Personal success stories

I am deeply grateful for the financial support provided by CNESS, which enabled my fieldwork in Iceland in October 2022. During this period, I visited the Institute of International Affairs (IIA) at the University of Iceland for two weeks and spent an additional week with the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network (IACN) in Akureyri. The key focus of my fieldwork was the Icelandic green energy transition boosted by its well-developed geothermal sector and international cooperation on geothermal with Iceland. I conducted many informal and semi-structured interviews with researchers at Icelandic institutes, specialists and managers from energy companies—such as Arctic Green Energy, Icelandic politicians, and staff members from Arctic Council Working Groups. Additionally, I actively promoted the visibility of Tampere University and CNESS to different stakeholders in Iceland.

This mobility funding concerns hard-to-electrify areas, in particular Arctic marine transport where highly polluting heavy fuel oils remain commonplace and direct electrification not feasible. Combustion of heavy fuel oil in large marine engines releases besides CO2, also black carbon (BC). The ongoing switch to distillate fuels and use of scrubbers does not greatly affect BC pollution. BC is particle form air pollution with strong climate change forcing qualities in the Arctic conditions due to its albedo effects on Arctic snow and ice that accelerates melting of the Arctic’s snow and ice cover. BC particles can also travel afar in the atmosphere and cause respiratory and other health problems for human populations and harm the natural environment with multiple and expensive socio-economic consequences.

The funding helped to integrate Aalto’s previous interest in Arctic regional cooperation and great power relations with the more recent interdisciplinary work on the mitigation of black carbon pollution, conducted as part of the ‘Black Carbon Footprint’ (BCFp) project (Business Finland 2019-22). The research visit was conducted at the Arctic Research Centre (ARC) at Hokkaido University where work is done both on Arctic great power relations, and black carbon and other pollution, as well as several other natural scientific, engineering and social science aspects of the Arctic within the framework of the ‘Arctic Challenge for Sustainability II’ (ArCS II) national flagship project of Japan. During the visit, Aalto presented on his work in a hybrid format seminar broadcasted online to the ArSC community. In a separate seminar, he introduced the CNESS platform to the ARC’s staff. The bulk of the work, however, was done to formulate the concept for an article project together with Prof. Daiju Narita (Tokyo University), who simultaneously visited the ARC as an ArCS II partner. Aalto and Narita also invited doctoral student Minna Hanhijärvi (TAU) to join the article project. The resulting article manuscript is entitled ‘Short and long-term solutions for mitigating black carbon emissions in Arctic shipping: implications for stakeholders’. It was submitted to JUFO2 journal Marine Policy in May 2024.
During the same trip, three interviews were conducted in Yokohama and Kyoto with Japanese experts on hydrogen energy in Japan and China, with the funding of the’ Hydrogen and Carbon Value Chains’ (HYGCEL) project (Business Finland 2021-24).

This funding was used to support 1) ongoing spin-off work on an interdisciplinary literarature review, building on the consortium project ‘Transition to a more climate neutral and resource effective electric energy system’ (EL-TRAN) (Strategic Research Council 2015-21). While that project comprised for example engineering and social science research on the Finnish electric energy system, the spin-off sought to scope how electrifying energy systems are connected and dependent on each other, due to trade in electricity, technologies, raw materials and investment flows, in addition to regulatory imitation, despite ostensibly becoming more energy independent by means of using more domestically generated electricity from wind and solar power in place of imported fuels. The literature review work examines papers published in several engineering, economics, law and social science disciplines, and remains ongoing. The funding enabled using Minna Hanhijärvi’s expertise in conducting systematic literature reviews for the benefit of the spin-off project. Substantial efforts to seek external funding for the spin-off project have so far delayed the completion of the literature review project.

The funding also supported work in the project ‘Hydrogen and Carbon Value Chains’ (HYGCEL) project (Business Finland 2021-24), in particular interdisciplinary literature review for a collective monograph entitled The Geopolitics of Hydrogen, by S. Kilpeläinen, P. Aalto, A. Claydon and M. Hanhijärvi. The monograph has been proposed for publication with Palgrave and will be finalised during autumn 2024.

The funding enabled a 2-month researcher mobility to the FNI during Aalto’s half-a-year research leave that TAU professors can apply for every six years. While this research leave possibility exists, in practice professors rely on project funding should they wish to change research environment during the leave. As a rule, TAU faculties and units lack resources of funding larger scale mobility or longer research visits. By the turn of 2023-24, Aalto had served as Head of the Politics Unit for six years and also as the PI of the CNESS platform since Autumn 2021, and as PI of the Profi7 project ‘Sustainable security practices’ (SUPRA) (Research Council of Finland, 2023-25), among other duties and projects.

Strategically, change of research environment was highly timely, necessary and rewarding in order to mark the return to a more active research work after several admin and research coordination heavy years. The visit at the FNI offered an opportunity to complete long overdue work on environmental politics, and start some new work on energy, two areas in which the FNI specialises. During the 2-month period, Aalto was able to complete some of the publications overdue from the project ‘Black Carbon Footprint’ (BCFp) (Business Finland 2019-22). During the visit, new work was also preliminarily started on Aalto’s new consortium project ‘Infrastructure/institutions match for resilient and green electrification’ (2IMATCH) (Strategic Research Council 2023-2029). While this project focuses on resilient enrgy infrastructure, it is part of larger Strategic Research Council programme JUST ENERGY with energy justice as a key concern. This is an area where the 2IMATCH consortium is less strong, while the FNI has strengths in justice with its role as a partner in INCLUDE, ‘Research centre on socially inclusive energy transitions’ involving several Norwegian research institution such as NTNU, Cicero and University of Oslo.

More practically, the visit included a project presentation in the FNI’s climate and energy group, and organisation of a roundtable format, F2F interdisciplinary seminar at the FNI on ‘Infrastructure for electrification – role of social science & politics?’, together with Prof. Tor Håkon Inderberg Jackson (FNI), with over dozen participants from research institutions in Oslo. Several briefing discussions were also conducted during the visit with the FNI’s researchers. Funding application was submitted to Business Finland for a spin-off project to 2IMATCH with an FNI researcher participating, while a larger research programme was simultaneously planned and contacts strengthened for that end. Follow-up seminars and joint work with several colleagues from the FNI are planned.

Last spring, CNESS research visit funding made it possible for me to attend a 6 ECTS course , ‘Particles and Health’, at Lund University, Sweden. As my PhD thesis focuses on ultrafine particles in different urban environments, this course offered me a valuable perspective on the health issues related to aerosol particles. The course covered themes such as global health, non-exhaust aerosols, exposures, and occupational safety. At present I am preparing an article manuscript titled ‘Importance of sub-23 nm particles in traffic environments: emission factors and head airway deposition doses’. In the manuscript, the particle deposition to human head airways is discussed and exposures of sub-23 nm particles are calculated. This part of the manuscript has strongly been inspired by the ‘Particles and Health’ course.

In addition to increased knowledge, the course broadened my international contacts. During the visit, I was able to discuss with our project partner in the EU Horizon 2020 project TUBE, Prof. Anna Oudin, who also gave a course lecture on air pollution epidemiology. We discussed results in a manuscript that was later published in the Environmental International with the title ‘Particle lung deposited surface area (LDSAal) size distributions in different urban environments and geographical regions: Towards understanding of the PM2.5 dose–response’ (Lepistö et al. 2023). All in all, I consider my participation in the course to have been both personally rewarding and scientifically successful.

Regarding my achievements during the course: “Particle and Health”, I conducted a three-hour workshop for my colleagues, the aerosol group members, with noteworthy acknowledgment extended to Henna for her invaluable assistance in crafting questions for the workshop’s final segment, approximately 20 members of our group: including professors, PhD students and master students, participated in that workshop, and it was a nice scientific experience for me. I can also send you the invitation email and 20 participants accepted the event on that email if you want.

On the other hand, the course was interdisciplinary, consequently, each category such as modeling, which is my focus has been covered in the course but in a tight time, so my take was in a way that my vision after this course was expanded and it helped me to think about the possible potential for collaboration with other diverse groups under the umbrella of aerosol science, rather than focusing just my specific topic, and helped me for having connection with people who work in the similar fields as me.

It is worth mentioning that I could get 6 credits which is in the approval process in Sisu, and I hope to use the knowledge I gained for the future projects.