The purpose of the Geographical Society of Finland is to bring all those interested in geographical questions together, share ideas and have a feeling of a geographical community. The Geography Days, hosted by the University of Eastern Finland this year, is a great occasion that brings the national geographical community together.

The Palmén Colloquium of the Geographical Society of Finland affords occasions to present and discuss fresh and contemporary research for a broad geographical crowd. Open to all, the colloquium intends to both promote geographic research and proliferate interaction within Geography. The hybrid-form colloquium is hosted by the Geographical Society of Finland and the University of Helsinki. The colloquium can also be organized in other universities.

The name for the colloquium comes from J.A. Palmén, who helped to establish the Geographical Society of Finland in 1888. For Palmén, geography was the science that summoned different disciplines together and for whom space was a bundle of interactions of different processes. Palmén was a leading ornithologist and a biologist curious of all things living, always looking to the horizon, and pushing geographers to make connections. In addition, Johan Axel, was the subject of the Society’s first medal.

Historically the Society held meetings on Friday afternoons. Following this tradition, the colloquium will be held mainly on Friday lunchtime between 12 noon and 1 pm. In Spring 2023 the colloquium will be held in 3 MARCH, 10 MARCH, 24 MARCH, 21 APRIL & 12 MAY. The society will open the call for Autumn 2023 presentations after MAY 1. Note that the first two colloquiums are extra long.

We invite all geographers and people interested in geography to take part in this hybrid colloquium either online, or when the occasion comes live. 

Location for live meeting and online will be published closer to events with abstracts here.

Schedule Autumn 2023

Friday 27th OCTOBER

Changing cold climate river environments

Despite the polar region is warming faster than any other region on Earth, a thorough understanding of the impacts on northern seasonally ice-covered rivers is presently lacking. The changes in the capacity of river channels (e.g. floods) are dependent on the amount of sediment transported. Even though a significant percentage of the sediments in rivers originate from bank erosion, it is still unknown, especially in Northern rivers how and when exactly river bank erosion and sediment transport takes place. Therefore, new methodological approaches of measuring and modelling are needed to understand river processes (incl. ice, flow, sediment transport and their interactions), also in ice-covered conditions. Two research themes and related projects are presented: 1) The impacts of defrosting sedimentary systems on northern rivers, and on their seasonal river ice and hydro-morphodynamics; 2) Development of technical solutions for observing river and watershed scale processes. The aim is to produce understanding of long-term river dynamics by integrating unique field data, novel chilled flume experiments, remote sensing and new numerical model approaches. Preliminary results and methodological development are presented, and future research needs expressed.

Eliisa Lotsari, Academy Research Fellow, Water engineering, Aalto University

Zoom-link: https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/62840366036

Late Nov TBA

Friday, 19th JANUARY

Alue- ja yhdyskuntasuunnittelun ympäristökriisi

Vaikka kestävän kehityksen eteen on tehty töitä vuosikymmeniä, ympäristökriisi jatka pahenemistaan: elonkirjo köyhtyy, luonnonvarat hupenevat ja ilmasto lämpenee. Jotta kriisiin voitaisiin vastata, on kestävyystutkimusyhteisö tarttunut ajatukseen niin sanotusta planetaarisesta hyvinvoinnista. Planetaarinen hyvinvointi politiikan tavoitteena merkitsisi paitsi ihmisten ja muiden lajien hyvinvoinnin edistämistä, myös ymmärrystä kaikkea elämää ylläpitävien ekosysteemien merkityksestä. Ympäristön tilaa heikentävistä kehityskuluista ja tuotantotavoista on aktiivisesti irrottauduttava. 

Millaista olisi planetaarista hyvinvointia edistävä alueiden ja yhdyskuntien kehitys, ja millaista muutosta se edellyttäisi suunnittelulta? Esityksessään Jonne Hytönen esittää tulkintansa pohjoismaista alue- ja yhdyskuntasuunnittelua viime vuosikymmeninä ohjanneista keskeisistä periaatteista, ja arvioi miten niiden tulisi ympäristökriisin oloissa muuttua. 

Jonne Hytönen, Research coordinator, School of Resource Wisdom, University of Jyväskylä / Postdoctoral researcher, Aalto University

Zoom-link: https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/68770928052
Live at Tieteiden talo, room 208