The University of Eastern Finland organises an annual Global Development Day creating an open platform for discussion and exchange of ideas, to raise awareness of global challenges and practical solutions, and to highlight UEF global development activities.
The UEF Global Development Day 2025 brought together academia, industry and civil society to explore how co-innovation can transform knowledge into sustainable and impactful global solutions. This year’s theme “From Knowledge to Impact: Co-innovation for Global Development” highlighted the importance of multistakeholder partnerships in addressing global challenges.
Keynote speaker Dr Priya Nagaraj, CEO of Pune Knowledge Cluster in India, emphasised that a systems approach is needed to solve global challenges, saying “Wicked problems need wicked problem solving”.
In her keynote, Nagaraj stressed that contextualised solutions from different stakeholders are needed for innovation to work.
“Sometimes innovations do not work and may even make a problem worse. Science and technology strands need to be put together no matter where they are coming from – laboratories, startups, NGOs – in order to address global challenges holistically”, she said. “We need to acknowledge that the processes are messy and that multiple stakeholders need to come together very early on," added Priya Nagaraj.
In the panel discussion, Ville Haatainen Vice President EEA area of Normet Group pointed out that for academia and private sector cooperation to achieve genuine outcomes, business and academia need to use similar language and more alignment in timelines is needed.
“Business needs results in the short term, whereas research takes much more time. We need to recognise this and bridge this gap when collaborating”, he said.
Maxwell Fundi, Co-Founder of Edutab Africa, and a recent UEF alumnus, spoke about the importance of clarity in collaborations.
“Clarity allows us to both identify and to be identified by others who have similar interests and allows us to complement each other. It is also important develop solutions that are contextually relevant and adaptable. This will ensures that the solutions are sustainable,” he underlined.
Mika Välitalo, Advisor on Innovation and Development, at Fingo, concurred on the importance of clarity about the expectations and motivations for each stakeholder in a collaboration.
“What success looks like for each actor in a collaboration, should be expressed frankly at the beginning of the collaboration, because there may be a lot of hidden assumptions”.
He also emphasized that inequality is evident in Global South-Global North partnerships and that it is important to acknowledge these issues and discuss how equitability and inclusivity can be enhanced in engagements.
“Addressing equitability and inclusivity also requires proper resourcing,” he highlighted.
Professor Hille Janhonen-Abruquah pointed out that good multistakeholder collaboration in Global South-Global North partnerships requires looking at the world from diverse perspectives.
“We are used to looking at the globe from only one side. How about turning it upside down or sideways?,” she asked.
She noted that when working in conflict areas, the most important element of collaboration is to remember to care.
“Caring builds trust and this is what has carried us through difficult times,” she added.
The panelists highlighted four issues that define success in a multistakeholder collaboration: genuine outcomes, trust and transparency, being grounded in reality and continuity. The panel discussion ended with a consensus among the panelists that whenever starting a collaboration, it is important to build a good relationship, for instance drinking coffee together, or doing a shared activity. Negotiations
in partnerships never start with a contract.
“Written contracts are, however, needed after a common agreement has been made to work with each other," Ville Haatainen summed up.
A moment of silence was observed during the event to remember scholars and their close ones, that have been affected by war and conflict all over the world.
Henna Rinta-Kiikka wins the UEF Three Minute Thesis Competition 2025
Henna Rinta-Kiikka, a Doctoral Researcher in the Doctoral Programme in Science, Forestry and Technology was selected as the winner of UEF’s 3MT competition. She also won the People’s Choice Award. Rinta-Kiikka’s research focuses on indoor air pollution and her presentation was titled “Measuring Smoke: Reducing Household Air Pollution, Protecting Health and Climate”. The presentation is available online (Panopto).
The runner-up was Lais Oliveira Leite, a Doctoral Researcher in the Doctoral Programme of the Philosophical Faculty whose research focuses on teacher education and agency. Oliveira Leite’s presentation was titled “Empowering Future Teachers in Brazil: Exploring Key Drivers of Professional Agency in Teacher Education”. The presentation is available online (Panopto).
In addition, Christian Muragijimana, a Doctoral Researcher in the Doctoral Programme in Health Sciences, was selected as UEF’s candidate for the next Southern Africa Nordic Centre’s (SANORD) 3MT competition in 2026. Muragijimana’s research focuses on how indigenous knowledge can be used to solve climate change and public health challenges in Kenya.
“All the UEF 3MT winners were clear, engaging and showcased impressive research,“ Dr Arja Lyytinen remarked on behalf of the judging panel, which also included Professor Blas Mola, Professor Sari Havu-Nuutinen, Dr Teppo Eskelinen, Director of Impact Minna Hendolin, International Communications Specialist Maj Vuorre and Director of the Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID), Kaisa Kurki.
Looking towards 2026
The Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID)’s coordination unit is in the last phases of transitioning to UEF.
“We are looking forward to the move to UEF and there are many synergies between UniPID and UEF’s global development activities, so I am positive that we shall be able to engage well with the UEF academic community,” said Kaisa Kurki, UniPID’s Director.
Director of International Affairs Riikka Pellinen summed up the event saying: “I echo the discussions that building trust is important in Global South and multistakeholder partnerships. Building trust, however, takes time and it is important to make the time. That is something of which we should do more, next year”.
Vice Rector for Research and Innovation Jussi Pihlajamäki expressed his delight about the global development activities in terms of engagement and projects at UEF. He also expressed that impact is really important in collaborations.
“The pathways from knowledge to impact is one that always needs to focus on the local. Global impact cannot happen without local impact, and for this to happen knowledge also has to be created locally,” he emphasized, ending with a call to action to get to know other people globally and travel, connecting and communicating.
