During autumn 2025, I had the opportunity to start a three-month secondment at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) as part of the VIMAS project. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) program, VIMAS encourages doctoral researchers to gain interdisciplinary experiences by undertaking secondments across academic and non-academic partner organizations. From September to December, I am working with Luke’s recreation and nature values group (Vilu group) to further develop my PhD topic, “Novel typologies of nature visitors derived from mobile big data”. This secondment gives me the chance to collaborate closely with colleagues in the Vilu group as well as with the Digital Geography Lab (DGL) at my host university, University of Helsinki.
Luke operates 22 locations across Finland, and I am based at its head office on the Viikki campus in Helsinki, which is not far away from the Kumpula campus where I usually work at DGL. This proximity has made it easy to settle into the new environment and helped create a smooth transition between the two settings.
Secondment life at Luke
Luke is a research institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland, dedicated to building a sustainable future and promoting well-being through renewable natural resources. The Vilu group belongs to the Bioeconomy and Environment Unit and focuses on research in nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation. Nature plays a key role in public health by providing space for physical activity, social interaction, and psychological restoration. The Vilu group has carried out the National Inventory of Recreational Use of Nature (LVVI) surveys in corporation with Statistics Finland every ten years since 1990s. The most recent survey, LVVI3 (2019-2021), provides rich information on outdoor activities and outdoor-related issues in nature. During my secondment, I am supervised by Research Professor Liisa Tyrväinen and Research Scientist Marjo Neuvonen in the Vilu group to further explore LVVI3. We are also interested in examining how it can be combined with mobile big data, such as geotagged social media data and sports tracking data, to identify typologies of nature visitors and develop visitor profiles.
Beyond research collaboration, the secondment has offered valuable opportunities for face-to-face discussions and helped me to get to know the work of my colleagues. The group is very welcoming, and I immediately felt included on my first day, which began with an orientation tour and lunch. In the following weeks, my colleague Marjo kindly arranged several meetings with others in the group, allowing us to exchange research ideas and discuss practical aspects of data collection for our collaboration.
These meetings, together with lunches and coffee breaks, have opened the door to a wide range of new topics for me. I learned about the development and distribution of the LVVI surveys, research on hunting practices and the applications used by hunters, well-being benefits from biodiversity interventions that bring together social and environmental psychology expertise, and efforts to build resilient communities through nature-based approaches. I also enjoyed experiencing Luke’s flexible workspace culture. Instead of assigned desks, the office floors are organized into quiet zones and allow-to-talk areas, giving everyone the freedom to choose the space that fits their work style each day.
Celebrating Luke’s 10th anniversary at LukeMEETS 2025
Luke is a relatively young research institute, but it carries a long history. It was established in 2015 by merging four organizations: the Agrifood Research Finland (MTT), the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Melta), the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute (RKTL), and the statistical services of the Information Center of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Tike). This combination makes Luke bring together both research and expert work, with its operations divided into 70% research, 21% official and expert tasks, 5% customer solutions, and 4% statistical production.
This year, Luke celebrates its 10th anniversary. I was lucky to take part in LukeMEETS 2025 this November, joining colleagues from offices across Finland to mark the occasion. It was a great opportunity to continue learning about the wide range of research at Luke, from remote-sensing approaches to tree modeling to soil studies in agriculture and urban forests. The celebration also featured the “golden boots” awards, recognizing the contributions of different research projects at Luke. Hearing about these projects helped me understand Luke’s work in a more structured way. Luke will have its future vision in three research programmes for 2026-2029: (1) renewing primary production, (2) proactive, competitive, and crisis-resilient bioeconomy, and (3) multiple use of natural resources (translated from Finnish). Many projects within the Vilu group belong to the third research programme under the theme Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Connecting this to my secondment, I began to reflect how identifying typologies of nature visitors can support the multiple use of natural resources. Understanding different visitor groups and how they engage with nature helps to maintain healthy ecosystems while ensuring nature as everyone’s right to enjoy, echoing the goals of Finland’s National Nature Recreation Strategy 2030.
Hiking at the Sipoonkorpi National Park with Luke colleagues
Outside of work, my colleagues invited me for a hiking and mushroom-picking trip at Sipoonkorpi National Park this autumn. Located in the eastern part of Helsinki metropolitan area, Sipoonkorpi is one of the 41 national parks in Finland. Autumn is a particularly good time for mushroom picking. With a basket and a small knife with a brush, my colleagues led me through the forest to pick mushrooms and showed me how to tell edible mushrooms from those to avoid while sharing practical tips along the way. It was a delightful experience to spot mushrooms hidden among fallen leaves and carefully pick them. Nature seemed generous that day, and we found several types of mushrooms, including chanterelles and hedgehog mushrooms. The combination of fresh air, gentle exercise, and the simple joy of nature product collection made this a pleasant outing.
My secondment at Luke has been a rewarding mix of learning and simple joys. Working with the Vilu group has broaden my understanding of research in nature-based tourism and outdoor recreation. At the same time, moments like hiking and mushroom picking reminded me of the small but meaningful ways we can connect with nature. This experience not only supports my research on visitor monitoring but also allows me to enjoy the rhythm of the Finnish autumn, combing learning, collaboration, and nature into a memorable few months.
