Tanja Suni started at CLIC on 17 April as Head of Exploitation and Impact
“I am originally an atmospheric physicist. I got my PhD in 2004 on the interactions between boreal forest ecosystems and the atmosphere – this includes different biogeochemical cycles such as carbon, water, and biogenic aerosols. I did my post-doc in Australia and after that moved back to Finland to lead various networks/projects in a large international sustainability research programme. There, I developed societal impact and stakeholder interaction methodologies on organisation and project level. After a few years, it was evident that researchers needed more and more training in this field; so my colleagues and I decided to collect all we had learned into a practical guidebook (Tutkimuksesta toimintaan, Arthouse 2018).
Next, I was recruited to the business collaboration team at the University of Helsinki – in that role, I represented the university in CLIC Innovation and met Jatta and Pirjo. For the past few years, I worked as Research Director at the Ministry of the Environment. There, my job was to support policy-making with the best available research and foresight. I developed the staff’s research skills and networks and identified knowledge and research needs in environmental policy. An important part of my work was strategy, foresight and other collaboration with funders, research organisations and other stakeholders both domestically and internationally.
At CLIC, I am responsible for developing the exploitation of our members’ RDI results and the impact of CLIC as a company. This includes developing methodologies, tools, and processes for stakeholder interaction and impact creation. Specifically, I will create impact-related content for the CLIC Ecosystem Playbook and lead impact development in the EU Clean Energy Transition Partnership.
My passion and aim throughout my career has been promoting sustainability transformation through scientific knowledge. I am most at home when building something new at the interface of different stakeholder groups: new collaborations, networks, and new ideas to promote sustainability. I am really excited to be a part of the talented staff at CLIC Innovation!”
