Finland's Minister of Science and Culture, Sari Multala, visited Imperial to highlight the growing research collaborations between UK and Finland.

The Minister was accompanied by Jukka Siukosaari, Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom on the visit.

Imperial's Provost Professor Ian Walmsley CBE and Professor Arttu Rajantie from the Department of Physics and Chair of the Finnish Science Society welcomed the Minister and delegation to the university.

The Minister visited the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein and met Imperial scientists and students to hear about the increasing number of projects with partners in Finland.

The delegation visited the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein, which is led by Dr Rodrigo Ledesma Amaro, to hear about its work. Dr Ledesma Amaro also spoke about a Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions doctoral network focused on ‘Yeast-based solutions for sustainable aviation fuels’ in collaboration with ABO AKADEMI in Finland.

Imperial and Finland

Imperial has strong links with partners in Finland and a growing community of more than 40 Finnish staff and students.

Imperial currently has 32 Horizon Europe collaborations with partners in Finland.

The Horizon Europe projects include areas of research such as the COVID-19 response, sustainable critical raw materials, climate sciences and climate modelling, yeast-based solutions for sustainable aviation, and energy storage and battery technology.

Imperial is also collaborating with Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre and other partners to develop global standards for biofoundry development, funded by the US National Science Foundation Global Centers programme.