Digital Waters Flagship and new doctoral training project

Original press releases can be found from the website of University of Turku.

Digital Waters Flagship

The Research Council of Finland selected four new clusters of expertise to its Finnish Flagship Programme, which one is Digital waters. Professor Petteri Alho from the Department of Geography and Geology is the Vice-Director of the Digital Waters Flagship and directs the activities at the University of Turku. The University of Oulu leads the Flagship and the partners include the Aalto University, National Land Survey of Finland, Finnish Environment Institute, and Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Water is necessary for good quality of life and its integrated and sustainable management is the only way to secure water resources for people and ecosystems in the future. The Digital Waters Flagship aims to become a leading research and innovation ecosystem in the water sector, using research to support decision-making and pave the way for the next revolution in water sector – digitally. The Digital Waters Flagship will bridge the knowledge gap on the water cycle. By combining measurement data on climate, land and water through digital innovation, the Flagship supports sustainable solutions to avoid the serious consequences of global changes on water cycles, the environment and socio-economic systems.

The digitalisation of water resources will improve the management and security of water systems, distribution and use, for example in the event of flooding or drought. Digital water management also helps to balance the objectives of industry, energy, agriculture and forestry in a sustainable way.  The water sector has a multi-billion business potential worldwide, which is expected to grow rapidly due to climate change. More info on the University of Turku website.

Solutions for Green and Digital Transition (UTU-GreDiT) 

The European Social Fund granted €3.3 million in Marie Skłodowska-Curie Cofund funding to the Solutions for Green and Digital Transition (UTU-GreDiT) project led by Professor of Geography Petteri Alho. The entire funding for the project is €7.4 million. In the beginning of 2024, international researchers will be recruited to the project as doctoral researchers in the University of Turku Graduate School. They will start their research in the autumn semester 2024.

The training offered to the doctoral researchers responds to the need for experts in the fields related to green and digital transition. The doctoral researchers will visit international partner organisations and the training also focuses on extensive professional life skills.

The core of the doctoral training project consists of 14 research groups of the University of Turku and of over 45 professors, docents and senior researchers who work at the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Technology and Turku School of Economics. The doctoral researchers will be placed in these research groups and will work on their dissertations as part of the research conducted in the groups.

In addition to doctoral training, the project focuses on offering professional life and career skills to doctoral researchers. The project has ten academic organisations, six companies and ten other organisations as partners. Partners include the World Bank, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Manchester, Boliden Harjavalta, and German Aerospace Center. More info on the University of Turku website.