UniPID board holds annual Planning Days at Hyytiälä research station

UniPID Planning Days 2017 were held in connection with the second UniPID board meeting of the year, on 18-19 May in Hyytiälä research station, run by the University of Helsinki.This annual get-together is the most important board activity of the year, which aims to facilitate both the evaluation of UniPID’s past activities, as well as brainstorming and planning of UniPID’s strategic objectives and actions for the future.

UniPID Planning Days 2017 were held in connection with the second UniPID board meeting of the year, on 18-19 May in Hyytiälä research station, run by the University of Helsinki.This annual get-together is the most important board activity of the year, which aims to facilitate both the evaluation of UniPID’s past activities, as well as brainstorming and planning of UniPID’s strategic objectives and actions for the future. 

In 2017, the event attracted in total 17 UniPID board members, coordination unit representatives, and stakeholders. The programme included five working group sessions focusing on the current issues of importance for UniPID, which were discussed and planned through joint discussions and break-out group work facilitated by the UniPID Coordination Unit.

The first day's programme started with a session that aimed to develop the Virtual Studies programme. The goal was to come up with a structure for the programme that would ensure that students who complete the Virtual Studies minor get exposure to central themes and concepts in the field of sustainable development and global challenges. The second working group of the first day was concerned with the sustainability plan of the FinCEAL Plus project.

The last session of the first day turned the board's attention to UniPID's website and its planned overhaul during summer 2017. This session helped to figure out what the major target groups of our website work are, what the priorities are for each target group and what things deserve central stage on the new website. Afterwards, the Coordination Unit engaged the board in a Mölkky competition, which the board won, for the first time in recent memory. It has to be said, though, that the official rules approved by the World Mölkky Association were not respected by the winners.

The second day's first session had the group focusing on strategic work to reformulate and rearrange the items that constitute the UniPID strategy and action plan for the years 2017-2019. Many engaging discussions were had and many fruitful insights presented as a result of this group work activity. 

The last session of the second day, held outside in bright sunshine, focused on the mapping of member university actors relevant to UniPID Virtual Studies. The planning days culminated in a UniPID board meeting, in which the discussions of the past two days were crafted into decisions and were recorded in the annals of UniPID. 

Photos by Johanna Kivimäki.