Research projects 9

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

The project seeks to increase Mozambican research capacity on forestry, sustainable natural resource and land-use planning considering different aspects of impacts (ecological, social and economic). In addition to joint teaching activities, it includes collaborative research on environmental and socio-economic aspects of forestry and natural resources management. The fieldwork activities take place in Manica and Zambézia Provinces.

Team

Almeida Sitoe, Valério Macandza, Ana Monteiro, Luis Cristovão, Elisa Vallius, Anssi Lensu, Irmeli Mustalahti

Building on the successes and outcomes of the previous FinCEAL and FinCEAL Plus projects, the FinCEAL Plus Continuation project aimed to provide strategic support to enhance the cooperation between research and science policy communities in Finland, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The specific objectives of the project were to: 1. Strengthen Finnish participation in the EU STI policy dialogues with the target regions; 2. Support Finnish participation in joint research projects with partners from the target regions; 3. Enable Finnish expertise and know-how to be better known in the target regions; and 4. Gather and disseminate information on Finnish cooperation towards the regions within Finland as well as new cooperation possibilities with the target regions.

Team

Eva Kagiri, Kajsa Ekroos, Jarkko Mutanen, Melissa Plath

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 Strengthening Problem-Based Education in East African Universities project (PBL East Africa) is a joint initiative of Nairobi University (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda), Dar es Salaam University (Tanzania), and Aalto University (Finland). PBL East Africa aims to establish best practices in problem-based learning (PBL) for innovation, engaging several disciplines, empowering students and developing an approach to critically address societal challenges in facilitated real-world situations.

Team

Riina Subra, Amelia Buriyo, Venny Nakazibwe, Tonny K. Omwansa

  • Head of research Elsa Keskitalo
  • Language n/a

BUSCO project supports building sustainable and resilient communities through co-creation between universities and businesses in Tanzania and Finland. The goal is to improve the capacity of 2 Tanzanian universities (University of Iringa (UoI) and Sebastian Kolowa Memorial University (SEKOMU), located in the Southern Highlands and Tanga region) to promote sustainable community development, entrepreneurship and communities� resilience in their environment. In the long run, we aim to make a contribution to an enhanced standard of living, improved actualization of human rights and to improve the employment opportunities in the communities.

Team

Dr Elsa Keskitalo, Mr. Heriel H. Mfangavo, Dr. Wilson N. William, Dr. Evariste Habiyakare

The overall aim of the project is to strengthen the forest-related higher education system in Laos to improve domestic capacity to sustainably manage forests for the benefit of the people and the environment, while at the same time enabling Laos to effectively respond to the demands and opportunities of international processes such as the Agenda 2030 (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Team

Prof. Markku Kanninen; Nicholas Hogarth, Adrian Monge, Dipjoy Chakma

The collaboration between UEF and KNAU aims to provide an enabling environment for teaching fisheries and aquaculture, at both vocational and bachelor level, by training of trainers, developing teaching and study material and developing the teaching infrastructure at KNAU. The main activities of FishEDU are: 1) training of trainers on fisheries and aquaculture subjects and pedagogics 2) piloting of courses in two newly developed curricula and development of course material 3) establishment of an aquaculture demonstration fish farm and training centre and an e-library.

Team

Professor Raine Kortet, Professor Sari Havu-Nuutinen, University Lecturer Liisa Nurminen, Project Researcher Sofiia Nishaeva, Project Researcher Oksana Skaldina

The project is yet to begin (April 2017) The project, INDO-NORDEN, is drafted in response to the Science and Technology call of the INNO INDIGO partnership programme (IPP) on Biobased Energy. The proposed project aims to address both subtopics of the call, Biofuels and From waste to energy with research partners from India, Finland and Estonia. The EU and India share common objectives in enhancing energy security, promoting energy efficiency and energy safety, and the pursuit of sustainable development of clean and renewable energy source. The main objective of INDO-NORDEN is to investigate, evaluate and develop efficient processes and land use practices of transforming forest and agricultural biomass, agricultural residues and farm waste into clean fuels (solid, liquid or gas), by thermochemical or biochemical conversions.

Team

Dr. N.J. Shurpali UEF Kuopio Finland, Dr. Binod Parameswaran National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Trivandrum India, Dr. Merlin Raud Estonian University of Life Sciences Tarttu Estonia.