Projects

Changing Leadership

Mika Sillanpää’s research work centers on chemical treatment in environmental engineering and environmental monitoring and analysis. More specifically, he has worked extensively with adsorption, photocatalysis, electrochemical treatment, membrane biological processes and advanced oxidation processes as well as chromatographic methods, electrochemical sensor development and real-time monitoring. Mika Sillanpää received his M.Sc. (Eng.) and D. Sc. (Eng.) degrees from the Aalto University, where he also completed an MBA degree in 2013. He has published more than 700 articles in peer-reviewed international journals, including Chemical Society Reviews, Advanced Materials, Environmental Science & Technology, Water Research, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, Green Chemistry, Journal of Catalysis, Bioresource Technology, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Mass Spectrometry Reviews, Chemical Engineering Journal and Coordination Chemistry Reviews. Having an h-index of 78, his publications have been cited over 30 000 times (Google Scholar). Also, he has been invited as an external examiner and opponent of several adjunct professorships and doctoral degrees and participated in the evaluation of research proposals in over 10 countries. He has supervised 45 PhDs and been a reviewer in over 240 academic journals, many of which are top-ranked in their fields. Mika Sillanpää has received numerous awards for research and innovation. For example, he is the first Laureate of Scientific Committee on the Problems of the Environment (SCOPE)’s Young Investigator Award, which was delivered at the UNESCO Conference in Shanghai 2010 for his “significant contributions, outstanding achievements and research leadership in Environmental Technological Innovations to address present water pollution problems worldwide, especially with regard to wastewater treatment and reuse”. In 2011, he was invited to act as a Principal Scientific Reviewer in the GEO-5 report of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). In 2012, he received Tapani Järvinen Environmental Technology Award and Publication Award of the University. In 2014, he received the Science Award of the Lappeenranta University of Technology and Pro Mikkeli Award. In 2018, he was invited as a Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters and Academy of Technical Sciences. He also received Literature award from the Water Association of Finland in 2018. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he was listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Thomson Reuters.

Happy Mathew Tirivangasi is a political and environmental sociologist whose Afrocentric research lens explores how societies perceive, evaluate, and manage risks in the context of climate change and socio-political change. He holds PhD in Development Studies (JYU), Master of Governance and Development (Uantwerpen, IOB), and Master of Arts in Sociology (University of Limpopo, South Africa). His work spans climate adaptation, health, indigenous knowledge systems, decolonizing climate change, gender, mobility, food security, and resilience always centering African experiences while engaging global policy debates. He also conducts research in political sociology, examining violence, protest, migration, xenophobia, transitional justice, and elections. A prolific scholar, Happy has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals including Climate Policy (Taylor & Francis), Sustainable Development (Wiley), International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management (Emerald), Development Southern Africa (Taylor & Francis), Scientific African (Elsevier), Management of Environmental Quality (Emerald), and the International Journal of Heritage Studies (Taylor & Francis). His book chapters appear with major publishers such as Springer Nature, Palgrave Macmillan, and Rowman & Littlefield. Happy thrives in collaborative, interdisciplinary research environments. He is currently editing multiple book projects with Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, and Routledge, bringing together a large network of scholars from Africa and Europe. These projects collectively include more than 100 contributing researchers. As part of his commitment to academic capacity building, he is mentoring a cohort of early-career African scholars who serve as Associate Editors supporting their growth in research leadership, editorial practice, and scholarly development. Across all his work, Happy is committed to bridging academic evidence with actionable policy insights, advancing sustainable development, governance, and resilience within and beyond the African continent.

Projects

Your next boss is Chinese: clashes of two cultures in working life