Text and photos: Laura Iisalo

Ten thousand years ago, the cultivation of wheat changed the course of humankind. The transition from hunter-gathering to agriculture was a great success from the perspective of survival, and by now wheat is one of the most popular cereal grains in the world. It tastes great, it is easy to use in baking and cooking, and it is relatively cheap. Unfortunately wheat, especially when refined, is not very nutritious or sustainable.

There are many other grains and legumes such as faba bean, sorghum, and millet, which are rich sources of proteins, minerals, dietary fibre, and antioxidants, but those are often under-utilised because the taste and texture are inferior to commercial wheat products.

To try and solve this dilemma, PhD Yaqin Wang decided to look into making better use of these wheat alternatives in Europe and in African countries including Burkina Faso and Kenya, where most of the wheat flour is imported. She defended her thesis, ‘Optimization of cereal foam structures by using tailored bioprocessing’, in June 2020.

– The aim of the project was to help to increase the usage of locally grown grains by making high protein, or wholegrain bread. In order for people to adapt, the product needs to be quite similar to what they are used to. The problem is that when you replace more than 30% of the wheat flour with faba bean, sorghum or millet flour, the bread becomes very small and hard and not very tasty compared to regular bread, Wang says.

The big baking experiment

To improve the texture and flavour, Wang experimented with dextran. As an all natural alternative to commercial texture enhancers and flavour-masking additives, it doesn’t have to be listed in the food label because dextran is not an ingredient but a product of sourdough fermentation with well-characterised lactic acid bacteria isolated from food.

By adding sucrose, Wang developed a bioprocessing method that created dextran, which functions in a similar way to gluten. In theory the method can be applied to any flour, but it needs to be tailored to optimal conditions.

– It was challenging to work with difficult flours because there was not much information available. For instance, the sorghum flour can have antimicrobial compounds, which means that when you try to ferment it, the bacteria just won’t grow, Wang says.

Future of food

Eventually the hard work paid off. Wang used 30-50% of faba bean, sorghum, or millet flour to replace wheat flour, and dextran producing lactic acid bacteria isolated from an African sourdough pastry.

She managed to bake bread that was close to, or even bigger than a 100% wheat bread. To see how the invention appeals to the end-consumers, Wang and her team traveled to Burkina Faso, and held a sensory test in a local bakery.

– It was successful. I’m happy that they are now trying to use the local cereals in making food. Wheat ranks top on the Africa’s food import list and it has put high pressure on the government and food security. More effort needs to be put into the project in order to get the bread in the market but the study was very good, she says.

Wang is now a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Food and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Helsinki, and she continues to investigate the future of food, focusing on creating plant-based alternatives for meat.

– Our main purpose is to reduce the reliance on wheat flour, and to replace it with healthier options. Often the work is very challenging but we have a big research group here, and a lot of people involved. It’s a good community, she says.

PhD Yaqin Wang looked into the optimisation of cereal foam structures by using tailored bioprocessing, and received a grant worth 24 000 euros from the central fund towards her thesis research.

The aim of the “World on Stage” funding is to encourage Finnish theatres to have new, contemporary plays from around the world translated into Finnish, and then to perform them. Theatre Info Finland (TINFO) will also receive funding from the foundation to arrange special World on Stage information events for theatres, where they are introduced to recent, as yet untranslated, works by contemporary playwrights.

Less and less high-level contemporary world literature is published in Finnish. Relatively many translations are made of English-language works, but very few from other languages. The same applies in the world of drama. Hardly any recent dramatic works from continental Europe or elsewhere in the world are performed in Finnish theatres.

– Currently, the Finnish theatre world is operating in a kind of vacuum concerning translated plays, which means we don’t breathe the same air as the rest of Europe. Finnish audiences deserve opportunities to enjoy more diverse programming. We hope that the World on Stage funding will lead to presentations of how the challenges of our time are processed dramatically in other cultures, explains actor Timo Torikka, who was involved in developing the new grant.

Theatres may apply for the grant for the first time in August 2022, and annually thereafter. The total funding for play translations and performances between 2022 and 2029 will be EUR 1.2 million.

– It is important for TINFO that the funding is available to the entire field, which means both institutional theatres and independent theatre companies. We are also pleased that the funding will allow for tours, so that performances can reach audiences in various places, says TINFO Director Linnea Stara.

TINFO will gather up a team of experts, who will be tasked with reading contemporary plays from as many language regions as possible, to consider which ones could fit in well in today’s Finland.

– We want to be involved in creating a diverse theatre sector whose eyes are open to the rest of the world during this time of reconstruction.

For further information, please contact:

Finnish Cultural Foundation: Juhana Lassila, Director of Cultural Affairs, tel. +358 9 6128 1230
Theatre Info Finland (TINFO): Linnea Stara, Director, tel. +358 50 301 2723

In 2022, the Cultural Foundation will pay out approximately EUR 50 million in grants, of which EUR 27 million is open for applications in October. Most of the grants will be given out as full-year working grants of EUR 26,000, or EUR 30,000 for postdoctoral research

– There is a lot of uncertainty in the area of funding for academic and artistic disciplines at the moment. The Cultural Foundation has increased its grant sum, while keeping the criteria largely unchanged since last year, explains the foundation’s director in charge of grants, Juhana Lassila, 

Academic grants are directed particularly at doctoral theses and postdoctoral academic work. For doctoral candidates, the Cultural Foundation offers an opportunity to combine the grant 50–50% with an employment period at a university or research institution, such that put together they form a full-time further education package.

In October, the Cultural Foundation will grant around EUR 1 million to research concerning nutrition and health. Applications are accepted from the fields of natural science, pharmacy, medicine and agronomy, as well as from multidisciplinary projects. The funding will be granted to at most five research projects and is intended for teams consisting of several members.

Artists may apply for grants for work or projects, while artistic communities may apply in relation to cultural projects. Within the arts, the Cultural Foundation is happy to accept applications for large-scale, multi-year projects.

– The Cultural Foundation has no specific areas of focus for large-scale projects. We are looking for high-quality projects within or between any artistic disciplines, Lassila says.

Specific grants open for applications within the October round are Eminentia, Art for Everyone and Dig It! archaeology initiative.

The Eminentia grant is intended for reflecting on and sharing one’s scientific or artistic life’s work and o the experience gained from it, to benefit others, either in one’s own field, other fields, in interaction between science and the arts, or more broadly, to promote the social significance of science or art. A prerequisite for the Eminentia grant is that the resulting work be published in writing as a standalone book, online publication or a series of articles. 

Art for Everyone (previously known as Art for Institutions) is aimed at increasing the opportunities of people in need of care or support to experience high-quality art and, in this manner, promoting cultural equality. The art financed by the grant must be directed at people whose access to art is otherwise limited. Potential locales for implementing this kind of project include hospitals, prisons, reception centres, care units for substance abusers, child welfare institutions, sheltered homes, day centres, and care homes for the elderly. The minimum application sum in the October round is EUR 25,000.

The Dig It! archaeology grant is designed to create opportunities for primary and secondary school students to take part in archaeological activities in their local area, thereby promoting their awareness of and interest in scientific research methods, their own local heritage and history in general. Archaeologists, working groups run by archaeologists. and registered cultural heritage organisations – including museums and archaeological societies – are eligible to apply for Dig It! funding. The projects are implemented in cooperation with one or more local schools.  

More information about the October Round.

Teksti: Laura Iisalo
Kuvat: Rami Marjamäki

Supporting cells of the nervous system have been proven to have a crucial role in various neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), which currently affects over 10 000 Finns. MS is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, and it leads to a loss of myelin that insulates the nerve cells, formation of inflammatory areas, and nerve damage. There is no cure but the current medical treatment slows down disease progression.

Animal testing is traditionally used in multiple sclerosis research, but animal models do not fully recapitulate the disease pathology of humans. The approach of Academy research fellow Sanna Hagman is new. She uses stem cells derived from MS patients who have a genetic risk factor for the disease. The cells are guided to specialise into different types of nerve cells, such as nerve supporting glial cells, and then exposed to an inflammatory environment mimicking that of the MS disease, to see how the inflammation affects the properties of these cells.

Postdoctoral researcher Tanja Hyvärinen has been involved in the study since September 2020. She looked at the functionality of neuronal cells, and the role of glial cells in the neuronal network, already in her doctoral thesis.

– The goal of the research is to recognise the glial cell-mediated disease mechanisms leading to neurodegeneration in order to advance new treatments for multiple sclerosis, Hyvärinen says.

Interdisciplinary cooperation enables diverse research

Hagman’s research project collaborates with the teams led by Professor Tarja Malm at the University of Eastern Finland, and Professor Laura Airas at the University of Turku, and with Adjunct Professor Susanna Narkilahti and Professor Pasi Kallio, principal investigators in the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Body-on Chip Research at the Tampere University.

The latter are currently developing a new type of organ-on-chip platform, which enables simultaneous culturing of different neural cell types. The chip can be used to look at the interaction and role of these cells in the MS disease more diversely.

The team has already managed to culture glial cells together with nerve cells, but the project is very demanding, and requires perseverance. The challenge is what makes it so attractive.

– Stem cell research is quite a new field but it will allow us to study the disease mechanisms and even tailor personalised medicine in the future. It will take time to get there because first scientists need to solve many practical challenges, Hyvärinen says.

If everything goes as planned, the cultures derived from stem cells can be used to create brain-like, humanised laboratory models, which can complement or even replace animal testing.

– The idea is that we can create universal disease models to discover what kind of changes are caused by the genetic risk factors predisposing one to multiple sclerosis. It can aid the discovery and development of new pharmaceuticals, says Hyvärinen.

Postdoctoral researcher Tanja Hyvärinen received a grant worth 30 000 € for her study, which looks into the role of glial cells and their drug responses in MS disease.

Text: Laura Iisalo
Photos: Petri Jauhiainen

The past 18 months have tested the restaurant business but the pandemic is not the only defining factor. A doctoral candidate at the University of Eastern Finland, Sini Kauhanen, is working on her thesis to get a full picture of the trade, because she is concerned about its future.

When Kauhanen was working on her master thesis she noticed that even though the hospitality industry is well researched, there are not many academic articles available about the restaurant trade. Her thesis will be the first of its kind in the field of economics.

Kauhanen is going to prepare a so called PESTEL analysis, which looks into the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal aspects that affect the trade. She is also an entrepreneur in real estate, and has friends and tenants in the restaurant business, who provide Kauhanen with up-to-date information.

– The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major losses for many restaurants that have been forced to take loans, some have gone under. A big chunk of the laid-off waitresses and chefs have understandably found some other type of work. The current situation is catastrophic, Kauhanen says.

A past shaped by laws

Apart from the present, Kauhanen will also dig deep into the past. Her research material consists of theses, memoirs, histories, textbooks, and 40 years’ worth of Vitriini magazines published by the national trade and labour market association. It has already become clear that the political and legal aspects have set a strict framework for the trade throughout history.

Apart from Finnish alcohol policies and serving rules, opening times, and tax regulation, one of the defining elements was joining the EU, which was warmly welcomed by the industry. The reality was adverse because with the EU came VAT of 22%, which had up until then been unheard of in the service sector. The affects were dramatic.

Changes in the Tobacco Act, and especially its gradual implementation, caused dissatisfaction in the 1990’s and 2000’s.

– Many restaurants invested tens of thousands of euros to acquire the required air conditioning. Soon the act was amended, and the restaurants had to arrange a smoking room or prohibit smoking altogether. A lot of money was wasted, says Kauhanen.

Serving rules stating that alcohol could not be purchased without food, prohibition of dancing in restaurants, and the demand that women had to be accompanied by a man have also stayed in the history books. Kauhanen says that getting to know the past has strengthened the idea of how external factors have affected the trade, and still do.

Aiming for change

Kauhanen believes that the restaurant trade has a huge potential if utilised, which could tremendously affect the employment rate and economics. Her hope is that the decision makers would listen to those involved in the industry, which is why she plans to interview restaurateurs and other experts in the field for her thesis.

– I will bring up how they would change the trade, what they think should be improved, or how things should be done differently. I would like to open up the eyes of the decision makers, and I hope that I succeed in that. My goal is not to blame the politicians and officials but to revive and develop the industry, she says.

If Kauhanen could decide, she would also ease the taxing of alcohol served in restaurants because it could shift consumption from homes to restaurants. The standpoint is not a new one – the matter was discussed in the Vitriini magazine already in the 1970’s.

– We have now spent 40 years contemplating how to get people to leave their homes and go to restaurants but nothing has changed. My goal is that the next person working on a thesis in 40 years’ time doesn’t have to realise that we have pondered the same thing for 80 years already, says Kauhanen.

Doctoral candidate Sini Kauhanen reveived grants in 2020 and 2021 for her thesis about the Finnish restaurant trade.

Less and less high-quality contemporary world literature is published in Finnish. Relatively many translations are made of English-language works, but very few from other languages. The accessibility of Finnish translations of high-quality world literature has been reduced and the available offering is narrow.

– From the perspective of Finnish literature and culture, it is essential that Finnish readers breathe the same air as the rest of the world. We must have access to the cutting edge of international literature, especially in a way that offers us a native-level understanding of the text. Only then can we consider ourselves the world’s best readers and create world-class literature of our own, states author Karo Hämäläinen, a member of the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

Publishers will be able to apply for the new grant for the first time in the foundation’s March 2022 round of applications, after which it will repeat on an annual basis. The size of the grant will be EUR 5,000–15,000 per work to be translated. The sum total of the Cultural Foundation’s new funding for translating and publishing world literature will be one million euros.

Publishers must identify the works to be translated themselves; they are instructed, however, particularly to seek works from cultures outside of the mainstream Anglosphere. African or Asian literature written directly in English, however, is acceptable.

– We hope that publishers will use the new grant to supplement and enrich their portfolios, and that this will also lead to new opportunities for Finland’s highly skilled translators, Hämäläinen explains.

The grant must always lead to the publication of a printed book; audiobooks are an additional option for the publisher to consider. Applicants must justify the choice of work based not only on its quality but also on the interests of the greater culture-loving public.

The Finnish Cultural Foundation has extensively supported reading in Finland in recent years. The Reading Gifts for Children project has dealt out book bags to all babies born in Finland between 2019 and 2021, with the help of maternity clinics. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 books have been distributed to elementary school libraries in Finland thanks to the Reading Clan projects.