Topics and organisation

FCFH network structure and activities

The global programme supported by the Ministry of Education in Finland will support higher education institutes’ own strategies, which strongly underline the international co-operation and internationalisation as well as the quality of education, research and outreach. Partners in China will include higher education and research institutions of high quality which best fit the goals of the network. The fields and topics of the network aim to answer global challenges related to food: food safety, sustainability related to food, and environment and sustainable food chains. Food and health-related research topics could be linked e.g. to metabolic diseases and food behaviour. The educational co-operation will support the research co-operation on these questions and ensure a pool of experts and talents for research and businesses in the future.

The network consists of the consortia of 21 Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences. Our partners in China include top universities and individual researchers as well as companies. The coordinated activities and planning of the network activities and initiatives are carried out through the thematic subgroups. In addition, researcher to researcher cooperation is always done in cooperation with other members and the member institutes. The network events are the key platforms for academic discussions and for finding the new cooperation initiatives and partners. New initiatives can always be brought to the relevant subgroups for discussion by members and individual representatives. Every active member and researcher is welcome to join the subgroups.

You are welcome to contact the Chairs and their research coordinators to discuss cooperational initiatives. Preferably,  please include always cc to the coordinator of the network at the University of Turku: fcfh-coordinator@utu.fi.  In more technical and practical issues, please contact the coordinator first. If your initiative do not fit to any of the above mentioned sub-group topics, please contact the coordinator: fcfh-coordinator@utu.fi. 

The FCFH website and newsletter will provide an additional platform for the dissemination of information related to activities led by members institutions and partners, simultaneously increasing visibility under the broader umbrella. There will be a space to showcase events, projects, publications and activities as well as look for new potential co-operators. If you wish to submit a news item or advertise e.g. your event related to our topics, please contact fcfh-coordinator@utu.fi.

Please see more on our Communication Strategy

The academic, research-based thematic subgroups are:

Nutrition, health effects and food

Both in Finland and in China research related to nutrition and food has been recognized as crucial for achieving health and well-being. Within the research-based thematic sub-group “Nutrition, health effects and food”, we plan to strengthen the existing collaborations in the respective research field between these two countries, and also to facilitate new, potential collaborations. Among the participating researchers, from various institutes, the commonly interested topics have been child and maternal health and wellbeing as well as lifestyle modifications and metabolic diseases. In addition, gut microbiota mediated food and food components’ health impact has also been of great interest for collaborative activities.

Chairs: Professor Marjukka Kolehmainen, University of Eastern Finland  and Professor Baoru Yang, University of Turku

Contact information:  marjukka.kolehmainen@uef.fi, baoru.yang@utu.fi,

Research coordinators: Johnson Lok (johnson.lok@uef.fi) and Suchetana De Storvik (suchetana.de@uef.fi) University of Eastern Finland 

Sustainability of food, quality and safety

Within this thematic sub-group we plan to strengthen and to create new collaboration regarding agricultural raw materials and side streams for sustainable production of food and food ingredients. We plan to exploit green food processing technologies for development of nutritious and safe food products for consumer acceptance.

Chairs: Professor Marina Heinonen, University of Helsinki and Professor Baoru Yang, University of Turku

Contact information: marina.heinonen@helsinki.fi; baoru.yang@utu.fi;

Research Coordinator: and Ying Zhou, University of Turku (ying.zhou@utu.fi)

Technology related to food, digital tools and health technology

This sub-group focuses on practical solutions, digital tools and scientific research related to food and health technology. It covers technologies for i) food quality and composition analysis, ii) food consumption and human nutrition monitoring, iii) food production, processing and packaging and iv) understanding nutrition related diseases and responses to food.

As the Technology subgroup is  dedicated to horizontal component focusing on technology aspects relating to topics in other thematic subgroups. After a preliminary working period, it now appears that technology aspects can be more effectively addressed as part of work in other thematic subgroups. Therefore, there is now a proposal for the members  to end the Technology subgroup as an independent function, and thereafter technology aspects would be covered as part of the work in the other subgroups.

Contact information: Tuomas Valtonen tuomas.valtonen@utu.fi, University of Turku and Aki Manninen aki.manninen@oulu.fi, University of Oulu

Educational Cooperation (tbc)

The purpose is to look for opportunities for educational cooperation between Finland and China, in food and health related fields. This subgroup is in setup phase and  is waiting for concrete initiatives from the members.

Contact information: fcfh-coodinator@utu.fi