Luke’s Intercultural Community offers communality and networking for the organization’s international workers and researchers
Multiculturalism and intercultural dialogue and understanding are the core goals of Luke’s Intercultural Community. The goals are achieved through bringing the workers and researchers together in different occasions and events.
The Natural Resources Institute (Luke) attracts international talent from all around the world, and Luke aims to build its working environment into a strong and unified multicultural community for these employees. Luke’s Intercultural Community (IC) eases international researchers’ and workers’ integration to Finland and encourages intercultural communication, both in work life and in leisure time. For example, IC organizes community events, which offer a forum for expats in Finland and Finnish people to get to know each other and share their work experience.
This community’s annual event, Intercultural Annual Meeting, was organized in Jyväskylä and Laukaa on 18th-19th of May. The purpose of the event was to share knowledge of community members’ research and work and to explore Luke’s fish farm at Laukaa – and above all to enjoy seeing coworkers at a live event. Lukeans from many different offices and cultures participated in the event.
At the event many participants presented their current research, through which everyone got to learn from each other about the research done at different departments at Luke. The presentations and the conversation they brought up inspired and excited many in their own work. Postdoc-researcher Daesung Lee presented his research in the current condition of Finnish mixed forests, and also made interesting remarks on the importance of the community.
"I noticed that even though we may have many differences in our research backgrounds with other Lukeans, it is still useful and inspiring to hear about others’ work. Despite different backgrounds, hearing about others’ research is interesting and it is great to see if there could be possibilities to work together", Lee says.
In addition to hearing about others’ research, the aim of the event was to meet and get to know colleagues and to grow good team spirit within Lukeans. Networking and contacts with one’s coworkers are more important than ever in a remote work society. Marcia Franco, who presented her work with feed preservation at Luke, was happy about the networking opportunities offered by the event.
"It is so important to see your coworkers, because meeting others and getting to know their research opens up your mind. It is also nice to get to connect real faces to the profile pictures on Teams. Through an event like this, we can find ways to work more together", Franco states.
