish approach to strengthening global academic partnership for a sustainable future

Today more than ever, Finnish higher education institutions (HEIs) recognize their role and importance in providing the knowledge and education needed for reimagining and building sustainable development pathways globally. National initiatives for advancing Finland’s academic collaboration with the Global South have increased, connected with the aim of strengthening Finland’s global role through science diplomacy. These efforts have been supported by increased collaboration across the different national policy sectors, namely between higher education and research policy, and development policy.

However, in Finland, the academic community’s engagement with partners from the Global South is still lagging behind when compared to our peer countries. The national funding landscape in support of these partnerships is scattered and thus the programme level impact is low; existing funding instruments are small, separated from each other and mostly tied to one specific sectoral policy area. The Finnish academic community also inevitably still works in the global framework for research and academic collaboration, designed by the Global North, which is still far from offering equitable standpoints for the academic communities in the Global South. Finally, in the European level, coordinated actions around science diplomacy are taking centre stage, while in Finland there is still lack of recognition and national coordination of science diplomacy actions and actors, preventing an impactful national approach.

How can we better recognize and utilize synergies between the national higher education and research policy, and development policy, in order to strengthen the Finnish contribution to the co-creation of glocally relevant and impactful knowledge? How to further break the sectoral policy silos and concretize the national funding collaboration and the complementarity between the different instruments? How could Finnish actors contribute to the transformation of the global landscape for academic collaboration to enable equitable participation by the Global South? How can Finland support globally inclusive science diplomacy? These questions, and many more, will be reflected by our distinguished expert panel, representing both the national level policy makers and actors, and the Finnish science community

Panelists:

Session moderator:

Theatre performance: The Stranger - based on the book by A. Camus

The color of our skin, the color of our passport, the color of our gender does not prevent us from becoming stranger.

The sense of belonging to a community is a social construction, which can be easily broken down. In order to prevent the crumbling of this social construction, myths are deployed. But these myths are masks which can also alienate not only the foreigners but also the one wearing the mask.

This immersive performance, mixture of theatre and concert, was created by Teatteri Metamorfoosi in collaboration with New Theatre Helsinki. It aims at checking our conceptions of how identities are built and how we perceive the otherness. During the seminar, a shorter adaption of the show will be performed for you.

Cast:
Director: Davide Giovanzana
On stage: Yasmin Ahsanullah, Maija Ruuskanen, Anastasia Trizna
Light: Anssi Ruotanen

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Photo credits: Designecologist, 2019 on Unsplash