Public science for sustainable living environments

  • Duration: 2021 - 2026
  • Status: Ongoing

The project investigates everyday living environments, such as food environments where people make choices about eating, and local waters, which are significant for human well-being. The aim is to develop communal ways to produce knowledge about these environments to enhance citizens' participation in solving everyday environmental problems.

Project management
Taru Peltola (Syke, University of Eastern Finland)
Project team
Elise Järvenpää, Minna Kaljonen, Virpi Lehtoranta, Katja Lepistö, Matti Lindholm, Iikka Oinonen, Maria Ojanen, Tuija Seppälä, Suvi Vikström (Syke)
Financiers
Research Council of Finland
Partners
Suomen ympäristökeskus (Syke)
Subject area
Research, Sustainabilty transformation, Water

We explore the sustainability of lived environments with the means of citizen social science. We apply digital interactive methods to produce data about foodscapes which condition people’s choices about eating as well as data about local waters which influence human wellbeing.

We combine digital methods of data collection with methodologies encouraging the participants to make sense of the data that has been collected by them. In addition, we attempt to improve the uptake of collaboratively produced knowledge in food and water governance.

Our experimental research explores how to make science a civic practice that responds to complex environmental challenges and supports more just and legitimate solutions to them.

Public science for sustainable living environments – PUBS project (or KARKKI in Finnish) is led by the Finnish Environment Institute and funded by the Academy of Finland.

Follow the project on its own website!

More information

  • Taru Peltola 

    Senior researcher, Finnish Environment Institute (Syke)

    Professor, University of Eastern Finland

    firstname.lastname@uef.fi

Published 3.3.2025 / Updated 5.3.2025