Anna Kiiski

Doctor of Science (Technology) Maria Hänninen has been appointed Research Director of the Kotka Maritime Research Centre. Having earned her Doctorate at Aalto University in 2015, she dedicated her doctoral thesis entitled “Bayesian network modeling of potential patterns in maritime safety performance” to examining the multilevel modelling of maritime safety. She has since also held positions in the private sector.

The new Research Director will actively participate in research efforts and coordinate the work of various research communities, thus forming an integral part of the Research Centre’s scientific profile.

– Maria Hänninen is not only a gifted researcher, but she also brings to the table a vision of how our research can be further developed. We see multidisciplinary research that also supports the needs of relevant stakeholders as very important. Hänninen will also contribute to our work from this point of view, says Executive Director Anna Kiiski.

Research Director Maria Hänninen takes up her post from the beginning of October 2018.

The Baltic Sea Village challenged Kotka’s schoolchildren to get creative with introduced species, i.e. plants or animals living outside their native habitat as a result of human activity. Introduced species pose a grave threat to biodiversity. The young artists’ drawings depicted species both real and imagined, with family tickets to the Maretarium aquarium raffled among the participants. One of the winners was 5-year-old Joanna, whose interpretation of an introduced species can be seen below.

The Baltic Sea Village is organized annually in the context of the Kotkan Meripäivät festival. Organizers included the Environmental Centre of the City of Kotka, Haili Nature School, Kymen Vesi Oy, Metsähallitus, Natural Resources Institute Finland, The South-Eastern Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, and the Southern Finland Fishermen’s Association.