Bio-sketch:
Milja Heikkinen (MSc., BA) is working in Urban Environmental Policy research group, University of Helsinki. Currently, she is working for a project “Justice in climate policy” of the Finnish Climate Change Panel.
Her PhD project is about the role of cooperation networks in urban climate change mitigation and adaptation. The thesis is article-based, covering global, national and local level networks. The first article analyses what kind of change C40 member cities advocate for dealing with climate change. The second article tests statistically the association between network membership and progress in adaptation planning in 377 cities globally. The third article (in review) analyses multi-level climate related networking in Helsinki, Madrid and Stockholm, and fourth (in review) studies participation-based structures and performance of a climate-related city-to-business network in Helsinki.
Milja is interested in science communication and teaching. She has developed the webpage and Twitter profile for UEP group, and published popular articles and blog posts in Finnish. For four years, she has been teaching a bachelor-level course “Multidisciplinary environmental research” and participated in co-supervising bachelor’s and master’s theses.
During her MSc studies, she worked as a research assistant in multidisciplinary research project ”AQUADIGM- The function and management of aquatic ecosystems in the changing environment: the effects of paradigm shifts”, focusing on environmental history. Before AQUADIGM, she worked as a research assistant in City of Helsinki Environment centre measuring the City Biodiversity Index in the context of Helsinki.
Milja holds MSc in Environmental Science and Policy and BA in Spanish Philology, both from the University of Helsinki. Topic of her Master’s Thesis was the politicization of wastewater overflows in the region of the Vantaa River. A research article based on it was published in the journal Water Policy. In her Bachelor’s Thesis she did an ecocritical analysis for a selection of poems from Poeta en Nueva York by Federico García Lorca.
Mentioned published articles:
Heikkinen, M.; Karimo, A.; Klein, J.; Juhola, S., Ylä-Anttila, T. 2020. Transnational municipal networks and climate change adaptation: A study of 377 cities, Journal of Cleaner Production, 257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120474
Heikkinen, M.; Ylä-Anttila, T. & Juhola, S. (2019). Incremental, systemic or transformational: what kind of social change do C40 cities advocate to deal with climate change?, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2018.1473151
Heikkinen, M.; Schönach, P. & Massa, I. (2016). The Politicization of wastewater overflows. The case of River Vantaa, Finland, Water Policy, DOI: 10.2166/wp.2016.011
Link for the Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=kS0MUUoAAAAJ&hl=fi&oi=ao
Research Gate:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Milja-Heikkinen
Urban Environmental Policy research group webpage:
https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/urban-environmental-policy