2013

Konttinen, Esa

Research in environmental sociology began at the University of Jyväskylä at the end of the 1980s, in connection to the overall rise in environmental consciousness and the works of Ulrich Beck and others. The increasing interest in the environment in the social sciences was also due to waves of environmental protest concerning the conservation of old forests and cultural heritage. This attracted young scholars especially and a large number of Master's theses were written in environmental sociology. External funding facilitated the formation of a research group that had the research seminar as its core - a combination of a reading circle, project meetings, and student supervision. As professor emeritus Esa Konttinen writes, the research group was exceptionally colloquial and extended beyond the lecture halls, with peer learning taking place for instance on joint hiking trips.