Annukka Lehikoinen, PhD in Environmental Sciences, has been nominated as a Research Director of the Kotka Maritime Research Center. Lehikoinen will start in the position on April 1, 2021.
The new research director has an important role in raising the scientific profile of the research center. She will participate in the planning and execution of the research work, coordinating and facilitating the cooperation of the multisectoral network of researchers and stakeholders.
– I’m pleased about this opportunity. Kotka Maritime Research Center is conducting societally significant research in the field of sustainable shipping and I look forward to promoting this work together with a high-level multidisciplinary network of experts, Annukka Lehikoinen says.
Annukka Lehikoinen defended her dissertation at the University of Helsinki in 2014. In her PhD thesis, she developed and applied AI tools on assessing environmental risks arising from oil transportations. Since then, Lehikoinen has deepened her expertise in the field of multidisciplinary risk and decision analysis, familiarised with machine learning and explored sustainable development from a systems analytic perspective. She has also been a co-implementer in the recent research projects of the Kotka Maritime Research Center, related to alien invasive species risks in shipping, international oil spill response cooperation and the sustainable development of marinas.
Lehikoinen is transferring to KMRC from the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Social Sciences , where she works as a researcher in the Environmental Policy Research Group. As her most recent conquest, Lehikoinen mentions long-term strategic planning tools – a topic she has been working on in cooperation with representatives of the City of Kotka over the past year.
– I am happy with the selection, says the technical director at the City of Kotka, Vesa-Jukka Vornanen. From our viewpoint, Lehikoinen is an excellent choice to foster the sustainable development of the city and the region, where the maritime activities have long traditions.
Kotka Maritime Research Center was founded in 2005 on the initiative of the City of Kotka. The research is carried out in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Turku and the Southeastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.
