Minna Valjakka Awarded Research Council of Finland Grant

Congratulations to Dr Minna Valjakka, Associate Professor, Art History and Asian Studies who recently received a grant from the Research Council of Finland to conduct a new project “Ecological Conjunctions: Contemporary Arts and Natural Science Collaborations for Civil Society Formation (EcoConjunctions)”.  EcoConjunctions is an innovative project that explores the dynamic relationship between contemporary arts, natural sciences, sustainability and civil society from an ecocritical perspective. Its interdisciplinary approach draws on art history, sociology of art and civil society studies. Through selected case studies from Finland, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan, it aims to contribute and to decolonise research art-science collaborations by formulating non-Euro-American-centric frameworks. The main objectives include: tracing local and transcultural genealogies of art-science collaborations, identifying their strategies for translating, producing and contributing to scientific knowledge, and critically analysing the possible societal impacts. With national and international collaborators from the arts, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, the project aims to establish a new field of interdisciplinary research in Finland and offer new perspectives for international research.