Associate Professor Jaana Rysä from the UEF School of Pharmacy is a partner in the Bio Based Dyes and Pigments for Colour Palette (BioColour) consortium, which recently secured funding from the Strategic Research Council of the Academy of Finland. The project seeks to develop new methods of biocolourant production, characterisation and application, enabling the buildup of novel processes that lead to a variety of sustainable items, such as textiles and packaging and surface materials. The BioColour project also aspires to establish the cultural, social and ethical aspects associated with producing and consuming biocolourants, thus enhancing a wider adoption of sustainability in businesses and consumer lifestyles. The project helps to generate new high-class sustainable biocolour business and advancing existing business opportunities in Finland. The sub-project led by Jaana Rysä focuses on biocolourant safety.
The consortium is led by Docent Riikka Räisänen from the University of Helsinki. From the University of Eastern Finland, Professor of Computer Science Markku Hauta-Kasari is also a partner in the consortium. Multidisciplinary research into biocolourants is also carried out at Aalto University, Häme University of Applied Sciences, Natural Resources Institute Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, North Carolina State University in the US, and the University of Campinas in Brazil.
The Strategic Research Council at the Academy of Finland selected a total of four new consortia to the Innovative Materials and Services to Promote Resource Wisdom and Sustainable Development (IMPRES) programme, which seeks to find solutions for replacing the unsustainable material foundation of our way of life with new materials and innovative services. All selected consortia secured funding for a five-year term. Funding is granted in two phases: first for a three-year term and, following an interim evaluation, for the remaining two years.
For further information, please contact:
Associate Professor Jaana Rysä, jaana.rysa(at)uef.fi, tel. +358 50 3164105