Inside the office with Outi Lehtonen

‘Inside the office’ is a new blog series based on short conversations with the members from Business 2 Nature (B2N) team as we look into their individual relationships with the project. My name is Edward Gerald Hingert and I am an intern as well as a new member of the office. In this blog, I talked with Outi, our first B2N member of the week. Edward: Hello! Can you please talk a bit about yourself and your role in Business 2 Nature project? Outi: My name is Outi Lehtonen. I started in B2N in September 2017, last year, so a little bit more than a year ago. Currently, my title is researcher. In B2N, I have been more of a helping hand, since I am a junior researcher. I have been a part of writing some articles and a part of arranging seminars and the practical things. Obviously, I have also been learning a lot since senior researchers who are extremely intelligent surround me. In addition to this research, I am also writing my own (doctoral) dissertation and I am responsible for some courses.

Edward: After a year of being a part of B2N, what are your thoughts on the project? Outi: I think it is an ambitious project on an important topic. It opens my eyes to the extent of things we can achieve with business solutions addressing different kinds of environmental issues we face in growing cities due to growing population. Currently, in the project, we have cases and materials mainly from Finland, focusing on the Finnish context. Now we have Master thesis students to collect data from outside of Finland. I think, that it is important to keep in mind that data from one geographical place might not contain the various perspectives that data from many places may give.

Edward: What do you think is the most interesting aspect of this project? Outi: I am interested in the social effects that new kinds of ecological services can have; how do people feel about them and how do these feelings influence the people’s reactions. For me, it has always been interesting how the environment affects people and how they react. That is definitely the very interesting part.

Edward: Finally, do you want to add any signature mark or quote? Outi: I am working on that.

It seems Outi is enjoying her time as a researcher and as she put it, “is learning a lot” from her time working in this project. It is refreshing to know that the project is a stepping-stone towards her passions and ambitious goals.

For next week, I will plan a coincidental bump into another member of the team for some small talk and report the story on the further entry of this blog series. Cheers!