University of Helsinki: Vice-deans and directors of research programmes appointed at the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
The dean of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences Jaakko Kangasjärvi has appointed vice-deans and directors of research programmes for the next term from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2025.
“The challenges for the new term of the dean’s office are to organize education and training programs to meet the future challenges of society and the growing number of students – the Ministry of Education and Culture aims to have 50% of the age group with a university degree by 2030 – as well as a higher proportion of international students. Also, one of the core objectives is increasing and improving the link between research and teaching, as well as fostering high-quality research and further improving its conditions. All of this needs to be done with less resources than we are used to in the past, and that means we need to pay more attention to fundraising and interaction with the surrounding society as well. And all this is, of course, done taking into account sustainability and responsibility in all our operations,” says dean Kangasjärvi, who will continue as dean of the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences in the administrative period 2022–2025.
The vice deans are:
Craig Primmer will start as vice-dean for research affairs. He is responsible for the Faculty’s research and further training, as well as for matters related to internationalization and internationalization.
Helena Åström will continue as vice-dean of academic affairs. She is responsible for Faculty’s teaching, degree programs, and bilingualism.
Atte Korhola will continue as vice-dean of social interaction. He is responsible for societal interaction, fundraising, and Faculty’s communications. As a new area, Korhola is also responsible for the Faculty’s sustainability and responsibility issues.
More detailed descriptions of the responsibilities and activities of the vice-deans can be found on the Faculty’s page on management and decision-making.
The following persons will continue as directors of research programmes:
Sirkku Manninen (Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme ECOENV)
Juha Partanen (Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme MIBS)
Kurt Fagerstedt (Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme OEB)
Thee following persons are the new deputy directors of the research programmes:
David Thomas (Ecosystems and Environment Research Programme ECOENV)
Ville Hietakangas (Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme MIBS)
Johanna Mappes (Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme OEB)
The term of the current vice-deans and directors of research programmes ends on December 31, 2021. The positions were open for applications from 13 September to 3 October 2021. The dean consulted the Faculty Council and relevant research programmes before deciding on the appointments.