Kaisa Vainio
 FT

    • Postdoctoral Researcher
    Geography  (Department of Geography and Geology)


kaisa.vainio@utu.fi




ORCID identifierhttps://orcid.org/0009-0003-8923-1920(external)





Areas of expertise
Cultural Environmental Studies; Multispecies Transition; Human-nature relationships; Cultural forest research; Plant studies; Research in Russia and Eastern Europe; urban studies; human-tree relationships

Research community or research topic
MUST - Enabling multispecies transitions of cities and regions; Sustainable Landscape Systems Research Group

Biography

I am a cultural anthropologist and forest relationship researcher specializing in multidisciplinary environmental studies, qualitative methods, research interviews, and sensory ethnography.

I am interested in the values and emotions related to nature, the relationship of northern peoples, Arctic issues, and human-environment coexistence. I have done fieldwork in Finland, Arctic Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

I work full-time in the Department of Geography at the University of Turku on the MUST project(external), focusing on the coexistence of people and nature. 



Research

My dissertation(external)  “Favorite Trees: A Perspective on Inter-Species Friendship in the Diversity of Tree Relationships”, examines individual’s’ attachment to favourite trees and cultural relationships with trees, focusing on perspectives such as multi-speciesism, nature connections, ownership, memories, sensory experiences, tree care, over-generationalism, nature-related spirituality, and the Finnish relationship with forests. This research is part of the Kone Foundation-funded project, Trees Near Us.



Publications

  • Green companions: Affordances of human-tree relationships  (2025)  
    • AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
     Vainio, Kaisa Kristiina; Takala, Tuomo; Limpens, Juul; Lummaa, Karoliina; Korrensalo, Aino; Räsänen, Aleksi; Tuittila, Eeva-Stiina
    (
    A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



Last updated on 2025-23-06 at 14:32