Inside the office with Jere Nieminen

‘Inside the office’ is a blog series based on short conversations with the members of B2N team. My name is Edward Gerald Hingert and I am an intern for the B2N project. For this post, I talked with Dr. Jere Nieminen.

Edward: Tell us a bit about yourself and your position in B2N project.

Jere: I am Jere Nieminen. I am a post-doctoral researcher in the project and my background is in environmental policy. I graduated from the field of environmental science and policy and I did my master’s thesis in natural sciences. I did my PhD here in University of Tampere in environmental politics. However, my background is leaning more towards natural science.

Edward: Why do you choose to do your post-doctoral research in this field?

Jere: I noticed that in all environmental questions, there always are social aspects included and I want to learn more about them. When I was doing my graduate study, I was focusing on natural science. Now, I am looking into the natural science from practical view, and interacting with experts on the social aspects. I just like to go to fields and ask people about what they are doing, but I mainly am interested in the idea of human beings and the nature co-existing together.

Edward: What are your thoughts on B2N project?

Jere: I have been participating in this project from the very beginning already, when we were applying for funding for it, so I knew from the very beginning what the project is about. And we have a great boss, who is a great leader.

Edward: Do you have any plans for the future once this project is over?

Jere: We have some time left for this project and we have already planned the steps to take. Hopefully we can reach all of our goals such as articles and books that we want to publish. As of now, I am already a part of another project on circular economy and I will continue with that project once B2N is over.

Edward: Do you have anything you want to add?

Jere: The most important thing for me is the aspect of empirical science. The act of being on the field, collecting the data to bring back and then analyzing it always intrigues me.

Edward: If I were to ask you about your favorite part of the subject that you are working with, what would that be?

Jere: The people, the planet and the intertwining concepts surrounding them.

It is great to know that Jere is not only working on what he is passionate about but that he also enjoys working at the university.