STUE Action Grant granted for 9 collaborative activities

City landscape from Tampere with buildings and trees.

STUE Action Grant has been granted for nine activities that Tampere University's researchers will organise with partners by the end of 2023. This year the call was focused on activities that strengthen collaboration between research and societal actors, around themes of sustainable transformation of urban environments. Take a look at the funded activities!

The call for action grant was open for all researchers and student organisations at Tampere University. It received 17 applications. STUE board made the decisions about the funding based on 1) how well the activity fits in STUE’s aims and vision, 2) grounds for the application and feasibility of the plan, 3) the scale and scope of the activity, 4) clarity of the description of the activity, 5) planned use of the grant, and 6) diversity of actions.

Action Grant was granted for following activities. Each activity received EUR 500-3000. More information of each activity will be shared on STUE channels as they progress.

Co-creation innovative workshops with older adults to develop smart solutions for healthy ageing

A series of workshops will be organized to create new smart devices to support healthy ageing with (not only for) older persons. The goal is to disrupt the traditional development of technological solutions by involving older persons in the creation process. The workshops will include all the relevant stakeholders that have a role in the creation of a digitalized future of ageing: from older persons and formal and informal caregivers to health care and developers of technologies, which are tech industries and start-ups. The workshop is at the core of a new project that is running at Tampere University funded by PoDoCo and led by Federica Previtali. The PoDoCo project is in collaboration with Inlisol, a Finnish start-up developing smart solutions for ageing in place. The workshops will extend the outreach of the project and develop a long-term strategic community in Tampere interested in inclusive and healthy ageing.

Book launch: REPOSITORY: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places

The Insuregent Spatial Practices research collective in collaboration with the COST Action – Writing Urban Places, and STUE will celebrate the launch of the book, REPOSITORY: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places. The REPOSITORY is the result of collective effort that brings together almost as many different voices as the set of methods it gathers. It celebrates this proliferation, multiplicity and cohabitation of thoughts and visions and thus gathers a series of innovative and creative procedures deriving from different horizons to expose the diversity in which the city might be grasped, told, expressed and, thereby, also produced. It intends to stimulate new approaches in architecture, urban studies, and other fields of spatial development and to invite creative, often embodied, and sometimes playful engagements with the material and immaterial dimensions of urban places. The event is open to the general public and will be held on 27 April 2023 from 18.00-20.00 at Arkkitehtityöhuone Tiili (address: Pirkankatu 10, liiketila 5). Sign up here by 21 April

Creating new collaboration concepts with societal stakeholders – Sustainable Transformation of Urban Environments podcasts

Researchers, public governess, third sector, church, citizens and entrepreneurs into the the same table! We are creating new concept with societal stakeholders for learning together by producing podcasts. The podcast series will have four episodes that handle important themes for enhancing sustainable urban change, such as social development, citizen participation, families in cities, and hybrid governance. It will be recorded in Tampere Applied Science Learning Lab and produced by Mari Turja, doctoral student in Administrative Sciences. Listen to the podcast here (in Finnish)

Urban Alternatives:  Critical Spatial Practices Re-imagining Tampere Course

The course is organized by the Insurgent Spatial Practices (research) group at Tampere University in collaboration with the local urban activists. It sheds light on the citizen-led practices that create new spaces for action and challenge dominant processes of urbanisation. The idea is to delve with students into the actual spaces in Tampere where multifaceted processes of urbanisation, urban activism and everyday political action are intertwined. The course will introduce to students five cases and offer a first-hand possibility to meet the activists and discuss with them about their aims, challenges, and the tactics they apply to voice their demands and claim spaces. It encourages to approach such practices in critical light but also acknowledge how they blur the lines of urban agency and expertise while opening avenues towards more sustainable and democratic urbanisation. The course will be held in Autumn 2023.

Kaarikarkelot community event in Tesoma

“Kaarikarkelot” community event in a multigenerational lifecycle block in Tesoma enhances communication and encounters between the residents, surrounding neighbourhood, various stakeholders, and the researchers at Tampere University. The aim of the Kaarikarkelot event is to add social sustainability and everyday democracy in the suburbs. The small-scale community art workshops are organized to “break the ice” and help people from different backgrounds to come together. In addition, a panel discussion or similar is organized as a side event, where decision-makers, planners, service providers, and residents, are invited to talk about the planning and management of the lifecycle block and the everyday life there together with urban researchers. The methods are such that they do not involve or require bureaucratic or professional language, and there are specific methods targeted for those who normally have difficulties in communicating, for example, due to language barriers, cognitive reasons, or shyness. Kaarikarkelot will be organized in August 2023, and is free of charge and open to all. Read insights gained in the event

Urban sustainability: historical perspectives workshop

Urban sustainability has become one of the key research areas in urban history internationally. The workshop, focusing on environmental, material, cultural and social aspects of sustainability, reflects on the plans, ideals and practices of the past, and the ways in which they lie behind present decisions concerning how to make cities more sustainable. With the aim of further strengthening cooperation between the research community and the museum sector, the workshop also addresses cultural and social sustainable change as part of contemporary heritage work, which is a prominent theme within the museum sector. The event is organized by the Degree Programme in History at Tampere University together with the Finnish Society for Urban Studies. The workshop is held on 2.11.2023. See the programme and sign up by 26.10.!

Network and research infrastructure to investigate the presence of drug residues in hospital wastewater

In the last decades, consumption of pharmaceuticals has increased rapidly. Drug residues eventually end up in wastewater, which is a growing concern both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe. Especially with the acceleration of climate change, heavy rains can lead to exceeding the capacity of the wastewater network and overflows.  Due to their high use of pharmaceuticals, hospitals have been classified as hotspots by the European Commission. The purpose of this project is to assemble a network and a research infrastructure to investigate the presence of drug residues in hospital wastewater. We will seek the list of chemicals which are considered to pose the greatest risk to humans and environment. Our project will start the implementation of network by TAU, TAYS, HUS and TYKS and assemble infrastructure to produce previously unexplored information about the presence of medicine residues in hospital wastewater.

Workshop series about intertwining of care and democracy in urban environment

The Democracy Research Network of Tampere University (DRN) is a multidisciplinary research network that brings together researchers interested in democracy. The network includes about 100 researchers from different faculties in Tampere University. The DRN will organize a workshop series about the intertwining of care and democracy in urban environment in autumn 2023. The aim of the workshops is to bring together different relevant interest groups and researchers of Tampere University to reflect on the question of how to build a caring democracy through experiences of solidarity and trust. The workshop series consists of 3 different workshops, each with different societal stakeholders in Tampere urban region.

Sustainable Urban Change Dialogue

The Sustainable Urban Change Dialogue seeks to enhance environmental sustainability with an interdisciplinary, participatory approach that involves societal stakeholders and members of the university community. The activity focuses on providing a space for dialogue between different stakeholders and the university community (i.e., staff and students) to co-create new ways of collaborating on the theme of a sustainable urban environment. One-day workshop will be held in Autumn 2023 in Tampere where different stakeholders and members from the university community will discuss current and future challenges to develop sustainable, inclusive, and resilient urban environments. This activity is part of the Resilient Communities of practices at the ECIU University.

More information

Call for STUE Action Grant 2023