The interest for reindeer husbandry and climate change is big. The NKJ funded network Tarandus has grown from 20 to 100 members during the year.
Reindeer health and animal welfare was the focus for the first network meeting, held 23-24 november in Kiruna, Sweden. The two day workshop included several presentations as well as discussions and networking. The organizers hope for an increase in collaborations on the subject across the Nordic countries after the meeting.
The participants are researchers and others who work in various ways with reindeer health and welfare, infectious diseases, supplementary feeding and health of wild reindeer. Some joined physically in Kiruna, others participated digitally.
Next Tarandus workshop, with the theme infectious diseases, will be coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (LUKE) with satellite activities and study visit.
How to approach issues related to data access, reliability and security?
One way to approach this is by putting the questions into a context, making them more concrete. Another is to learn from what others have done, looking at initiatives carried out for example at European level.
In this online meeting you will have the opportunity to listen to speakers with experience as well as take part in discussions and to share with others. Welcome to join!
WHEN: June 3, 10.00-12.00 CET
WHERE: Online via Zoom, link will be sent out a couple of days before the meeting
FOCUS: Highlighting opportunities and best practices, as well as challenges with regard to data management
▪ Reflections from a testbed – Data challenges in practice, Kjersti Balke Hveem, head of NIBIO’s Centre for Precision Agriculture
▪ Keynote lecture – Data management, Suzanne Dumouchel, Head of European Cooperation TGIR Huma-Num (CNRS), Partnerships Coordinator of OPERAS AISBL & Member of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) Association Board of Directors
▪ Panel discussion – Critical data management questions, Ohad Graber-Soudry, commercial lawyer (advokat) X-officio, Tomas Klingström (Gigacow testbed), PhD Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Erik Willén (Auto2 testbed), Process Manager at Skogforsk
▪ Interactive session, all participants are invited to discuss predefined questions
Networks and mentorship programs to empower young professionals in the digital bioeconomy
Two of the action points suggested in the report Redefining digital bioeconomy to make the digital bioeconomy more gender equal are mentorship programs and networks. Mentorship programs can empower young female graduates to pursue careers in the digital bioeconomy. Setting up mentorship programs is however associated with challenges and in need of reflective thinking. It important to remember is that the aim is not change women to be “better” or “more like men”, but rather for men and women to be equals. Furthermore, networks for young professionals and students in the bioeconomy are valuable for strengthening connections, facilitating discussions, and increasing inclusive involvement for students and workers. Peer support is important in succeeding in male dominated industries, where the peer support can come from both men and women.
This discussion forum is part of a series of aiming to open up for discussions on how the education of young academics can integrate the gender perspective into the meeting between digitalisation and bioeconomy. The discussion forums are initiated and financed by Nordic Forest Research, Nordic Agri Research and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
When:2th of June, 10.00-11.30 CET To solve any technical problems, please log in to the discussion forum no later than 09.55
Where: Online via Zoom Participants will be provided with a link to the discussion forum on Monday 31st of May
RSVP: 26th of May to lovisa.torfgard@analysysmason.com
Agenda
• Welcome and introduction
• Three inspirational speeches – One teacher, one student and one network member share their point of view on networks and mentorship programs
• Group discussions on what role existing networks and mentorship programs have – How do employer female networks work and how do they differ from third party networks? What do mentorship programs
• Brainstorming ideas on how networks and mentorship programs can take a more active role at universities
To start a new cooperation could possibly be surprising and fruitful. The first network meeting in Bridge Builders was, it revealed a wide range of research and topics that have a lot of impact.
Text: Sari Ranta
The first workshop of the project was held in March. The theme was “let’s learn from each other”.
The studies presented dealt with a targeted innovative rehabilitating meals-on-wheels service for old people, findings of the Breakfast Club study, that involves residents in nursing homes in food related activities and Creating caring spaces, a study that has focus on mealtime interventions in nursing homes. Also results of the Meal Aspects 2.0 study – 20 years later, and Agefood 2.0 study (elderly persons food services in changing environments) were covered. In addition food and nutrition science at LNU and Stavanger’s Cognitive Lab at UiS and also Finnish Food recommendations for older adults were presented.
Presentations rise vivid conversations and produced ideas on which put the accent in future. Understanding Nordic perspective acquires attention; remote areas, best practices supporting healthy eating, participation and socializing are of primary concern. Supporting joint curriculum development and sharing already available materials were also emphasized. Based on what was learned it is interesting to head towards the project’s second workshop this fall.
“Bridge builders – Building sustainable nutritional bridges between research and health and wellbeing services for elderly” consists of expertise in food and nutrition research (healthy food, alternative proteins, mealtime interventions, aging) as well as in service applications and good practices (dietary habits and environments, training of social and health professionals). Participants represent Denmark (University College Copenhagen), Finland (South-Eastern University of Applied Sciences), Norway (University of Stavanger) and Sweden (Linnaeus University).
Welcome to 3 webinars during the spring: Soil as a Carbon Sink
These webinars aim to stimulate knowledge exchange between Nordic actors interested in soil as a carbon sink. They are initiated and financed by Nordic Forest Research, Nordic Agri Research and the Nordic Council of Ministers’ working group for climate and air. We will discuss soil as a carbon sink with experts from Carbon Action, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SEGES, and Svensk kolinlagring – just to mention a few.
Policy challenges with regards to soil carbon sequestration27th of April , 10.00-11.30 CET Registration:Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink before April 20 Carbon sequestration in soil relates to a range of different perspectives and policy areas, such as biodiversity, production economics, and climate aspects. This complexity creates challenges in terms of managing trade-offs and setting effective policies for tomorrow’s sustainable soil management. In this seminar we will discuss different perspectives, how policymakers can navigate among potential goal conflicts, what research says about these potential goal conflicts, what the main challenges are, and what learnings or “best practice” that can be shared.
Speakers:
EU policy on carbon sequestration in forestry and land use Christian Holzleitner,Head of unit, Land Use and Finance for Innovation, European Commission
Creating an effective transition to climate neutrality – the role of policy Hanna Mattila, Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland
Striving to protect and increase soil carbon while balancing competing societal interests: Examples from Norway Adam O’Toole, Researcher, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research
Visualisation methods and models for soil carbon sequestration 4th of May, 10.00-11.30 CET Registration:Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink To reap the benefits from carbon sequestration in soil it is essential to calculate and communicate the effects of different carbon capture activities. In this seminar we will discuss different methods and models to calculate and communicate these activities. We will engage in question such as “Which methods and models exists?”, “What are their advantages and disadvantages?”, “What development is needed to increase their efficiency and accuracy?”, and “How user friendly are they?”.
Speakers:
Title coming Dr Johan Stendahl, Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Head of Swedish Forest Soil Inventory
Carbon Action Field Observatory – illustrating carbon farming effects on farms Prof Jari Liski, Finnish Meteorological Institute, responsible Field Observatory
Carbon modelling for Danish farms Søren Kolind Hvid, Senior specialist, Danish Agriculture & Food Council F.m.b.A. SEGES
Digital knowledge centres for soil carbon sequestration11th of May, 10.00-11.30 CET Registration:Simplesignup – soil as a carbon sink Soil as a carbon sink is of interest to a wide range of stakeholders and focus point for multiple initiatives. In addition, knowledge is developing fast. This creates a complex ecosystem of actors, organisations, and knowledge which makes it challenging to comprehend what is ongoing and by whom. In this seminar we will discuss how to facilitate increased information sharing and the potential need for digital spaces for knowledge transfer.
Speakers:
How to bridge model-data integration to decision-relevant time frames Dr Istem Fer, Senior researcher, Carbon Cycle Research Group, Finnish Meteorological Institute
Nordic going global – experiences from soil carbon collaborations Dr Laura Höijer, Content Director, Baltic Sea Action Group carbonaction.org
Unlocking the potential of carbon farming Lova Brodin, CEO MiljöMatematik/Svensk Kolinlagring kolinlagring.se
Where: Online via Zoom, link will be sent to registered participants
How can we find more robust genotypes? In a changing climate we need to adapt our crops. Our NKJ research network NordCrop is working to do this!
Field crops are under pressure due to climate change. Knowledge of crop response to single abiotic stress is often available, but NordCrop will focus on the poorly understood effects of multiple stresses to develop more resilient field crops. Global climate change means that our crops are increasingly exposed to drought or waterlogging, heat and elevated CO2.
The network, funded by NKJ, will investigate how we can exploit new genomic and phenotyping technologies to identify more robust genotypes in key Nordic field crops (wheat, oat, potato and fodder grasses). A virtual meeting is coming up, 14-15 April 2021: “Phenotyping for abiotic climate stresses and yield” (day 1) and “Phenotyping for stresses ” (day 2). Welcome to participate!
Day 1 April 14:12.30-16.30 Phenotyping for abiotic climate stresses and yield 12.30 Welcome (Carl-Otto Ottosen, Aarhus University (AU)) 12.40 Keynote Rod Snowdon: Genetics and physiology of yield potential (Justus Liebig University) 13.10 Priming for heat tolerance in wheat (Thayna Mendanha, AU) 13.30 Image-based detection of fungal pathogen infections in Arabidopsis and application of the method on oat spikelets (Kristiina Himanen, University of Helsinki) 13.50 The genetic and physiological basis of yield progress in Norwegians spring wheat (Tomasz Mróz, Norvegian University of Life Science (NMBU)) 14.10 Magic populations in phenotyping (John Doonan, Aberysthwyth University, (AberU)) 14.30 Grain yield prediction based on multitemporal multispectral UAV imaging (Sahameh Shafiee, NMBU) 14.50 3D modelling of ear emergence (Mori Boozandani, AberU) 15.10 Break 15.30 Student presentations (5 min each) 16.00 General discussion (to be planned)
Day 2 April 15:12.30-16.30 Phenotyping for stresses 12.30 Keynote Olivier Van Aken: Wounding response och and stress tolerance (Lund University) 13.00 Wheat and drought (Anders Carlsson, Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) 13.20 Sorghum (Mulatu Geleta, SLU) 13.40 Modulated chlorophyll fluorescence as sceening tool (Eva Rosenqvist, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) 14.00 Guard cells in action (Hannes Kollist, University of Tartu) 14.20 Physiological responses of tomato to drought, elevated CO2 and VPD (Shenglan Li, UCPH) 14.40 Multiple stresses and melationin (Rong Zhou, AU) 15.00 Break 15.20 Wheat and heat (Aakash Chawade, SLU) 15.40 Detecting potato diseases in the field (Rick van de Zedde, Wageningen University and Research, NL) 16.00 Wrap up and general discussion
The Nordic Working Group on Agriculture and Drought will work to coordinate Nordic knowledge and projects for increased crisis preparedness across national borders.
Swedish below
At our last meeting, the working group agreed on that the most important issue for increased crisis preparedness for Nordic agriculture, is to create open channels between researchers and other stakeholders in the various countries. The existing knowledge and ongoing projects need to be Nordic rather than national, to be utilised effectively. The potential for co-operation between the Nordic countries is great thanks to the similarities in climate and political systems, and we should take advantage of that! Therefore, the network will map relevant projects, and work for increased collaboration between them.
In order to enable enhanced cooperation in future crisis, it will be important to identify and remove any barriers in advance. This was pointed out by the network as an important way forward, to improve the opportunities to handle future crises together effectively.
Den Nordiska arbetsgruppen för jordbruk och torka kommer att arbeta för att samordna Nordisk kunskap och projekt för ökad krisberedskap över landsgränserna.
Vid gruppens senaste möte beslutades att den viktigaste frågan för ökad krisberedskap för Nordiskt jordbruk just nu, är att skapa snabbspår mellan forskare och andra intressenter i de olika länderna. Den kunskap som finns och de projekt som bedrivs, ska vara Nordisk mer än nationell, så att den kan utnyttjas effektivt. Potentialen för samarbete mellan de Nordiska länderna är stor tack vare likheterna i klimat och politiska system, och det bör vi utnyttja! Därför kommer nätverket att kartlägga relevanta projekt och arbeta för ökade kontakter mellan dessa.
För att möjliggöra ett utökat samarbete i händelse av kriser, är det viktigt att i förväg kartlägga och undanröja eventuella gränshinder. Det togs av nätverket upp som en viktig väg framåt för att förbättra möjligheterna att hantera framtida kriser tillsammans på ett effektivt sätt.
There were a huge interest in joining our seminar about the current state of knowledge on soil as a carbon sink. But we want to provide those who missed it, and those who wants to refresh the memory, the presentations from our speakers.
November 26th we met to have an overview of the state of Nordic knowledge on soil as a carbon sink. There are good conditions for Nordic cooperation due to the countries’ similar soil types, climate and policies.
But where are we at? Is there a common Nordic base in terms of knowledge? These were our speakers:
Prof emeritus Johan Bouma, board member in the European Commission’s mission in the area of Soil health and food: “Exploring the exciting potential of the Nordic countries to capture soil carbon following climate change”
Prof Katarina Hedlund, Lund University: “How to turn agriculture soils into carbon sinks”
Prof Raisa Makipää, LUKE: “Forest soils and their carbon sequestration potential”
“Globally, soil contains about three times as much organic carbon as plants and twice as much as the atmosphere” [1]
Increasing carbon storage in soil is proposed to be one of the most cost-effective climate measures, a measure that also has a positive impact on aspects such as biodiversity and soil fertility. The topic has gained the decision-makers’ interest and sits high on the political agenda in the Nordics. However, using soil as a carbon sink is a complex matter. Knowledge is developing at a fast pace, but several questions remain to be answered. The topic is also associated with challenges both in terms of policy development and implementation of identified methods and solutions.
The Nordic countries’ similar soil types and climate, as well as related goal formulations in terms of climate policy, do create promising conditions for increased Nordic co-operation on carbon storage in soil.
Agenda
Welcome and introduction
Exploring the exciting potential of the Nordic countries to capture soil carbon following climate change – Prof emeritus Johan Bouma, board member in the European Commission’s mission in the area of Soil health and food
How to turn agriculture soils into carbon sinks – Prof Katarina Hedlund, Lund University
Forest soils and their carbon sequestration potential – Prof. Raisa Makipää, LUKE
Dialogue with key note speakers
Closing remarks
Furthermore, please feel free to invite additional contacts you may have that would be interested in attending the seminar.
According to a study from Stanford University in 2017, 39% of all couples found their partners on the internet, and only 20% “through friends”. What works for people who search for love should also work for those looking for a research collaborator. And in an ongoing pandemic, the internet is more or less the only way of finding that partner. It was therefore natural for SNS and NKJ to make the 2020 Matchmaking Day digital.
Text and photo: Mats Hannerz, Silvinformation
Malin von Essen was facilitating our first matchmaking day online. It all ended really well and was promising for future online events.
Matchmaking Day is a forum where SNS (Nordic Forest Research) and NKJ (Nordic Joint Committee for Agricultural and Food Research) invite researchers and stakeholders from a broad spectrum of disciplines to identify possible partners and ideas for cooperation. The forum, which has been held almost annually since 2015, was switched this year to a digital platform instead of the usual mingling in person.
Focus on reindeer husbandry
The theme of the Matchmaking Day on August 25 was Reindeer husbandry in the arctic bioeconomy. The original intention was to gather potential delegates at a meeting in Inari, Finland in May 2020. But – the corona epidemic made it impossible.
– We talked a lot about a plan B, says SNS’ secretary Mimmi Blomquist, but we soon realised that the pandemic would continue for a long time, so simply postponing the physical meeting was not an option.
Instead, the meeting was held digitally, led by the facilitator Malin von Essen. Altogether 48 people were present for the full-day event.
Digital possibilities
The meeting was conducted using the Zoom platform, one of several online meeting tools. Skype, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and other services have seen an explosion in users since the pandemic forced people to work from home and avoid travelling. In just the first week from 11-18 March, Teams attracted 12 million new users, and Zoom use increased by 169% during the first months of the year.
– There are hundreds of thousands of people who are now learning how to use video conferencing services in an effective way. The changes we have been talking about for 20 years have now been implemented at record speed, says Malin von Essen.
A new reality
In her business, she moderates and organises meetings and workshops with the aim of inspiring people and taking the results back to their organisations. The meetings are normally physical, but in 2020 she had to rethink the situation.
– We carried out several digital workshops during the spring, and we have learnt a lot about the technique and how to use the potential of the services to engage participants, she says.
The Matchmaking Day was organised as a traditional meeting with lectures, but also with several shorter workshops in smaller groups. The digital platform Zoom facilitates flexible group meetings. In “break-out rooms”, participants with a common research interest could discuss cooperation in a group size allowing more intimate discussions, and the results could be presented later to the entire audience.
– Since we have chat functions and can also assemble suggestions using the menti.com tool, everyone can make their voice heard. And afterwards, other people can look at the recorded presentations and the results of the discussions, all being posted on the SNS’ website.
Content with the outcome
Mimmi Blomquist at SNS was impressed with how well the meeting worked out.
– Of course, we need to meet in person, but this is definitely an option that our research networks could use for many of their workshops. SNS and NKJ provide financial support to research networks with partners from all the Nordic countries, and also neighbouring countries. So, partners are often located thousands of kilometres apart, and we can save lots of travel costs and reduce climate impact by using these digital services, she says.
Advices for your coming digital meetings
It is easy to start a video conference, and most researchers and business people are already used to them, but to make the meetings effective, Malin von Essen has some advice:
Be clear about your aim and goal – why is the meeting needed and what output do you expect? Then start to think of the content.
Before the meeting is live, become familiar with all the functions in the digital platform. Conduct a test meeting with some friends.
Ensure that the meeting will function technically. Not all participants are equally comfortable, encourage them to test the technique in advance. Tell the participants to use a headset and web camera, and to avoid distracting surroundings or strong backlight.
Schedule breaks in the programme. It is better to have several short breaks than one long one.
Nordic funding opportunities in reindeer research:
The Nordic Committee for Agricultural and Food Research (NKJ) and Nordic Forest Research (SNS) is calling for networks that will strengthen co-operation in reindeer husbandry research in the Nordic region. The applicant must be a researcher or communicator at a research institution. The network must include researchers from at least three Nordic countries.
SNS is calling for networks exploring forests and forestry in relation to reindeer husbandry. The application deadline is September 21, 2020. Apply for SNS networks here!
NKJ prioritises networks focusing on reindeer husbandry in relation to climate change and land-use change, but networks that focus on other aspects of reindeer husbandry are also encouraged to apply. The application deadline is November 20, 2020. Apply NKJ networks here!
SEE THE PRESENTATIONS:
Morten Tryland, professor in veterinary medicine, infection biology at UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø
After a period of clinical veterinary practice, he transitioned to research and has spent most of his research career investigating infectious diseases in arctic wildlife and semi-domesticated reindeer, in close cooperation with Fennoscandian research groups and reindeer herders.
Morten told us about reindeer health and supplementary feeding, which is a quite complex issue.
Reindeer health and animal welfare was the focus for the first network meeting, held 23-24 november in Kiruna, Sweden. The two day workshop included several presentations as well as discussions and networking. The organizers hope for an increase in collaborations on the subject across the Nordic countries after the meeting.
