Research projects 16

Decision Support for the Supply of Ecosystem Services under Global Change (DecisionES) is a Marie Curie Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme (2021-2025). Pressures on forest ecosystems are very likely to increase as a consequence of socioeconomic and demographic trends. A growing population will demand more products (e.g., wood) to be extracted from forest ecosystems. At the same time, these harvesting activities and their interactions with global change drivers will impact the sustainability of the supply of a wider range of non-provisioning services (e.g., wildfire protection, water, and biodiversity). The integrity of ecosystems must be safeguarded when developing harvesting activities, and yet this is further complicated by the occurrence of natural disturbances such as wildfires and droughts, etc. New decision support approaches are needed that can cope with this challenge. European and the American experiences with the development and application of decision support approaches for the provision of ecosystem services (ESs), offer a solid base for continued improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of forest management in the context of global change (e.g., responding to changes in demographics, socioeconomics, and climatic conditions). This provided the rationale for a project that will help to strengthen research collaboration through active networking and staff exchange between 8 European organizations and 10 American organizations that are leaders in these fields. This project will build from the top-level multidisciplinary expertise (wildfire ecology and management, wildfire behaviour simulation, hydrology, process-based modelling, biodiversity, wildlife management, ecology, water services, operations research, management science, stakeholder engagement, forest ecosystem management planning methods, supply chain management methods and decision support systems) in these organizations to address the integration of operational, tactical and strategic forest ecosystem management planning levels and potentiate the supply of ecosystem services at various spatial and temporal scales.

Team

Jordi García-Gozalo

The designation of protected areas and of regions of special conservation interest has gained due relevance across the globe, particularly in the past three decades. Territories covered by protected areas are steadily expanding. Within this framework, numerous international strategies define the importance of Capacity Building and Training as the key challenge of the 21st century. The Training Masters in Ecosystem Services Management in Protected Areas (ECOSERVE) aims at developing an innovative practice-oriented MSc programme according to Bologna criteria in the field of protected areas management, and at meeting sustainable development and labour market needs through networking activities. ECOSERVE will be a qualitatively new MSc programme implemented in higher education institutions of the Russian Federation and Mongolia, strengthening their educational partnership with non-academic partners in the field of protected areas management and responding to demands for professionals of public services, private service providers and tourism businesses. It will contribute to adapt land management strategies to the actual changing natural drivers, such as climate, in alignment with global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The program knowledge base, materials and courses in Russian, Mongolian and English, will be continuously updated and disseminated through a network of resources centres of protected areas in Partner country HEIs, promoting inter-regional cooperation in environmental protection, nature and biodiversity conservation issues, and management.

Team

Cristina Vega

The CRECE project, coordinated by the Finland Futures Research Centre, supports Cuba in the provision of regionally relevant multidisciplinary education in sustainable energy engineering and renewable energy development. This is done in order to ensure that Cuban higher education institutions (HEIs) are better equipped and able to provide high-quality experts for the ever-growing societal and energy sector development needs. The Cuban energy sector is undergoing a state-led transformation. So far, this “Energy Revolution” has improved energy efficiency but harnessing renewable energy (RE) resources is still lagging far behind. In order to attract investors, meet the government's RE targets, and reduce CO2 emissions and environmental pollution from fossil fuels, Cuba needs national expertise and experts in RE development. CRECE answers this call by training skilled experts and enabling cross-sectoral and regional cooperation possibilities. Cuban partners will be better equipped to conduct international-level energy related research and provide sustainable energy experts to the growing labour market needs.

Team

Noora Vähäkari, Mika Korkeakoski, Osku Haapasaari, Jyrki Luukkanen

LEAP-Agri is a joint Europe Africa Research and Innovation (R&I) initiative related to Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA). 30 partners, including 24 Ministries and Funding Agencies (Group of Funders) from 18 European and African countries decide to join their forces and funding to build an ERA-Net Cofund project with a financial support of the European Commission. The project has two pillars, (i) funding R&I projects on FNSSA, and (ii) Feeding the long-term EU- AU partnership on FNSSA.

Team

Melissa Plath

The overall objective of the SuFoRUn project is to develop new models, methods and decision systems that may effectively integrate currently fragmented multidisciplinary knowledge to support forest management and policy development in a context of global change. The European and the American experiences with the development/application of models and tools to support forest management and develop innovative forest policies provide a solid base for continuous improvement of its efficiency and effectiveness in a context of global change (e.g. changes in forest policies, changes in forest owner structures, changes in climatic conditions).

Team

Heli Peltola, Timo Pukkala, Dr Jordi Garcia-Gonzalo ( Centre Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya CTFC).

The EUCAM project assesses European security and development policies towards Central Asia and improves the contribution of European programmes to development and welfare in the region. EUCAM aims to: - Scrutinise European policies towards Central Asia - Enhance knowledge of Europe's engagement with Central Asia - Expand the network of experts and institutions from European countries and Central Asian states - Provide a forum to debate on European-Central Asian relations

Team

Fryer Paul, Virkkunen Joni, Elmira Satybaldieva

  • Head of research Simon J Puglisi
  • Language n/a

The overall goal of BIRDS is to establish a long term international network involving leading researchers in bioinformatics and information retrieval from four different continents, to strengthen the partnership through the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and to develop integrated approaches to improve current approaches in both fields. It will be implemented through staff exchanges, in addition to summer schools, workshops and conferences to facilitate knowledge sharing between members of the partnership. Research results will be disseminated to the market through a cooperation with an innovative SME software development company based in Europe.

Team

Simon J Puglisi, Susana Ladra, Luis M.S. Russo, Gillermo de Bernardo, Gonzalo Navarro, Diego Seco, Hideo Bannai, Andrew Turpin

  • Head of research N/A
  • Language n/a

YAKSHA supports current EU-ASEAN cooperation dialogue, which include security and defence, with emphasis on non-traditional areas, such as cybersecurity. YAKSHA develop software to prevent cybercrime in the ASEAN region, leveraging EU-ASEAN knowledge and most recent technology advances to reach this goal. YAKSHA will implement true collaboration in the field, co-creating technologies that are able to respond to real user requirements and needs. Through a series of events, YAKSHA will promote knowledge sharing as well as will develop a business ecosystem of partners to commercialize the solution after end of the project.

Team

Maria Lima Toivanen, Nina Rilla, Jouko Myllyoja, Jarno Salonen, Jani Suomalainen, Jukka Hemilä

This project funds exchanges between the partner institutions (from Europe to outside Europe, or from outside Europe to Europe, or cross-sectoral) to build collaboration on bioinformatics and information retrieval data structures. We also run summer schools.

Team

Susana Ladra, Simon Puglisi, Gonzalo Navarro, Diego Seco, Hideo Bannai, Andrew Turpin, Giullermo de Bernardo, Luis Russo

The overall aim of the INDOPED project is to raise the teaching capacity of Indonesian University teachers that they will be enabled to bring the Higher Education to the European standard. The benefit of the INDOPED project for the Indonesian partners is to bring added value to their educational system, to introduce Indonesian lecturers to interdisciplinary pedagogical approaches that innovation becomes an integrated term in all of their doings. It will allow to prepare their students for the challenges on the labour market and to increase interfaculty and interuniversity cooperation possibilities that are not widely used in Indonesia.

Team

Jussi Riihiranta Meiju Keinänen Sakari Koivunen Vesa Taatila