Changing religious landscapes - Åbo...

Changing religious landscapes

IN THIS ISSUE

CONTENT 1/2011. 3. Science meets culture. 4. The role of religion in today's society and culture. 6. Mineralisation – now or never. 8. LingVaCity – a unique new language centre. 10. News in brief. 12. Turku is getting spiced up. 14. Broad applications and cost efficiency. 16. Gender equality evaluated at Åbo Akademi. 18. University teaching is based on research

0804 12 14 16LingVaCity – a unique

new language centre

The role of religion in

today's society and culture

Turku is getting

spicedup

Broad applications

and cost efficiency

Gender equality

evaluated at Åbo Akademi

Published by the Åbo Akademi UniversityCommunicationsEditor-in-Chief:Thurid Erikssontel. +358-2-215 4124e-mail: [email protected]

Editors of this issue:Nicklas HägenMichael KarlssonJoanna LindénRolf NiskanenIngela OllasPeter SandströmHeidi von Wright

Web editor:Ben RoimolaTranslation and revision:Sarah BannockHeidi GranqvistInternet address:www.abo.fi

Editorial address:Åbo Akademi UniversityDomkyrkotorget 3FI-20500 Åbo, FinlandCirculation: 3,500 copiesPrinted by Tammerprint OY

ISSN 1796-7147

P. 2 • ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY NEWS BULLETIN NR 1 2011

•• Science and cooperation with the univer-sities play an important role during the Cap-ital of Culture year. Turku is the first Capi-tal of Culture to have announced a separate competition on research projects at univer-sities and within research groups. The aim is that during the Capital of Culture year, cross-disciplinary projects interweaving culture, creative activities and science will also pave the way for continued coopera-tion between science and culture after the year 2011. The research themes include the creative economy, wellbeing, urban spaces and urban culture.

The creaTive economyDuring the Capital of Culture year Åbo Ak-ademi University will contribute with an extensive research project called Creatin’ headed by Professor Alf Rehn. The aim of the project is to explore how the city can pro-mote the development of the creative econ-omy during and after the Capital of Culture year. The project is presented in more detail in this issue of the News Bulletin.

UnprejUdiced cooperaTionIt is both unprejudiced and brave of Turku as the Capital of Culture to have chosen to combine science and research with visual art forms and cultural happenings. The sig-nificance of culture for health, the economy

and welfare can provide many interesting and new research tasks and results.

The mission of the universities is, besides their core tasks of research and education, to cooperate with society and contribute to local development. Concrete research coop-eration with the Capital of Culture is an ex-cellent example of this so-called third task.

The Capital of Culture will be visible on campus as well as in the city as a whole. In-ternational visiting researchers, students and conference participants are welcome to enjoy the Capital of Culture year 2011 in Turku!

Science meets culture

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The city of Turku is, together with Tallinn in Estonia, the European Capital of Culture in 2011. The four main themes of the Turku Capital of Culture year are: wellbeing, internationalism, the creative economy and cultural exports.•• by Thurid Eriksson, Head of Communications

åbO AkADEMI UnIvERsITy NEWS BullEtiN nR 1 2011 • p. 3

••Some•of•the•re-searchers•participa-ting•in•the•project,•from•left•to•right:•Tuija•Hovi,•Jan•Svan-berg,•Peter•Nynäs,•Marcus•Moberg,•Måns•Broo•with•his•daughter•Rebecka,•and•Nina•Björkman.The role of

religion in today’s society and cultureThe significance of religion is changing. A disparate religious landscape is becoming more prevalent within post-secular culture. What does your world look like?•• by Peter Sandström

COMPARATIVE RELIGION

P. 4 • ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY NEWS•BULLETIN NR 1 2011

•• There tends to be an increasing number of world-views; in times like ours there is no shortage of stimuli for knowledge, faith and fantasy. As well as religious diversity, nich-es for various and parallel epistemologies are also being created.

The project Post-secular Culture and the Changing Religious Landscape in Finland takes a broad and deep approach to ques-tions about the relevance of religions in to-day’s society and culture. This cross-disci-plinary research work has been developed over a longer period of time, but it is now given more substance and a clearer focus as the project has acquired the status of being a Centre of Excellence for Research for the pe-riod 2010–2014.

“The point of departure for the project is the question as to how comprehensive social and cultural processes, in interaction with religion, have changed the contexts of our lives, including at an individual level”, ex-plains Peter Nynäs, Professor of Compara-tive Religion and head of the project.

These processes include late modernity, glo-balisation and neo-liberalisation, all of which have come to characterise contemporary so-ciety at various levels. Phenomena within late modernity include privatisation, urbanisa-tion and the mass media, while globalisation comprises increased migration and mobility, which provide new cultural influences. Neo-liberalism, for its part, has contributed an in-creased market impact on society and culture.

“These processes are clearly interlinked and influence the role of religion in society and cul-ture. It is increasingly obvious that religion is a significant element of both society and culture, but that it also takes on new forms by being in-fluenced by migration, the market economy, popular culture and so on”, says Peter Nynäs.

This backdrop motivates the attempts at understanding post-secular society: How are society and culture formed now, when secularisation is not on the increase in the way it was earlier assumed to be?

“Immigrant religions, charismatic move-ments, new religious movements, health practices, and ritualised body practices are phenomena that are gaining an increasingly salient role in the Western world.”

InterestIng fIeldInternationally, quite a lot has been done in fields that touch upon the Åbo Akademi University project. Existing knowledge is often based on re-search in the UK, the USA or Germany.

“Finland is relatively late in being affected by, for example, migration, modernity and neo-liberalism, but this is now happening at a fast pace and rather extensively, which makes our country a relevant and interesting context for these studies”, Peter Nynäs notes.

On the whole, knowledge about the in-teraction between post-secular culture and religion is rather fragmented. Many re-searchers touch upon the issue, but a com-prehensive view is lacking.

“One central aim of our project, therefore, is to develop a methodological approach for identifying the ways in which overall chang-es influence the religious landscape.”

Using, among other things, interviews, participatory observation and analyses of the web and media, the project is going to bring together an extensive collection of empirical material on Finnish ground.

ethnographIc knowledgePeter Nynäs points out that knowledge of the present religious landscape is flawed by being too schematic.

“We do have quite a lot of basic knowledge of, for example, what movements there are in Finland, and we also have interesting statis-tics, which, taken together, provide a certain picture of religious change in our times. How-ever, we lack knowledge of the ways in which this influences people’s lives. Processes such as neo-liberalism, late modernity and globalisa-tion also intervene directly with the everyday lives of people. They provide new conditions for people to understand themselves, to build identities and create meaningful contexts.”

The second central aim of the project, therefore, is to carry out ethnographic stud-ies of religious phenomena, groups and so on, which are characteristic of the post-sec-ular culture. Such studies make it possible to get a picture of how religion, in interaction with the sum of contemporary cultural and social processes, forms identities, the world, meaningful contexts and agencies.

teamwork•• The executive gen-eral management team of the project consists of Profes-sor Nynäs, and Do-cent Ruth Illman (Åbo Akademi Uni-versity), Docent Tuo-mas Martikainen (University of Helsin-ki) and Docent Terhi Utriainen (University of Helsinki). A total of about ten doctor-al students and post doc researchers will be associated to the project.

“It will be a chal-lenge to achieve as nuanced and diverse a picture as possible of the changes sur-rounding us. It takes pronounced team-work, which enables shared competence within the project”, Peter Nynäs notes.

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS BullEtiN nr 1 2011 • p. 5

•• As long as industrial and power plants use fossil fuels, the CO2 emissions will contin-ue. CO2 mineralisation is one solution to the problem, which, particularly for Finland, has great potential. Professor Ron Zeven-hoven, Professor of Thermal and Flow En-gineering at Åbo Akademi University, stud-ies how mineralisation could be used on a large scale

“When talking about CCS – carbon cap-ture and storage – what is meant is usual-ly the geological storage of carbon dioxide in the ground. This is just one of a few pos-sibilities, and can unfortunately not be car-ried out in Finland. Another one is to pump carbon dioxide into the depths of the sea so that it can be stored there. The solution that we are interested in, however, is the miner-

alisation of carbon dioxide, that is, storing it in stone”, explains Ron Zevenhoven.

Mineralising carbon dioxide is done by letting CO2 react with minerals at high temperatures to form a powder. The mineral

primarily used is magnesium silicate from, for example, stone containing serpentine; this is transformed to a carbonate powder by the process. The Laboratory for Thermal and Flow Engineering first produces mag-nesium hydroxide, which is then carbon-ated in a pressurised fluid bed reactor. The process is currently being developed in a project included in the Academy of Finland programme ‘Sustainable Energy’.

Co-operation with SingaporeThe latest project, including Finnish re-searchers and partners from other coun-tries, is a three-year co-operation with Sin-gapore, running from 1 October 2010 to 30 September 2013. This project explores the potential uses for the product which results

Mineralisation – now or never

The solution that we are interested in, however, is the mineralisation of carbon dioxide, that is, storing it in stone.

The emission of carbon dioxide, which results in a stronger greenhouse effect and climate change, is an extensive global environmental problem. • by Heidi von Wright

ENGINEERING

p. 6 • ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY NEWS BULLETIN NR 1 2011

from the mineralisation of CO2.“We were contacted by researchers from

Singapore and invited to make a visit. The reason was that Singapore is planning to enlarge their land area by using the powder produced when carbon dioxide reacts with minerals. One problem so far is that the car-bon dioxide separation is the most expen-sive element in the CCS process, and the ad-vantage of the mineralisation process is that it should work also without CO2 separation. We must work on lowering the cost of the process in order for it to be profitable in fu-ture”, Zevenhoven points out.

Professor Ron Zevenhoven supervis-es students around the world, in Singa-pore and at universities in Canada, Portugal and Lithuania. At home, at Åbo Akademi, Zevenhoven co-operates intensively with Olav Eklund, Professor of Geology and Min-eralogy.

“Together with Eklund’s group we’re ex-ploring the possibilities for finding suitable bedrock for mineralisation in southern Fin-land, where a large part of Finland’s CO2

emissions are produced. In areas of central and eastern Finland potential bedrock have already been found. I dare claim that it will be possible to store a much larger amount than the CO2 emitted in Finland in that area for a very long time ahead.”

Steel Slag becomeS paperZevenhoven came to Åbo Akademi Univer-sity in 2005, from the Helsinki University of Technology, now called the Aalto Univer-sity School of Science and Technology. He brought with him some of the research on steel slag which continues to be developed there today.

Zevenhoven refers to an earlier doctoral student of his, Sebastian Teir, who was in-terested in the subject.

“Teir’s research showed that the slag from steel production contains large amounts of calcium. By letting carbon dioxide react with this, calcium carbonate is produced. This, in turn is used within the paper indus-try. This discovery led to further research and finally to a patent which we’re trying to market. This is exactly the kind of result we want to achieve – where CO2 plus a solid material are fused into another solid mate-rial with concrete applications.”

“In order to be able to fulfil the Kyoto Pro-tocol directive of decreasing CO2 emissions, new solutions are needed. All CCS meth-ods must be taken into use globally in order for this to succeed. And mineralisation is a process which happens naturally in nature; we have simply speeded it up in our labora-tories. All in all, it’s now or never. Over the last ten years we have discussed a lot of the-ory: now it’s time to carry out mineralisa-tion in practice and use the solutions this entails, particularly for Finland”, Zeven-hoven says.

••"In•order•to•be•able•to•fulfil•the•Ky-oto•Protocol•di-rective•of•decrea-sing•CO2•emissions,•new•solutions•are•needed",•says•Pro-fessor•Ron•Zeven-hoven.

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS•BullEtIN nr 1 2011 • p. 7

•• “Vaasa is a truly bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) city, and therefore suitable as the location for the new, and in many ways unique, LingVaCity Language Centre. In-teresting research on linguistic issues, lan-guage didactics, language planning and lin-guistics is conducted at both the University of Vaasa and Åbo Akademi University. Vaa-sa is an excellent location; the city repre-sents a linguistically well-balanced and vital multi-lingual environment and constitutes fruitful ground for developing good strat-egies for a functioning multi-lingual soci-ety”, says Professor Kaj Sjöholm at the Fac-ulty of Education.

According to Kaj Sjöholm, Åbo Akademi University and the University of Vaasa sup-plement each other effectively, and the new

LingVaCity – a unique new language centreIn the autumn of 2009, the University of Vaasa and Åbo Akademi University in Vasa established a common institution, LingVaCity, which is the two universities’ shared research and development centre for language planning and language education.•• by Ari Nykvist

LANGUAGE

centre will support the activities of both uni-versities, not compete with them. The vision is to develop LingVaCity into a significant agent, both nationally and internationally, by coordinating and expanding the special knowledge within the humanities, social sciences and education that the two univer-sities commonly possess.

There are several different bilingual mod-els for teaching that work well in Vaasa at the moment, for example within the training of lawyers and at the universities of applied sciences. As society is becoming increasing-ly multicultural and multilingual, the need for new and expanded language teaching, and thus also the need for research, grows, Christer Laurén, Professor Emeritus at the University of Vaasa, points out.

rapidly growing needsDuring its first year, LingVaCity has primar-ily focused on creating operating condi-tions, establishing the centre as a specialist organisation and on finding local, national and international partners within adminis-tration, industry and organisations.

“LingVaCity also fulfils a growing need

It has already been proved that lack of language skills results in financial losses for industry.Christer Laurén


for better teaching and training in languag-es and language services for the needs of society. In a city like Vaasa, the number of language encounters is rapidly increasing and this creates growing demands on the teaching of mother tongue in schools where the pupils come from multicultural back-grounds”, says Ria Heilä-Ylikallio, Profes-sor at the Faculty of Education and member of the planning group of the centre.

“Our vision is that LingVaCity will, in a few years time, have a number of both Nor-dically and internationally renowned re-searchers engaged in various projects, with both Finnish and other European doctor-al students participating. The aim is that the research projects of the centre will also en-tail an enhancement of the competence of the individual member departments”, says Professor Siv Björklund, also member of the planning group.

One future project has been initiated by researchers Kjell Herberts and Christer Lau-rén. It focuses on studying the need of lan-guage skills within industry and the pub-lic sector.

“One of our points of departure is that it

has already been proved that lack of lan-guage skills results in financial losses for in-dustry. At the company ABB in Vaasa four different languages are spoken today: Finn-ish, Swedish, English and German”, Chris-ter Laurén explains.

The project Language learning paths of young immigrants in the Nordic countries – in pursuit of “best practices” towards mul-tilingualism is also planned to start in 2011, in cooperation with Stockholm University and the University of Oslo. The planning of a common degree programme on multilin-gualism training will start at the beginning of 2011 with financial support from the City of Vaasa. The programme itself will start in 2012, and its aim is to combine and strength-en existing master programmes at the Uni-versity of Vaasa (language immersion) and at Åbo Akademi in Vasa (multilingual di-dactics).

••Kaj•Sjöholm,•Ria•Heilä-Ylikallio,•Christer•Laurén•and•co-ordinator•Marti-na•Buss•are•looking•forward•to•the•posi-•tive•synergies•that•the•new•LingVaCi-ty•will•have•on•both•the•language•educa-tion•and•research•of•the•two•universities•of•Vaasa.

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS•BuLLEtiN nr 1 2011 • P. 9

•• Teachers from various academ-ic disciplines sit in on each oth-er’s teaching. This is followed by comments and discussion. What went well? What could have been done differently? The participat-ing teachers are pleased with the scheme.

Åbo Akademi University has car-ried out a trial project of peer eval-uation – a method also called shad-owing. The scheme is simple: Teachers of various subjects form

a group and agree on a schedule and preferences for the shadowing. They then sit in and listen to each other’s teaching, and the lecture or seminar is followed by a discussion.

Shadowing is also a practical and informal way for teachers to get to know the teaching practices of oth-ers, to exchange concrete experi-ences and thoughts about teaching, and constructively discuss various opportunities for developing as a teacher.

Ruth Illman, docent in compara-tive religion, Anna-Greta Nyström, lecturer in international marketing and Roger Holmström, lecturer in comparative literature participat-ed in the shadowing project. They found it interesting and rewarding.

“It’s helpful to see how others do their teaching. There is a tenden-cy to repeat the same pattern when teaching a course several times”, the three teachers note.

Ruth Illman and Anna-Greta Ny- ström sat in on an advanced semi-nar which Roger Holmström taught. Holmström had asked his col-leagues to particularly observe the interaction between the semi-nar participants, and the image and role of the teacher during the sem-inar. One requirement for the shad-owing was that the students were always informed of it in advance. Also, the two observers were not to interfere with the actual course of events.

“It was a good rule to have to sit quiet. It made it possible to observe in a totally different manner than if we had participated in the discus-sion”, Ruth Illman and Anna-Greta Nyström agree.

“The subsequent discussion in the shadowing group gave me good ideas for future advanced semi-nars”, says Roger Holmström.

The fact that teachers do not shadow colleagues within their own discipline is purely positive, according to all the participating teachers.

“When one is not that familiar with the actual contents, it’s easi-er to focus on the structure of the teaching, which is the whole point.”

Trial project of peer evaluation

••Roger•Holmström,•lecturer•in•comparative•literature,•Anna-Greta•Nyström,•lecturer•in•international•marketing•and•Ruth•Illman,•docent•in•comparative•religion•participated•in•the•shadowing•project.•

NEWS IN BRIEF

P. 10 • ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY NEWS•BULLETIN NR 1 2011

Seeing language•• “The aim of science isn’t always to find ‘new facts’. What is important is the clarity achieved by stringency and systematics; often the way is the goal,” says Yrsa Neuman, doctoral stu-dent and researcher in philosophy.

Neuman currently works on her thesis on philosophical methods and the role of terminology in philosophi-cal work.

“We might assume that words have a meaning, and that by saying some-thing, we combine the meanings that the words carry. This results in a sen-tence. But what, then, about words like ‘and’ and ‘but’? Things aren’t as simple as they might seem, and when trying to answer the questions that arise, we are creating a kind of theory on how languages can have meaning.”

These various philosophical ‘lan-guage theories’ contain different types of clause concepts, more or less ex-plicitly and consciously, and are bur-dened by several problems. They might not quite be able to explain the things they are supposed to explain, and some of these clause concepts are easily confused in the work of philos-ophers on various problems. Neuman has studied two problems or discus-sions where the clause concept plays a central role. These are Moore’s Para-dox (“It is raining outside, but I do not believe that it is raining”) named after G.E. Moore, and the discussion on the interpretation of the concept of non-sense in Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tracta-tus Logico-Philosophicus from 1921.

“It’s difficult to popularise my re-search and to explain it briefly, and it’s not exactly oriented to the public sphere, or socially useful. And all sci-entific work should absolutely not be so, either. But, on the other hand, I’m not saying that all research should be like mine”, Neuman notes.

•• The creative economy is here al-ready. Alf Rehn, Professor of Man-agement and Organisation at Åbo Akademi University, is the head of a three-year project named Creatin’, which is part of the Turku Capital of Culture year and included in the re-search programme for Turku 2011.

“The point of departure for the analysis is this: How can the functions of a city further the development of a creative economy? The case study we’re exploring is the process in-volved in the development of Turku as the Cultural Capital in 2011”, he ex-plains.

At a general level, the project focus-es on the present period of transition within the European economy. The in-dustrial economy is history, and the post-industrial economy has already passed through its first phase, which is usually called the age of services.

“We’re now at a time when culture, design and media are the kinds of in-dustries which are supposed to be fu-elling the financial engine. The ques-tion is, however, whether the cultural infrastructure has kept up with this

development”, Alf Rehn says.Rehn is of the opinion that ”the cre-

ative infrastructure should – to put it simply – be thought of in terms of re-hearsal studios, workshops and cafés, instead of industrial sites, huge halls and parking lots”.

“Using the city economy as a de-fined area, we will analyse what the creative industries need in terms of infrastructure.”

The project Creatin’ co-operates with, among others, design compa-nies, musicians and senior citizens.

“Actually, we don’t know very much about the micro processes within the creative economy. We’re now aim-ing at a more dynamic and substantial discussion on the nature of the cre-ative economy, a rhetoric beyond the usual talk of ‘the importance of inno-vations and a lot of money’,” says Alf Rehn.

He thinks that cultural policies far too often comprise the building of ‘one large house’, while it could be more creative to invest in infrastruc-ture in the form of several small work-shops and affordable studio time.

Creative – what’s that?

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS BullEtiN nr 1 2011 • P. 11

•• Italian•Carlo•Agostino•Badia••composed•an•opera•in•1692•and•set•it•along•the•coastline•of•Finland•at•Turku,•“Abo,•metro-•poli•della•Finlandia”.•In•2011•the•Gothic•opera•will•take•place•in•the•courtyard•of•Turku•Castle•–•the•original•setting.


All of the cultural programmes on offer are presented in a cata-logue which has also been pub-lished in English.

One thing not to miss is the series of exhibitions which are to be mounted in the renovat-ed, large and versatile former engineering workshop, Logo-mo, situated near Turku Rail-way Station.

Between 15 January and 15 December five different exhi-bitions will be on show there: “Alice in Wonderland" (con-temporary photo art), "Fire! Fire!" (on historical urban fires), “Tom of Finland” (homo-erot-ic art), “Only a Game?” (the world of football) and “Kiasma: Eija-Liisa Ahtila and Isaac Ju-lien/Ars11” (contemporary art). These exhibitions will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“I think these are perfect

events to recommend to guests who are in Turku for two or three days and have a few hours of free time outside work. They can add some extra spice to a visit to the city for foreign vis-itors also, and they are very easy to catch, as the exhibitions are open every day”, says Sari Ruusumo, Convention Director at Turku Convention Bureau.

Two other items of good news for Turku in 2011 are that the renovation of a large and mod-ern hotel quite close to the uni-versities will be completed, and there will also be new restaurant facilities in the Turku Fair and Congress Centre, seating 800 persons.

“At the moment, there are many reasons for us who orga-nise congresses and conferenc-es to be happy. It’s really won-derful”, Ruusumo smiles.

Recommended cultural events in 2011•• Sari Ruusumo at the Turku Conven-tion Bureau recommends some events that might interest guests of the academ-ic community in Turku during the 2011 year of culture, in addition to the exhibitions at Logomo:

– Turku Design ILMIÖ. Presentation of the Turku design scene, open all year.

– Borrowed Light. A combination of dance and live music. This large production by the Tero Saarinen Company kicks off its European tour in Turku 6–7 May 2011.

– Cirque Dracula. European cabaret about a vampire in love, 22 June–14 Au-gust 2011.

– The folk opera Henrik and the Ham-mer of Witches. On black magic, religious songs and fundamentalism in Turku in the 1660s. This new opera has been composed by Ulf Långbacka, lecturer in musicology at Åbo Akademi University, and with many other ties to the university. The Premier will be held in the courtyard of the Turku Cas-tle 27 August 2011, other performances 28 August and 3–4 September 2011.

– Alvilda in Abo. An opera dating from 1692. The beautiful daughter of a Goth-ic king hates love and worships Mars, the God of War. Composed by Italian Car-lo Agostino Badia and set in Finland, partly in Turku. Performed in the courtyard of the Turku Castle in August 2011.

– A major exhibition presenting the world of the Swedish artist Carl Larsson (1853–1919) at the Turku Art Museum. Bright, light and joyful art, but made by a conflicted, troubled person. Opens in au-tumn 2011.

– Erik XIV. An opera with spectacular projections, penetrating deep into the fas-cinating fate of this king. Premier at Logo-mo 20 November 2011.

Further information on the cultural pro-gramme in Turku 2011 is found on the Inter-net: http://www.turku2011.fi/en

Turku is getting

spiced upIn 2011 Turku will be the European Capital of Culture, and this means that the city is teeming with more interesting events and exhibitions than ever before. There is so much to choose from, so picking one’s favourites is far from easy.•• by Michael Karlsson

CULTURE

••

åbo AkAdEmi UnivERsiTy NEWS BullEtiN nR 1 2011 • P. 13

•• Advanced planning within logistics and heavy industry has increased in efficiency during recent decades, which leads to finan-cial advantages and a reduced environmen-tal load. The planning systems created use crucial mathematical knowledge from basic research of the kind carried out at the Op-timization and Systems Engineering (OSE) Centre of Excellence for Research – a cross-disciplinary research group at Åbo Akade-mi University.

Tapio Westerlund, Professor of Process Design and Systems Engineering, is head of the centre. His research group has de-veloped a number of mathematical opti-mization models and methods which are successfully applied in the optimization of advanced process and production plan-ning.

“Large-scale optimization handles prob-lems involving several thousands of vari-ables and conditions. Industry has increas-ingly started using this kind of optimization since it can yield considerable financial ad-vantages. At the same time, the operative dimension of optimization, that is, its prac-tical application, becomes more rational as

Broad applications and cost efficiencyAdvanced mathematics can contribute to solving problems within, for example, production and logistics. As the disciplines of optimization and systems engineering break new ground, the field for potential applications grow.•• by Peter Sandström

GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION

methodology and computer technology have become more efficient,” Tapio West-erlund notes.

Several applicationSThe problems within many fields have be-come so extensive that they cannot be sur-veyed and solved without the help of math-ematical models. The work at the OSE therefore focuses on developing theories and methods which aim at solving various types of problems and is applied to a broad field.

These include problems containing large amounts of data, such as knowl-edge extraction from molecular biologi-cal data – an area in which the research group of Professor Jukka Corander has made considerable progress. The group has developed models and intelligent sto-chastic estimation algorithms for many important types of data within molecu-lar biology; methods that have proved to have much more potential than the stan-dard methods generally applied by re-searchers.

These also comprise extensive discrete op-

It is increasingly important to master the entire knowledge chain from basic theory to application.


timization problems within, for example, process and production planning and lo-gistics.

“Examples of successful applications within the latter are found in the paper, metal and medical industries”, says Tapio Westerlund.

The OSE also studies complex automation problems and problems within function-al analysis.

“As the problems become increasing-ly extensive within various sectors, it is in-creasingly important to master the entire knowledge chain from basic theory to appli-cation”, Tapio Westerlund points out.

Cost-effiCient solutionsThe methods developed within Wester-lund’s research group focus on optimiza-tion of large systems within industrial pro-duction, production planning and logistics; that is, areas where the focus is constantly on cost-efficiency.

“There are many good examples of theo-ry and practice having been merged into so-lutions that have proved to be very efficient. This provides opportunities for collaboration

between basic research and industry.”For example, the entire production at

the Outokumpu Stainless factory in Tor-nio in northern Finland, which is one of the world’s largest producers of stainless steel, is controlled by integer optimization mod-els and methods developed by Tapio West-erlund’s group.

“About 150,000 optimization problems with close to 150 million variables are solved annually in this massive application”, Westerlund describes.

The new areas of application which the OSE group is working on include comput-er based medical planning within the field of bio technology.

“Using mathematical methods it is, among other things, possible to describe the binding of medical molecules to pro-teins”, says Westerlund and adds that re-search on the whole interacts closely with the field.

“We develop mathematical models for general applications within sciences and technology, and through the applications we get new ideas for developing the meth-ods further.”

••Tapio•Westerlund,•head•of•the•Optimi-zation•and•Systems•Engineering•Centre•of•Excellence•for•Re-search.

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS•BullETiN nr 1 2011 • P. 15

•• Masserette Legesse from Addis Ababa University came to Finland and Åbo Ak-ademi University through the exchange programme North-South-South. For two months she worked, for two days a week, at the University’s central administration, as part of a course in women’s studies. During the work placement she conducted inter-views and gathered focus groups in order to survey and analyse gender equality at Åbo Akademi, in theory as well as in practice. Her work resulted in an extensive report, which received positive reactions from the staff.

“I started by studying how gender equal-ity has developed and how it works, in Fin-land generally and at Åbo Akademi Uni-versity today. After that I interviewed a number of members of the Åbo Akademi Gender Equality Committee and other key persons”, Legesse explains.

She was surprised to find that the strat-egies and systems developed for gender equality at Åbo Akademi are not always

implemented in practice. In her report, ‘Gender Equality Action Plan in Policy and Practice at Åbo Akademi University‘, Masserette Legesse analysed the strengths and weaknesses of gender equality work at the university.

“In theory, Finns are gender-equal and also like to think that this is the case. There are good intentions, but things aren’t al-ways that gender-equal in practice”, Le-gesse notes.

Much to debate and iMproveWomen’s studies was a natural choice of subject for Masserette Legesse, who has a background in the natural sciences. She is driven by a wish to improve the situation of women in her home country.

“I’ve been enormously lucky, as I grew up in a family where I was treated like one of the boys. I see my time here as an opportunity to learn how I can ap-ply the Finnish gender equality princi-ples to helping other women in Ethiopia,

Masserette Legesse from Addis Ababa University conducted interviews and gathered focus groups in order to survey and analyse gender equality at Åbo Akademi. "An accurate analysis", says the co-ordinator for staff development at Åbo Akademi University .•• by Joanna Lindén

INTERNATIONAL VIEWS

Gender equality evaluated at Åbo Akademi


who aren’t as lucky as I am. By combining technology, sciences and women’s stud-ies, much can be achieved.”

Masserette Legesse says that issues concerning the roles and rights of wom-en in society are intensively debated in the Ethiopian media.

“Ethiopia is ranked at number 149 when it comes to gender equality. Finland tops the list. So, there is indeed much to debate on and improve in my home coun-try.”

An AccurAte AnAlysisMalin Siimes, co-ordinator for staff devel-opment at Åbo Akademi University, super-vised Legesse in her work.

“Masserette Legesse made an accurate analysis of gender mainstreaming at Åbo Akademi. In Ethiopia, where she has also worked with gender equality issues, there is an awareness that changes don’t happen unless problems are first defined, resourc-es are allocated for the work and progress is

monitored”, says Malin Siimes.Masserette Legesse says that her inter-

viewees at first believed that Åbo Akade-mi is a gender-equal university. Only when practical issues were raised, did they realise that there is still room for improvement.

“I asked questions concerning the polit-ical will and the technical capacity for gen-der equality, and the levels of awareness among the staff. I also asked about how gender equality is reported and about the context of organisational culture.”

Malin Siimes notes that the work of Masserette Legesse will benefit Åbo Aka-demi University.

“Her report shows how we need to im-prove our work. We do have a plan and we have the will, but more resources and knowledge are needed at all levels about gender equality in the academic world. The situation can be improved, for example, by the employees regularly reporting on what they have done in order to promote gender equality”, Malin Siimes suggests.

•• •In•her•report,•‘Gender•Equality•Action•Plan•in•Policy•and•Practice•at•Åbo•Akademi•University‘,•Masserette•Legesse•analysed•the•strengths•and•weaknesses•of•gender•equality•work•at•the•university.

In theory, Finns are gender-equal and also like to think that this is the case. There are good intentions, but things aren’t always that gender-equal in practice

åbo AkAdemi University NEWS BullETIN nr 1 2011 • P. 17

LETTER FROM AN EXPERT

•• For many young persons, the main aim of their studies is to receive a profession-al title and thus a certain kind of job. This is not so strange, as most of them have been asked since they were small: “What will you be when you grow up?” Since adults ask this question, they suggest that it can be answered, and children form a perception that, on the one hand, you should at an early age decide what you want to “be” when you grow up, and on the other, that it is possible to decide what work you will do as an adult.

Today, however, we know that a certain education does not necessary result in a giv-en job. Our future tasks, to a large extent, depend on the situation in the world and on the general development and change in so-ciety. We also know that development hap-pens at a fast rate and that it can be difficult to foresee future needs. The present and fu-ture society thus requires education to be structured so as to train students in flexibil-ity, problem solving skills, activity and ex-pertise, which provide a capacity to work regardless of social changes.

Promote free researchUniversity teaching is based on a scientif-ic foundation. According to the Universi-ty Act, the task of universities is to promote free research and scientific and artistic ed-ucation, and to provide higher education

based on research. Thus, teaching is to be based on research. What does this mean and how does it correspond to the situation described above?

continuous connectionsAt a first glance, university teaching seems like any other teaching, but a closer analy-sis shows that university teaching is close-ly related to research and knowledge devel-opment. The research base of the teaching appears in various ways: the staff has a re-search education and they both do research and teach as part of their activities at the university. The results from the research of the staff and from other related research is conveyed to the students. The students are trained in scientific methods and get a knowledge base for understanding and conducting research, and the they devel-op this knowledge by participating in re-search projects and doing independent re-search. So, there is a living and continuous connection between research and educa-tion at the universities. The aim is that the students should learn a scientific way to ask questions and work, a so-called scien-tific approach to knowledge, phenomena and activities.

In present day society there is hardly any activity that does not require a research base. When big decisions are to be taken

University teaching is based on research

At a first glance, university teaching seems like any other teaching, but a closer analysis shows that university teaching is closely related to research and knowledge development. •• by Christina Nygren-Landgärds, rector, Åbo Akademi University in Vasa


in society, the corporate world and every-day life it is routine to either base the de-cisions directly on research results or to at least compare the suggested solutions to scientific findings.

Politicians refer to research in their at-tempts to persuade or attract voters; in-dustry involves research in its activities for continued development and success, and motivates its decisions with what research has proven; physically active persons sys-tematically build their bodies according to what science has shown in order to achieve better results; and sectors that care for peo-ple, such as medicine and education, are assumed to base their activities on research based knowledge in order not to harm peo-ple.

The sTaTe of ThingsIn a society that appreciates scientifical-ly based knowledge, each and everyone needs to have the ability to take a scien-tific approach, regardless of whether they conduct research themselves or make use of the research of others. In order to mas-ter everyday life, take a critical stance on information provided, be able to grasp new information and analyse its effects, and to feel comfortable and a part of society, stu-dents need to be encouraged to develop a scientific approach to their own existence.

The aim of teaching based on research is thus that students not only learn the state of things, but also to understand why this is so, and whether and how it is possible to influence the way things are. Understand-ing is here experienced as a higher degree of comprehensive knowledge than simply knowing. Such comprehensive knowledge is the prerequisite for being able to be active and take responsibility for your own activ-ities and the impact these activities might have on society and other people. When re-search based knowledge is included in your field of activities, you also develop an abili-ty to identify problems, dare to try to solve problems, and actually find solutions to them. When research based teaching com-bines theory with practice, when research is related to everyday situations and when students get to actively participate in ongo-ing research, a natural connection between scientific thinking, research and practical activities is created.

For persons who have built their com-petence through systematic studies with a scientific base, it is natural to hold a positive attitude to lifelong learning, and to contin-ually wish to find out about research results and also personally conduct research in or-der to further develop their competence. This is the kind of attitude and knowledge that advances our society.

When big decisions are to be taken in society, the corporate world and everyday life, it is routine to either base the decisions directly on research results or to at least compare the suggested solutions to scientific findings.


NEWS IN BRIEF

•• Disrupted levels of dopamine and serot-onin have traditionally been regarded as the reasons for ejaculation problems. Recent-ly it has been discovered that it is sensible to look at other hormones and transmitter substances, for example oxytocin and vaso-pressin.

The expectation is that this will lead to more efficient medication.

“Medicines that affect the metabolism of hormones and signal substances also in-fluence other factors, such as mood, appe-tite and sexual drive, which causes problems with side effects”, says Doctor of Psycholo-gy Patrick Jern.

He has studied ejaculation problems in his doctoral thesis Premature and Delayed Ejac-ulation: Prevalence, Heredity and Diagnos-tic Considerations. The thesis was written at the Centre of Excellence for Research on Behavioural Genetics at the Department of Psychology and was awarded the Harry Elv-ing Research Prize.

“I’m not saying that medicines that affect, for example, the reabsorption of serotonin are a bad thing, but I think that certain reserva-tions should be observed in view of the side effects, as for example reduced sexual drive, a common side effect with this kind of sub-stance.”

Within the field of medicine, the preferred way to determine the diagnostic criteria for premature ejaculation is based on time. Ac-cording to Jern, this is problematic.

“If objective measures, such as time, or the number of ‘thrusts’, are used, very few get a diagnosis, and if the focus is on the experi-ence, very many get a diagnosis. This results in many who have a normal ejaculation time being diagnosed with an illness.”

Jern’s study shows that 1.8 per cent of all men often or always ejaculate within a min-ute, the shortest space of time included in the questionnaire, after intercourse has

started. Nevertheless, the proportion who are dissatisfied because of a feeling of lack of control is considerably larger, about 30 per cent.

“People probably seek treatment for rec-reational sex and not for procreational sex. Therefore, the focus needs to be put on the recreational aspect and the feeling of control instead of on time, and treatment methods that increase the feeling of control need to be developed.”

Towards better ejaculation control

The focus needs to be put on the recreational aspect and the feeling of control instead of on time.

•Doctor of Psychology Patrick Jern was awarded the Harry Elving Research Prize for his doctoral thesis on ejaculation problems.


Young student discovers a new species of monitor lizard•• Valter Weijola, a biology student at Åbo Akademi University, appeared in the media globally in the spring of 2010 for his discovery of the former-ly undescribed monitor lizard Varanus obor. Weijola has visited the Maluku Islands in Indonesia several times in order to study the niche distribution between some mutually closely relat-ed, recently described monitor lizards.

The new monitor lizard species Varanus obor was first described in the scientific journal Zootaxa. The spe-cies name obor means ‘torch’ in In-

donesian and refers to the unique co-louring of the lizard: it is all black with a red face.

“My discovery attracted quite a bit of attention both in the popular media and in scientific circles. The discov-ery of a new species always attracts the interest of the public, and this, in

turn, puts issues of biodiversity into the spotlight. Most people think that the world and its biological diversity have already been fully explored, and that new species are no longer being discovered. Varanus obor is a good ex-ample of the fact that this is not the case”, says Weijola.

The Sibelius Museum was established in 1926. It is the only diversified music museum in Fin-land. Its large collections include traditional in-struments as well as classical instruments from different corners of the world.

The permanent exhibition displays music his-tory and instruments from many different cul-tures. The museum houses a separate depart-ment dedicated to the life and work of Jean Sibelius.

During the autumn, winter, and spring sea-sons the museum hosts chamber music, jazz and folk music concerts on Wednesday eve-nings. The building, designed by Woldemar Baeckman, is one of the most original Finnish creations of the 1960s and attracts visitors inter-ested in architecture from all over of the world.www.sibeliusmuseum.abo.fi



www.abo.fi/master

Åbo Akademi University offers the following Master’s degree programmes taught in English:

• Master’sDegreeProgrammeinChemicalEngineering• Master’sDegreeProgrammeinElectronicandMobileCommerce• Master’sDegreeProgrammeinEmbeddedComputing• Master’sDegreeProgrammeinInternationalHumanRightsLaw• Master’sDegreeProgrammeinBiomedicalImaging• MasterstudiesinSoftwareEngineering• MasterstudiesinComputerScience

These programmes lead to internationally recognized Master’s degrees in Science. The University has degree students enrolled from every corner of the world. In 2010, about 700 international students were registered at the university. This gives Åbo Akademi University one of the most international student populations of all universities in Finland.

Admission requirementsA completed university level Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field is required for ad-mission. Applicants must also prove their knowledge of English with an international-ly recognized language test. Next application deadline is at the end of February 2011.

For detailed information about admission, please see www.abo.fi/master

phone: +358 (0) 2 215 31 | e-mail: [email protected] | Address: Tavastgatan 13, FI-20500 Åbo


www.ab

o.fi

ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY IN BRIEFÅbo Akademi University is located in Åbo (Turku in Finnish) and in Vasa (Vaasa), some 400 kilometres north of Åbo. Åbo Akademi University is the only Swedish language multi-disciplinary university in Finland offering studies in the Humanities, Business and Economics, Caring Sciences, Chemical Engineer-ing, Education, IT, Languages, Law, Natural and Bio Sciences, Psychology and Logopedics, Social and Political Sciences, and Theology.

Facts and figures7,000 students 500 Master’s degrees per year 65 Doctoral degrees per year 1,300 teaching and administrative staff External funding comprises more than one third of the total budget

An international universityÅbo Akademi University offers an international environ-ment for all its students. Most departments provide study opportunities in English for international students. There are currently more than 700 foreign students from 60 different countries studying at Åbo Akademi Universi-ty, which makes it one of the most international universi-ties in Finland.

Leading research in many areasÅbo Akademi University has an acknowledged position at the forefront of research in such areas as biotechnology, computer science, chemical combustion, human rights, material sciences and process chemistry.

Key words- Top quality education and research, international atmos-phere. - Friendly and welcoming environment in the oldest uni-versity town in Finland. - Close to the unique, beautiful archipelago with over 20,000 islands.

Åbo Akademi University, Domkyrkotorget 3 20500 Åbo, Finland

Phone: +358 (0) 2 215 31 E-mail: [email protected]


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