I am now in Jyväskylä, having arrived by train on Tuesday. Although I did not see snow and/or ice in Helsinki there is some around further north in fields and waterways.

Finnish Institute for Educational Research

Jyväskylä is a university town and for the next 11 weeks I am based at the University of Jyväskylä (JYU) with the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER). UniSQ is a partner university with JYU and my key contact here is Kristof Fenyvesi, Senior Researcher at FIER.

The FIER building, called Ruusupuisto (meaning ‘rose park’) has four corners, nicknamed ‘dice’.

The Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER) conducts significant educational research that promotes equality, justice, sustainability and education. It is an internationally respected research institute known for its high-quality and socially significant research. FIER’s research benefits teachers, students, educational institutions and the education system. The department actively participates in scientific and societal debate. FIER’s research areas focus especially on learning, guidance, development of education, development of working life and lifelong learning.

New friends

Meeting me at the Jyväskylä train station was Josephine and Sze Wah – both from Hong Kong originally, the former now having completed her PhD is working full time as a researcher on projects within FIER, and the latter is completing her PhD with a focus on wellbeing. They enthusiastically helped get to my AirBNB, about 500 m down the road from the station. The weather has been relatively ‘balmy’ and I am so glad I did not bring my heavy woollen coat (tailor-made when I lived in Beijing) or my ear muffs! However I have been told the weather will likely change and go back to winter before the real summer starts.

Right now the streets are dusty, the cars are dusty, and the footpaths are covered in gravel – apparently this is for the snow season to protect people from slipping. Without snow the gravel plays havoc with my suitcase wheels! Maybe it would be worse with snow? The main CBD starts just across the street from me, and it is literally a straight line to walk to the university, and about 1.6 km to get to the building I am working in. I asked how to catch a bus but the general consensus was that I should walk – which is good as I am in training for the Camino!

My first meal in Jyväskylä was at the Bistro Kirkkopuisto (meaning Church Park) in the main street. I am finding that Finnish food is wholesome, not overly full of flavour, but there is lots of it. Salad and bread and coffee/tea are staples. More about food later.

Innovative Learning Environments

Yesterday I had lunch with the some of the Innovative Learning Environments members. Such a vibrant and diverse group of researchers., doctoral and post-doc students.

The Innovative Learning Environments (ILE) research group consists of researchers, university lecturers and PhD students especially from the Faculty of Information Technology and Finnish Institute for Educational Research. The diverse research projects are conducted in close collaboration with other units at the University of Jyväskylä. The ILE group has an extensive national and international network of research institutes, the public sector, and companies.

Scrappies Project

An recent example of a research project is the ‘Scrappies Project‘

Scrappies is an Erasmus+ project (its full name is Scrappies – Enhancing Creativity and Sustainable Attitudes of Children through Play and Recycled Materials, 2022-1-PL01-KA220-SCH-000087886) run by an international (Finnish-Polish-Hungarian) consortium.

The main goal of our project is to use recyclable waste in education. Recycling is one of the most effective ways to reduce waste and is therefore an important topic in environmental dialogues. Our project teaches responsible consumption through creative educational activities within the framework of education for sustainable development.

University orientation

My first 2 days on campus included orientation. Firstly, a guided safety walk through the Ruusupuisto building examining fire extinguishers, safety procedures and exits etc. Secondly, a new staff/visitor/student orientation examining how to successfully work and live in Finland, or visit (as is my situation) followed by an extensive library tour. The recently renovated JYU library has bright yellow and blues throughout. Listening to student feedback there are many excellent spaces to study as an individual and as a group. Most books have been removed (over 1 million) and now stored off site to make way for open spaces and study areas. Apparently, and I am sure this is typical of library’s today, 95% of resources are in digital format. This library subscribes to 60,000 journals – is that typical? Also, the university has a policy of making all data and research open to anyone and everyone – very enlightening! The librarian showing us around was very thorough and obviously proud of the facility. There was also a main cafeteria and a smaller cafe, the latter I visited after the 2-hour session as I was starving and needed coffee and carbs!