Finland-China Food and Health Network’s Planning Group Met in Turku

After having worked mainly remotely for two years, Finland-China Food and Health Network (FCFH) held its first hybrid planning meeting on 18 and 19 January to discuss the future of the network. 

“It is very nice to have the possibility to meet with academic and administrative colleagues from various universities in Finland in Turku in person and virtually in this hybrid setting. In this meeting, we planned the future of the network by making concrete plans for upcoming events and joint projects. I am very much looking forward to the future activities of the FCFH network”, says Baoru Yang, Professor of Food Sciences and Academic Leader of the FCFH network.

The Finland-China Food and Health Network is a multidisciplinary network based on research and educational cooperation between Finnish and Chinese (higher education) institutions (HEIs), that was established in 2021. The network is linked to the global internationalisation programme which the Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland has launched together with Finnish HEIs. The network focuses on food sciences and food-related health science, especially in sustainability, quality, and health technology related to food as well as nutrition and health effects. The network connects Finnish Universities and Universities of Applied Sciences and encourages research cooperation, higher education-business cooperation as well as educational cooperation. In addition to the cooperation with Chinese partners, the tightening of the cooperation between Finnish HEIs is strongly the focus of the network. The representatives of the Finnish consortia form a planning group that normally meets monthly online to plan and develop further the activities of the network. The University of Turku is the coordinator of the network.   

In the planning meeting, representatives of the various subgroups participated either in person or online. During the meeting, the planning group brainstormed some key activities for 2023 including academic seminars and webinars, seminar series for doctoral researchers as well as identifying cooperation possibilities with companies. Moreover, external funding possibilities were sought, and joint applications were discussed.  

The coordinating Project Manager of the network Kirsi Korpela pointed out that Chinese partners have already been active in research cooperation activities of the network. However, in the future, it will be important to involve some Chinese partners in the planning of the network’s activities, as well as in organising possible events in China.   

[In the photo, Marina Heinonen (University of Helsinki), Barou Yang (University of Turku), Suchetana De Storvic (University of Eastern Finland), Satu Nurmi (University of Turku), Ying Zhou (University of Turku), Antti Knaapila (University of Helsinki), Kirsi Korpela (University of Turku), Kang Chen (University of Turku), Romy Valo (University of Turku) Representatives from the University of Oulu participated online.] 

Please contact us for more information about the network and its activities fcfh-coordinator@utu.fi