Projects

Finnish-ASEAN academic platform for sustainable development (FAPSU)

FAPSU has received seed funding from the University of Turku for activities under Ministry of Education International Programme global pilots for 2022-2023, and it supports the goals of the global pilot EduCASE.

Coordinating unit: Finnish University Network for Asian Studies / Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku (UTU)

Partners in Asia: ASEAN University Network (AUN) Secretariat, Bangkok, Thailand; AUN Thematic Network of Ecological Education and Culture (AUN-EEC), Ateneo de Manila University, The Philippines; AUN Thematic Network of Sustainable City and Urban Development (AUN-SCUD), Jakarta, Indonesia; Kyung Hee University, Seoul, South Korea (ASEAN+3 University network partner).

Contact information: Project coordinator Pilvi Posio; Senior researcher, Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku,  email: pilvi.posio[at]utu.fi

The Finnish-ASEAN Academic Platform for Sustainable Development project aims to establish a firm base for future multidisciplinary collaboration on sustainable development between universities in Southeast Asia and Finland. FAPSU seeks to advance multivocal discussion and pluralization of perspectives on sustainable development through research and education. The long-term objective is to identify and test new innovative ways to provide accessible and flexible online education on sustainable development. This will be achieved through cooperation between the Finnish University Network for Asian Studies, Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS) at the University of Turku and the universities connected to ASEAN University Network (AUN). AUN is a multidisciplinary network established by the ministries of education of the ASEAN countries.

The outputs of FAPSU:

• • Two online courses on sustainable development in collaboration with AUN’s thematic networks.
    • Urban Southeast Asia
    • Socio-ecological Problem-solving in Southeast Asia and Europe
  • Publication of a thematic issue focusing on local-global interaction in sustainable development in the Journal of Management for Global Sustainability in December 2023. Call for papers for the thematic issue available here.
  • Contribution to the development of “sustainable cultural industries” as a new theme within the AUN.

Sino-Finnish cooperation in digital teaching and research (DIGITREE)

Funding from the Asia Programme of the Finnish National Agency for Education for the period 5.10.2020-31.12.2023.

Coordinating unit: Finnish University Network for Asian Studies / Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Turku
Partners in Asia: Zhejiang University, China; Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
Contact information:  Outi Luova, Director of the Finnish University Network for Asian Studies, e-mail outi.luova[at]utu.fi

The project addresses two novel issues that have fundamental impact on research and education in social sciences: travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, and the explosion in the amount of accessible digital research materials. The travel restrictions have halted many international educational and research programs. This project aims to develop alternative ways to cooperate across borders and to conduct international research, including field work, in social sciences. At the same time, the project responds to the current need to scrutinize and study the vast and exponentially expanding pool of digital data. The computer assisted digital methods for the harvesting and analysis of such data are not yet widely known in social sciences and humanities. In addition, the project also helps to mitigate climate change by reducing the need for travel.

The expected outputs of the project: 

1. Online courses
– Basics of comparative research using surveys
– Basics of R programming language

2. A survey on online teaching cooperation between Finnish and Asian universities

3. Collaboration in research

Activities:

2021
Autumn term  China and Regional Studies Joint Webinar Series with Lingnan University, School of Graduate Studies and University of Turku, Centre for East Asian Studies.

2022
October 26-27, during the Asian Studies Days.
Present the results from the survey on online teaching cooperation between Finnish and Asian universities
Panel on future of online teaching cooperation between Finnish and Asian universities
Partners from Lingnan university gives a presentation COVID-19 and Well-Being of Non-local Students: Implications for International Higher Education Governance