Research Council of Finland Awards go to food innovation scientist Emilia Nordlund and human geography researcher Olle Järv

The Research Council of Finland Awards 2024 will be presented to Emilia Nordlund, Research Manager at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, and Olle Järv, Academy Research Fellow at the University of Helsinki. Järv uses human mobility as a tool for understanding social phenomena and processes. Nordlund has contributed to creating a completely new line of research in cellular agriculture at VTT.

Emilia Nordlund develops new processes and innovations that contribute to building a sustainable food system. New alternative protein sources, produced from plant-based raw materials or industrial by-products, or with the help of biotechnology, are an important area of research. Their functionalities and nutritional qualities can be modified, for example, with enzyme-aided technologies.

For example, Nordlund studies proteins in biotechnologically produced ingredients, such as plant and microbial cells, from a digestive perspective. She has shown that bioengineering can be used to produce entirely new ingredients for the food industry and to create novel food structures and properties.

Nordlund has a strong scientific track record in conducting research, leading a research team and managing an entire line of research. She also has strong international networks.

On winning the Award, she said: “This Award is a very prestigious recognition. The Award and the RCF’s funding is particularly important for food research. The food system is facing a huge transformation, and long-term scientific research into the impact of new food production technologies and new food products is critical as we assess their potential as part of sustainable food production and balanced nutrition.”

Olle Järv promotes a way of thinking in which knowledge about human mobility improves our understanding of a dynamic and networked society and its structural changes. Järv has put forward new perspectives on a number of topics, such as urban diversity and spatial segregation, multilocality and nature tourism.

He is particularly interested in how digital data such as mobile phone and social media data can be used to study mobility, and he has developed methods to apply these data to social research.

As an RCF-funded Academy Research Fellow, Järv is investigating how big data can help to understand the cross-border human mobility and interactions and how they can contribute to mapping and understanding functional border regions in Europe.

Järv is a top researcher in human geography in relation to his career stage. According to the award motivation, he has the potential to carve out and has already embarked on a remarkable international research career in his field.

Järv said: “Funding from the RCF has been really important for my career: the five-year BORDERSPACE project allowed me to establish a new line of research, create a research team around it and network internationally. I feel that my research has influenced the way the scientific community understands and examines social phenomena and processes. That’s why my research also has societal application. It’s been rewarding to see how the project’s research is also of interest to various EU stakeholders in terms of informing policymaking.”

Recognition and encouragement for exceptional research talents

The aim of the Research Council of Finland Awards is to give recognition and encouragement to early-career researchers who are increasing their independence in their careers and to draw attention to objectives that the RCF considers important.

The Awards are presented to RCF-funded Academy Research Fellows, Postdoctoral Researchers, Clinical Researchers or principal investigators of Academy Projects, whose scientific career is still mostly ahead of them. The winners have demonstrated exceptional scientific audacity, creativity or innovation in their work. Other award criteria include increasing public awareness of scientific research or the research career, raising public interest in science, actively contributing to public debate in society, or otherwise strengthening the role, application and impact of science and research in society.

The Awards have been presented since 2003. The 2024 Awards will be presented to the winners at the Science Forum on 20 May 2025.