Biodiversity-Respectful Leadership Summer School

Biodiversity-Respectful Leadership Summer School

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Together with University of Turku, ABIS is thrilled to organize a summer webinar series designed for business practitioners keen to explore biodiversity-related risks and opportunities.

How can your business become biodiversity-respectful?

The Summer School bring together leading academic experts to share insights on how businesses can integrate biodiversity into their sustainability strategies and be a part of the solution. The webinars include both key information on the connection between biodiversity and business, and actionable findings on leading a biodiversity-respectful transformation in business.

The webinars run from August 27th until September 12th, every Tuesday and Thursday for 1,5 hours at 16.00 CEST. They will be webcasted from Finland to a global audience. 

Join the Summer School to become a front runner in biodiversity-respectful business!

Programme

  • 27.08 - What is biodiversity and why addressing it calls for leadership?
    Professor Ilari Sääksjärvi - Head of the Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku
    Professor Satu Teerikangas - Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

  • 29.08 - Biodiversity-respectful business
    Associate Professor Tiina Onkila - University of Jyväskylä
    Senior Researcher Milla Unkila - Turku School of Economics, University of Turku
    Senior Researcher Marja Turunen -  Turku School of Economics, University of Turku
  • 03.09 - Biodiversity-respectful food system
    Professor Anu Hopia - Nutrition and Food Research Centre (NuFo), Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

    Senior Researcher Saska Tuomasjukka - Nutrition and Food Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku Postdoctoral Researcher Irene Kuhmonen - Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

  • 05.09 - Measuring biodiversity impacts
    Associate professor Ville Uusitalo -  Sustainability science, LUT University

    Postdoctoral Researcher Natasha Järviö - Sustainability Science LUT School of Energy Systems

  • 10.09 - Biodiversity and global supply chains
    Assistant professor Anne Quarshie - Turku School of Economics, University of Turku
    Inka Musta - CEO & Partner, Luontoa Ltd

  • 12.09 - Biodiversity-respectful consumption
    Adjunct professor Juulia Räikkönen, Biodiversity unit, University of Turku
    Professor Outi Uusitalo, Professor of Marketing at the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Certification

All participants attending at least 5 sessions out of 6 will receive a prestigious certificate awarded by University of Turku and ABIS - The Academy of Business in Society. 

Speakers

Professor Ilari Sääksjärvi

Head of the Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku

Ilari Sääksjärvi

Professor Ilari Sääksjärvi

Head of the Biodiversity Unit, University of Turku
Ilari Sääksjärvi
Professor Satu Teerikangas

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Satu Teerikangas

Professor Satu Teerikangas

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Dr Sc (Eng) Satu Teerikangas is Professor of Management and Organization at Turku School of Economics as well as Honorary Professor at University College London. Satu bears a cosmopolitan background cutting across three continents. Before an academic career, Satu worked with Shell in the Netherlands and the UK in management consulting and HR roles. After defending her PhD at Aalto University in 2006, Satu was Assistant Professor, before she was tenured to Associate Professor in Management at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London.

In 2021-2026, she is co-leading the Strategic Research Council funded research project BIODIFUL - Biodiversity respectful leadership, while also involved as one of the co-PIs in the Finnish Academy's Profilation 6 (2021-2026)-funded BIODIFORM consortium connecting Biodiversity & business in an interdisciplinary setting across University of Turku. In parallel, Satu is responsible for the work package on Ecosystems & Agency in the Finnish Academy's Strategic Research Council funded project CICAT2025 - Accelerating transitions toward circular economy 2019-2023. Previously, she has been responsible for the Work Environment Fund funded research project TYÖ2 studying colleagueship 2018-2019, the Turku City's Strategic Urban Development Program funded research project on Urban Strategic Planning 2018-2019.

Satu Teerikangas
Associate Professor Tiina Onkila

University of Jyväskylä

Tiina Onkila

Associate Professor Tiina Onkila

University of Jyväskylä

Tiina Onkila works as an associate professor of Corporate Environmental Management in the School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä. She is the head of CEM-research group. Her research interests focus on sustainable and responsible business, especially stakeholder relations, circular economy, change agency for sustainability, sensemaking and employee roles in CSR. In BIODIFUL-project, she leads workpackage 4, with a focus on biodiversity and business.

 

Tiina Onkila
Senior Researcher Milla Unkila

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Milla Unkila

Senior Researcher Milla Unkila

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku
Milla Unkila
Senior Researcher Marja Turunen

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Marja Turunen

Senior Researcher Marja Turunen

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku
Marja Turunen
Professor Anu Hopia

Nutrition and Food Research Centre (NuFo), Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

Anu Hopia

Professor Anu Hopia

Nutrition and Food Research Centre (NuFo), Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

Professor Anu Hopia, Functional Foods Forum (FFF), Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku (UTU), Turku, Finland. anu.hopia@utu.fi +358503789919

Prof. Hopia works as research professor of food development in University of Turku and holds also adjunct proferssorship (docent) in food science at University of Helsinki.  AH is a team leader of a 9-member research group Taste and Health  (located in South Ostrobothnia as part of Soth Ostrobothnian University network). She is PI of several on-going projects funded by Academy of Finland, Tekes – the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, EU etc. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at University of California Davis (USA).  AH has published 70+ academic papers on food science and several books and articles on popular science.  

Anu Hopia
Senior Researcher Saska Tuomasjukka

Nutrition and Food Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

Saska Tuomasjukka

Senior Researcher Saska Tuomasjukka

Nutrition and Food Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku

Saska Tuomasjukka, an entrepreneur and senior researcher at the University of Turku, initially developed a passion for food chemistry and the intricate structures of aroma molecules. However, he later shifted his focus to nutrition and sustainability. His current scientific work involves identifying simple, value-free food modifications to promote more environmentally friendly consumption. These include hybrid recipes with reduced meat content and shifts from high to low foodprint meat type.

Saska Tuomasjukka
Postdoctoral Researcher Irene Kuhmonen

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Irene Kuhmonen

Postdoctoral Researcher Irene Kuhmonen

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Irene Kuhmonen is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä, School of Business and Economics. Her research is focused on understanding how companies in primary production sectors and rural areas navigate the processes of sustainability transitions, especially in the food system context. She combines tools and frameworks from system sciences, futures research, transition research and rural sociology with research on sustainability of businesses.

Irene Kuhmonen
Associate professor Ville Uusitalo

Sustainability science, LUT University

Ville_Uusitalo

Associate professor Ville Uusitalo

Sustainability science, LUT University

Ville Uusitalo is a professor in the Sustainability Change research group at the LUT University. His research focuses on assessing environmental impacts with life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Currently he is especially interested in developing quantified methods for assessing biodiversity impacts for products and systems. He has published 54 scientific journal publications.   

Ville_Uusitalo
Postdoctoral Researcher Natasha Järviö

Sustainability Science LUT School of Energy Systems Lahti

Natasha Järviö

Postdoctoral Researcher Natasha Järviö

Sustainability Science LUT School of Energy Systems Lahti
Natasha Järviö
Assistant professor Anne Quarshie

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Anne Quarshie

Assistant professor Anne Quarshie

Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

Anne Quarshie works as an Assistant Professor (Biodiversity and Business) at Turku School of Economics, Department of Management and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Quarshie was a Postdoctoral Researcher at LUT School of Business and Management (2017-2022), a Doctoral Researcher at Aalto University School of Business (2010-2017), and a Visiting Researcher at Rutgers Business School (2013-2015) in New Jersey, USA. Prior to becoming a researcher, Quarshie worked for several years at Fairtrade Finland, where she managed relationships with Finnish retailers and food manufacturers.

Anne Quarshie
Inka Musta

Chief Executive Officer & Partner, Luontoa Ltd.

Inka_Musta

Inka Musta

Chief Executive Officer & Partner, Luontoa Ltd.

Inka Musta, CEO & Partner at Luontoa Ltd, has extensive experience in strategic leadership within environmental and sustainability work, as well as in managing stakeholder relations and sustainability risks. She is well-versed in emerging regulatory requirements (including CSRD, CSDDD) and frameworks supporting companies biodiversity work (such as TNFD, SBTN), and has led projects related to these areas for clients of various types and sizes. Inka's expertise lies particularly in the intersection of business impacts on society and nature, with a focus on indigenous peoples' rights and the green transition. She is a forest ecologist by education.

 

Inka_Musta
Adjunct professor Juulia Räikkönen

Biodiversity unit, University of Turku

Juulia Räikkönen

Adjunct professor Juulia Räikkönen

Biodiversity unit, University of Turku
Juulia Räikkönen
Professor Outi Uusitalo

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Professor Outi Uusitalo

Professor Outi Uusitalo

Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics

Outi Uusitalo is a Professor of Marketing at the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, Finland. Her research interests include consumer behaviour, sustainable marketing and consumption, services marketing and management, places and spaces of consumption, and consumers' well-being. She published in Journal of Consumer Culture, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, International Journal of Consumer Studies, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, among others. She is leading the Sustainable Business research group and serves as the head of Marketing discipline.

Professor Outi Uusitalo

Interested? Having questions?