Jari Kaukua and Otso Ovaskainen selected Academy Professors
In total, the Research Council of Finland elected 15 new Academy professors. They are researchers at the international forefront of their fields and whose research strives for scientific renewal and breakthroughs. This time there were 244 applicants.
Professor Jari Kaukua studies illuminationist philosophy in the Islamic World, specifically illuminationist (ishraqi) philosophy from the seventh/thirteenth to the beginning of the eleventh/seventeenth century. Initially developed in critical relation to Avicenna, Illuminationism became one of the prominent doctrinal options in Islamic philosophy.
In modern scholarship, Illuminationism is widely perceived as a form of mystically founded perennial philosophy. This picture does not match Suhrawardi's philosophical output, and we should be cautious about its validity for the reception of his thought as well. Philosophically oriented study of Suhrawardi's legacy can revise our understanding of postclassical Islamic philosophy, contribute to the inclusion of Islamic philosophy as a self-standing part of the global history of philosophy, and help to build bridges between analytic philosophy and contemporary Islamic philosophy.
Professor Otso Ovaskainen's research focuses on the digital twinning of known and unknown biodiversity. A digital twin is a detailed and interactive description of a real-life phenomenon or process based on computational models and measurements.
Mitigating the adverse effects that the ongoing global change has on ecosystem services requires a comprehensive understanding of biodiversity. However, our knowledge of biodiversity is still very partial. For example, most species on Earth are still to be discovered, and thus we have no information about their roles in ecosystems. This project will develop much needed new tools for biodiversity research that enable reliable and fast monitoring of full biodiversity at the global scale.
To ensure broad applicability of the methods, we will test them in Finland, several European countries and Madagascar with a diverse set of stakeholders, including national and international biodiversity monitoring schemes and the private sector. Through digital twinning, the project will accelerate the interaction between scientific research and management, offering a new basis for biodiversity monitoring, environmental policy and societal decision making.
Otso Ovaskainen has also previously been funded as an Academy Professor for the period 1.9.2021-31.8.2026.
