A new member of the Research and Innovation Services at JYU: Michael Ormshaw
Hi, I am Michael, and I joined the Research and Innovation team here at JYU from the beginning of January as the FORTHEM University Alliance Specialist. My main responsibilities in my new role are to coordinate the activities and collaboration related to the FORTHEM work packages concerned with and related to Research and Innovation Transfer (WP7) and the support of Early Stage Researchers (WP8).
In my new role, I hope and aim to be the link between the activities and tasks of the FORTHEM alliance and the related activities, events, courses, and actions here at the University of Jyväskylä. I will be trying to ensure our involvement in all related FORTHEM actions, connecting and relating the common strategic goals of JYU and FORTHEM to open opportunities for students and staff on an international scale. My work will also involve working with local business and industry networks and helping to facilitate international research and innovation links and collaboration with JYU, the FORTHEM partner universities, and the business regions in each of the other eight FORTHEM European countries.
I am hugely excited to be taking on this role as my professional interests are founded on collaborating, sharing knowledge and expertise, communicating effectively, and developing functional networks for the mutual benefit of all involved. FORTHEM is a true expression of the European core principles and values, and provides many and varied possibilities for the students, staff, and local collaborators of all the nine partner universities, and I will be trying my best to open up and promote these opportunities as much as possible, specifically in the areas of research and innovation transfer, and early stage research support.
My professional history is quite varied, but I am originally from a health, fitness, and wellbeing background, and then working in various facility, development, and service management roles in the health and fitness industry, higher education, and charitable sectors in my native UK. As well as being a full-time grant-funded researcher here at JYU for several years, I have previously run my own coaching and training business here in Jyväskylä. Since 2021 I have been working at JYU in the Division of Policy and Planning as a Specialist and Project Manager for the Talent Boost programme, and I hope to bring my varied and developing networks and multi-agency collaborations with me into this new role and build upon the work already done in the areas of internationalisation and collaboration.
I am currently completing a PhD in Health Education here at JYU and researching the health literacy of school aged children and adolescents, which I hope to finally complete this year… maybe. This academic topic is a huge passion for me, and reflects my desire to promote genuine wellbeing in every possible aspect of life, throughout the lifespan.
Outside of work and student life, I am a very keen health, wellness, and fitness enthusiast, and I try to at least sample any sporting opportunity that comes my way (my main competitive sport in my younger years was Rugby). I run regularly: taking part in half-marathons, and 10k races whenever possible (I did the London Marathon once and that’s enough), I play golf, squash, football, and I am a regular gym-goer. I love to spend time outdoors – either in nature or walking city streets, and even though you might find me complaining about the ice or mosquitos from time to time, I genuinely love the four seasons of Finland and everything they have to offer. For relaxation and hobbies, I play the guitar and have been in a few bands over the years; you’ll usually find me plugged into a podcast about history or science; I love to read (well, I like to fondle books anyway), especially crime or thriller novels; I enjoy cooking and baking; and of course, I continue to torture myself with the Finnish language. I like to travel whenever possible and have particularly enjoyed discovering new Finnish cities over the past couple of years, and whatever city I am in you’ll usually find me either in a book shop or sat in the town square watching people pass by (maybe with a beer).
Over the next few months, I am looking forward to getting to know all my new JYU and FORTHEM colleagues, and I am especially looking forward to the FORTHEM Staff Week which will be taking place here in Jyväskylä next month. This will give me the opportunity to meet people in person and build those professional relationships rather than communicate solely via Teams and Zoom. Following on from this event, I will be looking to travel to our partner universities as much as possible to try and ensure productive collaboration and effective sharing of best practices to achieve the work package objectives and complete the set tasks.
I am based in Agora so if you see me around please say hello (in Finnish even as I need the practice), and if you do want to connect with me you can find me here on LinkedIn, mail me at michael.ormshaw@jyu.fi, or call me on 050-4718791.
