Emmi Lundán

It's not April Fools' Day: Finnish NGOs, business and trade unions call for European leadership in climate policy together Yes, it's for real: the umbrella organisation of Finnish NGOs, business and trade unions appeal together to politicians across Europe ahead of the European Parliament elections to maintain the EU leadership in climate policy. They say in unison: "We are convinced that the green transition is an unprecedented opportunity to grow our economy – to develop new business, attract investment, create new sustainable jobs and, consequently, bring tax revenue to fund the services of the welfare society." Hear, hear, so it is - and also an unprecedented opportunity to cut the leash of fossil fuels, which is a dangerous dependency with huge risk exposure to different geopolitical events. From Finnish standpoint, strong European leadership in climate policy and green transition broadly, with an increased focus on social justice, is a non-brainer. What are the real, solid counter arguments ? https://lnkd.in/dQYCf9Kt #energytransition; #greentransition #europeangreendeal; #climateaction #Finland; #EUCO; #EuropeanCommission #Europeanparliament #circulareconomy

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UN Women BiH 11h issue of the Focus on Gender Bosnia and Herzegovina: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Insights from Work and Non-Work Dimensions. This is the eleventh in a series of publications addressing specific areas of work on gender equality in BiH. It is designed to give more insight on specific gender equality issues and proposed actions to policy makers, experts, governmental institutions, civil society organizations and representatives of international community. The primary objective of this edition of Focus on Gender is to assess all public and private stakeholders who can provide access to finance for women in rural areas. Link to the publication: https://lnkd.in/eUSZv-Qq

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As Europe’s political climate darkens, the re-opening of Connect NEB and Cocreate NEB calls comes at just the right time - giving us a chance to take action and make real changes where we live. These two programmes, some of my favourites from the #EITCommunity, invite all citizens to turn their neighbourhoods into places that please the eyes, nurture the mind, and uplift the soul. They are looking for up to 16 projects that help people feel they belong, reconnect with nature, prioritise those in need, or promote sustainability with a lifecycle approach: 🌱 Connect NEB engages people in addressing local community challenges: https://lnkd.in/eFwaVf4J 🤝 Cocreate NEB calls on local communities and public authorities to redesign public spaces: https://lnkd.in/eNRNbEgP. An info session will be held next Tuesday already! Supported by EIT Food, Climate-KIC, EIT Urban Mobility and EIT Manufacturing with funding up to €45,000, participants will join a group dedicated to joyfully rethinking how we eat, move, interact, and produce💪

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😍 📚 NEW PUBLICATION: One part of my Ph.D. thesis is now an article in this wonderful edited volume. 💡 I think it was about time we talked about the stereotype present in gendered #Islamophobia of an “oppressed Muslim woman” as a legacy of #Orientalist constructions that historically served the Empire’s cultural project in Muslim lands but also today affect #Muslim women in their everyday lives and their religious practice. Muslim #convert women have to deal with this stereotype; however, simultaneously during their #conversion period, as family, friends, and the society at large question the genuineness of their #spiritual transformation. These women are externally presented as “forced” into conversion by their husbands or having been spiritually “brainwashed,” lacking #agency and the ability to make moral choices. 🙏 If you do not have one of those fancy "institutional access" options and would like to read my article or others in this book, let me know 🤗

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Presented a working paper on Pragmatic Political Disinformation as a new framework to look at disinformation in online and offline spaces at #SmidgeSeminar ‘The Hybridization of Conspiracy Theories, Misinformation and Extremism on Social Media’ at the Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen with SMIDGE Project, Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS). PPD involves strategic mis/disinformation and framing efforts aimed at establishing and reinforcing specific symbols and norms related to the ethnic identity of a group. The ultimate goal is to win a self-created public competition to define what constitutes a "good member" of the ethnic group both online and offline.Utilizing algorithms that prioritize sensational and emotionally charged content online. Emphasizing ethnic identity to create a strong in-group/out-group dynamic. In PPD there are three types of framing: Survival Framing: Portraying issues as threats to the group's very existence, which can mobilize strong emotional responses. Creating a sense of immediacy and necessity to act in order to protect the group’s future. Cultural Framing: Emphasizing the need to preserve cultural heritage, language, and traditions against perceived external threats. Highlighting the group's historical achievements and contributions, fostering a sense of pride and continuity. Moral Framing: Good vs. Evil: Casting the in-group as morally superior and the out-group as malevolent or corrupt.

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𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐔 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 📣 NEW EPISODE - THE GRANT PODCAST: #112 Municipalities and EU funding w. guest Maibrit Lajgaard Pedersen ❗ The EU Commission is offering a lot of funding opportunities for local authorities and municipalities. And of course a certain amount of entities approach funding each year. However, having worked with facilitating funding for municipalities earlier in my career, I know that many of them shy away from getting engaged. For this there are many reasons – the system seems difficult to approach, the rules are different, the administrative elements are different, a certain level of English is needed etc. But there are also many myths surrounding the EU funding area within the segment of local clerks. All this can be handled and dealt with if you choose to invest a little time in getting acquainted. Vejle Municipality Business Support (DK) some years ago decided to invest time and resources into attracting EU funding. I know, because they are strong partners in my daytime job at Trekantområdet. I therefore invited Business Consultant Maibrit Lajgaard Pedersen from their unit into the virtual podcast studio for a talk about how they are working actively with EU funding in their activities to support the local business environment and how it helps them to be able to do more when they mark up their resources allocated with EU funding. ❗Key take-aways 👉 Investigate the opportunities as municipality – there can be a lot to gain 👉 The rules and administration are not that difficult to deal with 👉  When you get engaged suddenly you will be invited regularly into proposals… 👉 …and will find you and your team involved in excellent international exchange with peers across Europe 👉 Just get started ❗ Direct link to episode:  https://lnkd.in/dv639gbs ❗ Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and check out The Grant universe: www.thegrant.eu/112  #municipalities #funding Marie Latour Kristjan Zemljic Filippo Gagliardi Rita Gil Mata, PhD. Inger E. Strand Karni Georg Melzer Yoram Bar-Zeev Morten Damgaard Nielsen Sarah Gaarde Jens Ejner Christensen Svetlana Myagkova Daiana Huber Christina Achilleos Maria Daniela Angione Esen Kunt Magdalena Bem-Andrzejewska Ilaria Rudisi Runa Monstad Merete Mikkelsen Jeanett Bolther Thomas Jensen Anna Haaland Wittenberg Rasmus Anker-Møller Pirita Lindholm Marianne Lundholt Pernille Holmskov EuroCenter DK NCP Wallonie National Contact Points (NCPs) European Commission EU Science, Research and Innovation European Committee of the Regions ERRIN Vejle Kommune Vejle Erhverv - fælles om erhvervslivet South Denmark European Office dacob

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Sharing the recent post published by Climate-KIC, the main European agency supporting Cities and Regions in terms of climate innovation, alluding to the range of 16 projects, which includes Maia’s Sobrotherhood, which aims to implement the principles of the New European Bauhaus (NEB)”, with strong emphasis on its third pillar, “Inclusion”, where the participation of the community assumes particular relevance! In our specific case, schools and elders from the Sobreiro Neighborhood! Maia thus continues its active participation in NEB through the implementation of innovative projects such as Sobrotherhood or Eyes Hearts Hands 👁❤️🖐 in its territory, always keeping in mind the three NEB values ​​defined as fundamental principles: Sustainability (where climate objectives must be allocated), Aesthetics (quality of public space) and Inclusion (valuing public participation!). #neweuropeanbauhaus #Maia #sustainableurbandevelopment #innovation #climatechange

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European political leaders are pawning the climate and environmental action, expecting to gain cheap wins in the 2024 European Elections 🤦‍♂️ As ministers have sealed the overhauled of the Common Agricultural Policy today, we are witnessing yet another proof that policymakers have decided to play around fears and to weaponise environmental legislations. In recent months, Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission has loosened pollution rules for industrial farms, dropped plans for sustainable food production, abandoned targets to reduce pesticides and shelved efforts to ensure a resilient water supply. Some national governments have frozen EU plans to restore nature in Europe and compromised corporate due diligence rules protecting human rights and the environment. Now, agriculture ministers are threatening the EU’s new rules to fight global deforestation... That's why the WWF European Policy Office, together with the European Environmental Bureau, Greenpeace European Unit, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, Friends of the Earth Europe and over 140 other organisations, we are publishing a joint statement today warning of the consequences of the current attack on EU’s green rules! European citizens are demanding the Union to be determined and consistent in its action to fight climate change, pollution and the decline of biodiversity. Such backlashes need to stop immediately and policymakers must commit to uphold an ambitious green agenda in the next five years 📜 More here: https://lnkd.in/ef9RfgyN #VoteFutureEU

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Curious to see what the largest coalition of youth-led networks at the European Level (Generation Climate Europe (GCE)) is doing in the context of the European Parliament elections? Check this out 👀

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🗳️ Your Vote Matters! 🗳️ Are you feeling undecided about voting in the upcoming European elections? Let me remind you: your vote holds immense importance. These elections will not only determine the course of the EU for the next five years but will also significantly impact crucial issues like climate change, migration policies, and the balance between greater integration and increased nationalism, among others. Still unsure about the significance of your vote? Dive deeper into the conversation by exploring the article linked below. https://lnkd.in/dRbssjdY

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Just yesterday I joined a webinar on new developments on Climate-ADAPT platform including interactive viewers of EUCRA report like major risks and impact drivers and also new developments on the European Climate and Health Observatory. Yesterday evening, we had locally intense storms in Slovakia. Today, I read in the news one of the regional hospitals had to close including the ambulance care due to flooding. It´s here and we´re not well prepared. #climatechange #adaptation #floods

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Looking forward to the next edition of this independent, annual climate progress report for Europe. 💪 An opportunity to discuss what is at stake and constructive ways forward ⬇

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Culture must be placed at the heart of the European Union! With just over a week until the European elections, we wanted to share the Suomen kulttuuri- ja tiedeinstituutit ry / Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes’ objectives for the European elections 2024. 🎨 Culture must be placed at the heart of the European Union. A diverse cultural heritage, mobility opportunities and the freedom to think, learn and create are central to the European project. Although the EU’s jurisdiction in cultural and scientific policy is supplementary to that of the Member States, cooperation in these fields must be done in closer contact. Our objectives are: 1. The freedom of the sciences and arts must be secured and their accessibility promoted 2. Cultural sustainability must be included in the sustainability objectives 3. The role of the arts, culture and creative industries in generating opportunities for growth and employment must be promoted as part of the efforts to ensure Europe’s competitive strength and appeal It is necessary to acknowledge that the sciences and research as well as the arts, culture and creative industries provide the conditions for the success of other sectors. https://lnkd.in/dzFuCqcc #EU #EUElections #EUvaalit #eurovaalit #europarlamenttivaalit #Eurooppa #vaalitavoitteet #instituutit #FinnishInstitutes

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Finland's record low birth rate - an undeniable fact Sometimes it can be hard to turn a complex issue into simple, understandable, points. It's one of the many reasons why debating online is such a generally awful experience - when someone has a choice between a simple lie and a complex truth, the lie usually wins. At the very least, it becomes hard to keep track of the "grey areas", with nuance lost in the echo chambers of polarised opinions. This isn't one of those times. Finland's birth rate last year, at 1.26 children per woman, is the lowest it has been since 1776. We face a perilous future, with an ever more rapidly ageing population leading to the potential collapse of Finland's famed welfare state, and worse and worse conditions for all who call this country home. We need immigration, it is as simple an issue as that. We have no other way to ensure a future with a suitable workforce. A workforce that not only keeps the country running, but also pushes it forward, and makes it a place desired by industry and investment. Other measures to increase the birth rate are needed as well, but they cannot work quickly, or effectively, enough. This means we cannot allow Finland to become more closed off, more anti-immigration. We cannot allow for years of damage to our global reputation, and years of lost talent and skills. All that will do is push the problem down the road, and when we wake up and realise how much workforce is needed, leave us having to take the same steps we could take now, but with far less time. Let's focus on the potential we have. We have an amazing country in Finland, and so much good has happened to get us to this point. Let's now not throw that away by holding onto the past. Let's consider what it means to be Finnish, and lets make a country of inclusion, not division. It's not just right, it's necessary. https://lnkd.in/dB8AT3SM

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✅ Today we attended an insightful webinar organised by Social Innovation Exchange (SIX): How can funders strengthen democracy ❓ 🗣We listened to three expert speakers, Lisbeth Pilegaard (European Endowment for Democracy (EED), Lisa Witter (Apolitical Foundation) and Zeljko Jovanovic (Roma Foundation for Europe) about how philanthropy can take unconventional and transformational approaches to democracy innovation focused work. 💬 They underlined the need of a collective effort to strengthen democracy and the role of philanthropy in driving it. They also shared about social innovation tools and methods that can help philanthropy counter authoritarianism and protect our democratic cultures and institutions for the future. #DemocraticInnovation #GovernanceInnovation #CollaborativeGovernance #Philanthropy

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📢 Our new report on why central and eastern Europe is crucial to the EU's successful clean energy transition is out! 👀 Read more below ⬇

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And here it is, our much awaited next report under the Enlightenment 2.0 Research Programme: 🙊 🙉 🙈 Trustworthy Public Communications 🙊 🙉 🙈 together with stellar Laura Smillie. What does public communications even mean? 🤔 Well, it means so much more than campaigns and speeches. It means everything from press releases, website content to government hotlines and forms to be filled out (yes, ALL the forms...). The report is a guidebook for what public communication should be: - In times of multiple crises, democratic backlash, disinfo-filled environments and personal challenges, communicators no. 1️⃣ goal should be to build trust. - If people don't trust us, it doesn't matter what we have to say anyway. - How do you build trust? By being trustworthy (duh)! That means being "intelligently open" so that information is intelligible, usable and assessable, so that citizens can assess its quality, reliability and honesty themselves. How do we know that it is? Listen to people! Therefore, we also need to: - invest more in better listening to citizens (not just using social media goo, get our own infrastructure for citizen engagement), - decide up-front whether our communication goal is to inform or change behaviour and be transparent about it. Communication can be it's own policy tool, but we need to be open about it, - use the latest science for how to influence and listen best (nudge, nudge plus, boost, sludge, you name it), - evaluate properly whether we achieved our outcomes (and plan this ahead!), - and lastly, in times of rapidly changing information environments, we need to invest more in public communicators' skills and competences to be up to the task. ✔ All of that is in the report, with tips and tricks for how to implement this. https://lnkd.in/eYbBykB6 Of relevance to: EU Science, Research and Innovation David Mair Jolita Butkevičienė Thomas Hemmelgarn Colin Kuehnhanss Hendrik Bruns Hannah Nohlen Marion Dupoux Nives Della Valle, Ph.D., Alexia Gaudeul Emanuele Ciriolo Ângela Guimarães Pereira Karine Badr Carlotta Alfonsi David Goessmann Carlos Santiso Dana Spinant Telmo Baltazar Bernard Magenhann Kristian Krieger Nicole Romain

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📣 To anyone who might be interested in #humanitarian negotiation and the situation in #Gaza 👇 We are organizing an interactive webinar tomorrow (25 April) with three amazing humanitarian professionals who recently returned from the field. They will share their insights and experience in negotiating access, protection, and assistance in one of the world’s most complex humanitarian situations. Open to all, registration mandatory 👉 https://hubs.la/Q02tL13F0

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Looking forward to speaking at the Eighth Annual Tartu Conference on Eastern European and Eurasian studies - already tomorrow! Together with fellow colleagues from University of Tartu, Finnish Institute of International Affairs - FIIA, Kharkiv National University of Economics and other esteemed academic institutions we will try to unpack some of the communication campaigns during the war, focusing on Ukraine's response to Russian full-scale invasion. Hoping to share some of the personal insights as a Ukrainian expert in the field, but much more excited about learning from others and comparing notes on what makes war-time communications efficient, why we should embrace comms decentralization and what is the role of unjustly overlooked local media in the process. https://lnkd.in/dwAhjUi8

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