A single grant can change the course of a career. For Professor Hanna-Leena Pesonen, a KAUTE Foundation grant for a research visit opened the door to Vienna, an international research community, and a new way of thinking. Decades later, systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the sustainability transition remain at the heart of her work.
A grant with impact beyond its size
“I might be somewhere completely different without this KAUTE Foundation grant,” says Hanna-Leena Pesonen, Professor of Corporate Environmental Management at the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics.
All of the personal grants Pesonen has received, although admittedly not many, have been significant. They have all punched above their weight. Yet this particular scholarship became a catalyst for a long academic career.
It all began in Vienna, where Pesonen first visited in 1996. She had returned to university to plan her doctoral dissertation, but it did not take long before her curious mind began looking beyond Finland’s borders. When the KAUTE Foundation awarded her a grant for a research visit, she embarked on an adventure.
“In Vienna, I was exposed to entirely new ideas and ways of thinking. The scholarship allowed me to focus fully on research and student life,” Pesonen says.
Her doctoral research on the environmental impacts of material flows progressed within an interdisciplinary research group.
It was in Vienna that the foundations of Pesonen’s systems thinking were built.
“I consider Vienna one of my home cities. I still have friends there from my student years and always a reason to return.”
A crowded academic hat rack
But what first sparked Hanna-Leena Pesonen’s interest in corporate environmental management?
“I worked in our family’s real estate business. There I encountered various sustainability issues already at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, and they caught my interest.”
Pesonen has also always had a natural interest in environmental issues.
An academic career in the field was never part of her original plan. Her business education was intended to support a career in the corporate world. Yet something changed.
“I was invited to join a short project. All along I thought I would return to business, but things turned out differently.”
Academic life swept Pesonen along. Today, alongside her professorship in corporate environmental management, she wears several academic hats.
Her window onto cutting-edge research has come through participation in international research groups. At the same time, roles in the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) and AACSB, which evaluates the quality of research and teaching in higher education institutions, have enabled extensive professional networking. Her years as Dean of the Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics provided a strong foundation in university leadership and quality management.
Pesonen speaks enthusiastically about the opportunities she has received. The diversity of her responsibilities clearly suits her.
The sustainability transition as a central research Interest
Within her field, the sustainability transition holds a special place.
It is not merely desirable but essential if we want to maintain a livable planet. The challenge, then, is how to achieve it.
According to Pesonen, the answer lies in systems thinking. We must look beyond disciplinary boundaries and move in the same direction. This multidisciplinary approach was already appealing to her during her time in Vienna.
“Major transformations are underway in energy, textiles, food production, and mobility. The solutions must be developed together.”
Pesonen sees businesses as key players in the sustainability transition.
“Finland is a pioneer in environmental matters, including within companies, which means we have a great deal to contribute to research.”
Stay true to your own way of thinking
“You need to be passionate about your work,” Hanna-Leena Pesonen says. “But at the same time, you must be selective about what you choose to do.”
No one has time for everything, even in a diverse career. According to Pesonen, persistence is a virtue for researchers.
“In research, resilience and flexibility go hand in hand. There are easy periods and difficult periods, and you need to accept that applying for funding is part of the job.”
Persistence grows out of conscious choices and confidence in one’s own work.
“When you believe in what you do, your enthusiasm endures.”
The company of like-minded people helps as well. When you are surrounded by others who are moving in the same direction, whether in Vienna, Jyväskylä, or elsewhere in the world, your conviction is less likely to waver.
What or who has expanded your thinking?
“The professor who led our research group in Vienna, and who incidentally was not an economist, created a way of thinking that still guides me today and helps me understand complex systems and large-scale challenges. Vienna marked a turning point in my own thinking as well. They were doing things there that had not yet been done in Finland.”
What wild dream would you pursue in your work if money were no object?
“I would build strong connections with society and political decision-makers. Then I would establish a larger research group dedicated to exploring questions related to the sustainability transition.”
How can readers learn more about your field?
“The EASAC website offers a wealth of information and reports on a wide range of topics.”