People
Get acquainted with the consortium members and their areas of expertise as well as the project's International Advisory Board members.
Sampsa Hyysalo
Consortium leader, Aalto University
sampsa.hyysalo(at)aalto.fi
+358 50 5946137
Hyysalo is a professor of codesign, who specializes in design-use relationships in sociotechnical change and in the different ways by which participation can be organized and to what effects. In the Material Democracy project, Sampsa leads the consortium and Aalto University's sub-project.
Satu Lähteenoja
Project interaction lead, Demos Helsinki
satu.lahteenoja(at)demoshelsinki.fi
+358 44 500 2993
Lähteenoja is a researcher of sustainability transitions and co-design, with over 15 years of experience in advancing sustainability transitions in collaboration with ministries, cities, and businesses. In the Material Democracy project, Satu leads the interaction work. She also investigates the use of transition arenas as part of policy processes.
Antti Silvast
Deputy director of the project, LUT University
antti.silvast(at)lut.fi
Silvast is the deputy director of the Material Democracy project and leads a work package on participation in future planning. He is an associate professor (tenure track) at LUT University, specializing in energy infrastructure and science and technology studies.
Joanna Saad-Sulonen
Project coordinator, Aalto University
joanna.saad-sulonen(at)aalto.fi
Saad-Sulonen is the project coordinator of the Material Democracy project. She works as a senior scientist at Aalto University and her expertise lies in participatory design and service design.
Lasse Peltonen
Work package leader, University of Eastern Finland
lasse.peltonen(at)uef.fi
+358 50 466 7204
Peltonen is a professor of environmental conflict resolution, specializing in collaborative environmental governance. In the Material Democracy project, Lasse leads the research on stakeholder processes focusing on multi-actor groups of environmental and urban governance.
Eva Heiskanen
Work package leader, University of Helsinki
eva.heiskanen(at)helsinki.fi
+358 50 3210190
Heiskanen is a professor at the University of Helsinki, researching the adoption of energy technologies in households, as well as local climate action, and the tensions of the energy transition in people's everyday lives. In the Material Democracy project, Eva is responsible for the research focusing on the potential of material practices to counteract affective polarization.
Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé
Work package leader, Demos Helsinki
kaisa.schmidt-thome(at)demoshelsinki.fi
+358 40 0708178
Schmidt-Thomé is a leading researcher at Demos Helsinki, with interests in sustainable urban transformations. In the Material Democracy project, Kaisa is responsible for establishing the Material Democracy Hub and studying and developing the stakeholder processes used to advance sustainability transitions.
Liisa Perjo
liisa.perjo(at)demoshelsinki.fi
Perjo is a senior expert at Demos Helsinki where she researches and develops processes for more just sustainability transformations. In the Material Democracy project, Liisa studies stakeholder processes in sustainability transitions and contributes to establishing the Material Democracy Hub.
Matias Sivonen
matias.sivonen(at)uef.fi
Sivonen is a doctoral researcher in environmental policy, focusing on the organization of multilateral planning processes in nature conservation. In the Material Democracy project, Matias studies ministry-led Saimaa ringed seal protection working groups and their infrastructure from a conflict resolution perspective.
Sonja Nielsen
sonja.nielsen(at)aalto.f
Nielsen's doctoral research focuses on the use of co-production methods in environmental policy processes. In the project, Sonja contributes to research and development of participatory approaches for medium- and long-term planning.
Lotta Hautamäki
Postdoctoral researcher, LUT University
lotta.hautamaki(at)lut.fi
Hautamäki researches the interaction between science, technology, and society in various contexts and is particularly interested in different time perspectives of sustainability transitions. In the project, she studies the long-term strategic planning of climate and energy policy, specifically how the future is anticipated in national policy processes.
Kamilla Karhunmaa
Postdoctoral researcher, Aalto University
kamilla.karhunmaa(at)aalto.fi
Karhunmaa is a postdoctoral researcher in environmental policy and science and technology studies. Her research examines the sociotechnical construction of environmental problems and solutions. In the Material Democracy project, Kamilla will work in the Aalto University work packages.
Tomi Lehtomäki
Postdoctoral researcher, Aalto University
tomi.1.lehtimaki(at)aalto.fi
Lehtimäki is a postdoctoral researcher in sociology who specializes in political disputes concerning the environment and non-human actors.
Katriina Kenttämies
Doctoral researcher, Aalto university
katriina.kenttämies(at)aalto.fi
Katriina Kenttämies’ doctoral research focuses on citizen-led, grassroots forms of participation and their role in fostering sustainability transitions. In the Material Democracy project, Katriina will be involved in co-designing the Material Democracy Hub.
International Advisory Board
Adrian Smith
Professor of Technology and Society
Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex
Most of my interdisciplinary research considers the politics and governance of innovation for sustainability. It applies ideas, insights and methods from sociology, political science, innovation studies, and science and technology studies in order to the following themes: grassroots innovations for sustainability; the radical transformation of complex social and technological systems; rethinking innovation for changing worlds; critical policy analysis for sustainability.
Jörg Radtke
Research Institute for Sustainability – at GFZ Helmholtz Centre Potsdam
Dr. Jörg Radtke is a senior researcher and currently leads three research projects on community energy, urban digital twins and digital public participation in energy transitions at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam. He has extensive experience in the fields of energy transition, citizen participation, and online engagement. Based on his extensive experience in several collaborative national and European research projects on issues of energy transitions at several universities, Dr. Radtke has collected and continues to gather insights into community conflicts, online participation, and activation of community energy projects in energy and sustainability transitions.
Noortje Marres
Professor, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
University of Warwick
Marres is a professor in Science, Technology and Society trained in the sociology and philosophy of science and technology. Her research has contributed to the understanding of emergent forms of public engagement ("material participation") and the study of societal controversies about science and innovation (climate change, renewable energy, AI). She have also contributed to interdisciplinary methods development (issue mapping, situational analytics). Her current work is concerned with technology testing beyond the laboratory as a critical site of knowledge production and intervention in contemporary societies.
Tamara Metze
Prof.dr. T.A.P.
Delft University of Technology
Tamara Metze is full professor in Public Administration at the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology. Trained in Political Science and Science and Technology Studies (both ‘cum laude’), with a PhD from the University of Amsterdam in Public Administration. Metze is an experienced projectleader of transdisciplinary projects in which is experimented with boundary crossing collaborations for the governance of sustainability transitions (e.g. energy, food and the circular economy).
Thomas Dietz
University Distinguished Professor Emeriti
Michigan State University
Thomas Dietz is a human ecologist who conducts research on decision making, the human driving forces of environmental stress and method for linking science and policy via deliberation. He is a member of the US National Academy of Science and past-President of the Society for Human Ecology. His most recent book Decisions for Sustainability: Facts and Valueswon the Gerald R. Young Book Award from the Society for Human Ecology.