University of Lapland

Heidi Pietarinen is a professor at the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland, Finland. She holds a PhD in textile art and design, with a research focus on textile art and design methodologies, posthuman design, and arts-based research. Her work encompasses research projects, publications, exhibitions, and interdisciplinary collaborations, including High Altitude Bioprospecting and the BioARTech Laboratory. These initiatives have led to international exhibitions, academic discussions, and teaching engagements exploring Arctic raw materials, microbial life, the language of bioprospecting, and the evolving relationship between human and non-human research collaborators.

Amna Qureshi holds a postdoctoral researcher and holds a PhD (Pass with distinction) from the University of Lapland, Finland. Her research interests are artistic and art & and design education experiments. Her research primarily focuses on visual design, design thinking processes and visual literacy. Additionally, she is interested in bioart trends that offer opportunities for inspiration, curation, raw materials, shared experiences, collaborative practices, and shared authorship.

Satu Miettinen is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland in Finland. She has been in this position since 2018. She is also a Professor of Service Design at the same university, a position she has held since 2016. Before that, from 2011 to 2016, she worked as a Professor of Applied Art and Design. Satu Miettinen is recognised as one of the pioneers in the field of service design and has written some of the earliest books on this topic. She has supervised over a dozen doctoral theses on service design, as well as numerous Master’s theses on various aspects of design.

Jenny Bergström is a professor at the Department of Design at Media University Berlin, Germany. She is a designer and researcher working on 2 and 3 dimensional projects which concentrate on the relation between design, perception and experience of products and services. In her work, Jenny investigates how design can both be inspired and fundamentally improved by incorporating methods from participatory design practices and design thinking, as well as science and fine arts. Since graduating with an MFA Jenny has been combining work in both commercial and academic contexts with art projects and teaching commissions.

Melanie Sarantou is a Professor of Social Design at Kyushu University. Her research draws on social design and arts-based research in marginalised communities. Her intense involvement in Namibian craft and design development spanned over two decades. This included mapping this field in her PhD research (2010-2013), lecturing on Design and Fashion at the University of Namibia (1997-2007) and business development with Namibian women entrepreneurs and SMEs (2005-2009).