Dr. Hanna Helander is Lecturer and Course Coordinator for Environmental and Sustainability Sciences (acting during parental leave). She has an interdisciplinary background in human-environment interactions from a systems perspective. She is currently also working on bioeconomy monitoring and environmental footprint accounting as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kassel, Germany. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Freiburg where she worked in an interdisciplinary research group on the societal transition to a circular economy. Her MSc is from Uppsala University in Sweden, where she studied civil engineering in socio-technical systems.
I teach in the LAS Major Environmental and Sustainability Sciences. In my teaching, I often use a flipped classroom approach to encourage reflection, sharing and exchange in the classroom.
Summer semester 2025:
In my research I apply a systems perspective to human-environment interactions. Through the lens of socio-ecological systems, I’m looking at the interactions between societal values and discourses, material flows and uses, and their environmental consequences. My main expertise is in environmental footprint accounting of bio-based resources, particularly in relation to industrial food systems. In my current project SYMOBIO 2.0, I focus on national consumption footprints, dietary patterns and ecological limits.