Annastasia Shipepe: A design study on the impact of educational robotics and sensor technology in Namibia

Annastasia Shipepe is a Namibian doctoral student at the University of Eastern Finland. She is enrolled in the Doctoral Programme in Science, Technology and Computing. The title of her research is ‘A design study on the impact of educational robotics and sensor technology in Namibia’. Annastasia is working on her research in Namibia and is working with companies in Namibia and South Africa, with a long-term plan to have educational robotics integrated in the curriculum by starting the groundwork of training the teachers from southern Africa and beyond.

Veera Koskue: What you flush down the toilet might feed you in the future

Tampere University’s candidate in the SANORD 3MT competition is Veera Koskue, who won Tampere University’s first 3MT competition. 3MT final were held as part of the Science Forum event on Saturday, January 23, 2021. The finalists performed live at Tampere Hall, and the audience watched the performances online.

Veera Koskue is a full-time doctoral researcher in the Bio and Circular Economy research group at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences at Tampere University. The main focus of her research is on recovering nutrients, such as nitrogen, from wastewaters. These recovered nutrients can then be re-used as fertilizers in agriculture, which reduces the high energy consumption and environmental issues related to fertilizer production. This approach helps secure sustainable food production also in the future.

Veera aims to complete her dissertation by the end of 2021. She is conducting research cooperation with the Australian University of Queensland. Her study is funded by the Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation and Tampere University’s Doctoral School.

Dr Pablo Pérez

Dr Pablo Pérez Chaves is has recently gained his PhD in Biodiversity Research, Remote sensing of biodiversity, at the University of Turku, Faculty of Science.

He participated in SANORD first ever 3MT which was arranged in early 2020 in our physical university campus just before COVID19 spread out. He is now a Director of Environmental Services in Finnish Overseas Consultants (FinnOC).

His title of presentation was Mapping floristic patterns in Amazonia. He focused on mapping biodiversity patterns using satellite images and machine learning, which can be applied in different locations, not only Amazonia.

Chaves’ 3MT presentation clearly indicates that his research topic is not only important but also transferable to other continents. (Please let him to tell us more about his research and reasons and process for participating the competition as well as tips for us all.)

Tuulia Malén

Doctoral Candidate Tuulia Malén comes from the University of Turku Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research (DPCR).

She is a clinical psychologist from her background and currently focusing on studying statistics. Tuulia is grateful for being invited to join the Sanord 3MT competition because she highly values sharing scientific information with different communities and public. She thinks that science belongs to everyone. On her free time, she is working on a children’s book with her friend who is also colleague-to-be. They are about to take the kids on a magical journey of emotions.

Tuulia participated in UTU 3MT competition arranged online in March 2021 with her presentation “The Goal Factory”. Tuulia Malén spoke about her research on brain function related to life satisfaction and addiction.