Multidisciplinary project develops solutions for active citizenship among young people
ALL-YOUTH is a multidisciplinary project that studies the capabilities and obstacles of 16–25-year-old young people in relation to social engagement as well as the young people’s views on sustainable development, growth and well-being. The project produces new solutions promoting more active citizenship among young people through the perspectives of responsive governance and rule of law, digital innovation, sustainable development and bioeconomy. The project was initiated in November 2018 and will continue until October 2024.
The project has involved working with young citizens, ministry officials and organisations (e.g. Finnish Red Cross Youth Shelters) to develop the Digiraati digital panel for citizens, for example. Its aim is to help young people make a difference in society and increase the dialogue between decision-makers and young people.
Digiraati is used on a national level as part of the Ministry of Justice’s democracy services.
Read more about the ALL-YOUTH project.
Outdoor Express provides effortless low-emission access to nature from the centre of Tampere
Towards the end of the summer in 2022, the Outdoor Express nature bus trial was carried out as part of the Sustainable Tourism Mobility project with the aim of improving the equitable low-emission accessibility of natural sites in the Pirkanmaa region. The aim of the trial is to test the bus transport service to the national parks of Seitseminen and Helvetinjärvi and the Kintulammi camping area.
Tampere University is responsible for coordinating the trial and assessing the results. Thanks to the good results and experiences, the plan is to continue the Outdoor Express service in 2023. The aim is to extend the availability to span from May to September and include new locations.
Human-centric AI opens up new opportunities for improving accessibility
A project titled Human-Centered AI Solutions for the Smart City (KITE) focuses on the co-creation of AI solutions and their design methods in collaboration with companies by conducting applied research on human-centred technology.
The aim is to develop knowledge and skills for the design and development of AI solutions that are not only meaningful and understandable but also acceptable and ethically sustainable from the perspective of users. The targeted solution domains are chosen from the central AI application domains of the smart city, such as smart traffic, a city’s decision-making processes and sustainable development.
Read more about the KITE project.
Using games to promote public engagement with climate change
The Our Planet at Play project aims to improve our understanding of the potential of games to promote public engagement with climate change. The ultimate goal is to develop, test and release a new digital game to promote citizen engagement with climate change and its causes, present and future impacts and climate actions. The project participants are committed to driving deep and lasting change by supporting cognitive, affective, and behavioural citizen engagement.
Read more about the Our Planet at Play project.
RoboCivics explores interactions between young people and social robots
RoboCivics is a project funded by the Academy of Finland. The main goal of the project is to create new scientific knowledge about the interaction models of persuasive social robots that can encourage civic participation among young people.
The RoboCivics project investigates how social robots can support and facilitate young people’s civic participation in the context of sustainable development. The project participants will co-design social robots in collaboration with young people aged 15 to 24 to gain an understanding of their preferred forms of interacting with social robots – with sustainable development as the application domain.
Integrating sustainable development themes into the education of visual journalism
Sustainable development has been an overarching theme on many visual journalism courses at all levels of university education. Since 2018, students of Journalism have conducted at least one practice shoot a year on the topic of sustainable development. In the context of intermediate studies, students have created short videos on sustainability since 2019. As many as three extensive courses on sustainability have been integrated in the master’s degree studies: one of the subjects of the portraiture workshop held during the first autumn term is related to sustainable development. In the spring, too, the students create a sustainability-related piece during the video course and use some of the subject matter for the Katse magazine. The first print issue of Katse themed around sustainable development was published in spring 2022. This has provided students with a more extensive grasp of sustainability themes during their studies in Visual Journalism.
Katse website presenting the students’ coursework.
Some of the course videos are available on Vimeo.
The Sustainable Design course makes information technology sustainable
The Sustainable Design course explores the social, environmental and economic perspectives around information technology, building on the concepts of sustainability and IT-related ethics. The course students aim to become designers of IT software and services or other experts who can shape the utilisation of new technologies.
Read more about the course.