{"id":160,"date":"2026-05-07T09:56:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T06:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/dp-fobi\/?page_id=160"},"modified":"2026-06-10T15:12:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:12:39","slug":"contested-conceptualizations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/dp-fobi\/contested-conceptualizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uef.varbi.com\/en\/what:job\/jobID:944594\/\"><button>APPLY FOR THIS PhD POSITION <\/button><\/a> <strong>Application period: 11 June \u2013 10 August, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Research project description<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Planetary sustainability is a widely shared aim in present society, with forests and bioeconomy playing an important role in the development. The public discussions and policy negotiations related to how we treat our forests and natural resources, however, are by no means unanimous but cover diverse, even opposing perspectives that reflect the expectations, wishes and fears of different stakeholder groups taking part in these discussions and negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The public discourses related to bioeconomy are often dominated by views based on biology and economy, but various societal, cultural and even philosophical aspects also emerge when negotiations related to our environment are conducted. To investigate the whole spectrum of these views and their affective aspects a more humanistically-oriented approach is required, and this is the main contribution of this research project to DP-FOBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>This research project concentrates on scrutinizing the different ways in which forest and nature are conceptualized through various rhetorical, metaphorical, and affective means of expression in the public bioeconomy-related discourses that deal with forest-based suggestions to the societal and environmental problems we are trying to solve.<\/strong> In addition to traditional and social media, these discourses can be detected, for example, in works of art, advertisements, policy documents and textbooks and involve governmental and non-governmental organizations, corporations and general public. The way a forest and forest-based bioeconomy is conceptualized and contested in these discourses influence the way the whole phenomenon is depicted. By understanding these conceptualizations better, the project can help develop tools to interpret these discussions more fruitfully and participate in them more efficiently in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Academic background and skills of the applicant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An ideal candidate holds <strong>a master\u2019s degree in languages, translation studies, linguistics, media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, environmental humanities or a related field<\/strong>. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are essential for the position, and the selected candidate must fulfil the language skills requirements of the Doctoral Programme of the Philosophical Faculty at UEF (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uef.fi\/en\/degree-programme\/doctoral-programme-of-the-philosophical-faculty\">https:\/\/www.uef.fi\/en\/degree-programme\/doctoral-programme-of-the-philosophical-faculty<\/a> (Admission criteria)).&nbsp; The ability to work in more than one language is considered an advantage. Prior methodological knowledge of language data analysis such as metaphor analysis or rhetorical analysis is an advantage but not required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doctoral programme and research group<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Doctoral education in the University of Eastern Finland is arranged in seven discipline specific or thematic doctoral programmes. This research project will be located in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uef.fi\/en\/degree-programme\/doctoral-programme-of-the-philosophical-faculty\">Doctoral Programme of the Philosophical Faculty<\/a>, and the submitting department is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uef.fi\/en\/unit\/school-of-humanities\">School of Humanities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This research project is closely linked to the project \u201cEnvironmental discourses and spread of multilingual (dis)information in social networks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Partners \/ Secondments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Ume\u00e5 University, Department of Language Studies, hosted by Professor Marlene Johansson Falck and Associate Professor Per Bostr\u00f6m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Other interdisciplinary, international and\/or intersectoral collaboration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Intersectoral and interdisciplinary collaboration is strengthened through DP-FOBI&#8217;s three summer schools involving academic supervisors, non-academic partners, and other stakeholders, enabling hands-on interaction and knowledge exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Supervisors and related research<\/h2>\n\n\n\t<div id=\"accordion-block_0b7867a9abcfff54dd8941a81208e7ee\" class=\"accordions\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion accordion-js\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"accordion__button\" aria-controls=\"content-3542\" aria-expanded=\"false\" id=\"accordion-control-3542\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"accordion__heading\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\tEsa Penttil\u00e4\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion__content\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"accordion-control-3542\" aria-hidden=\"true\" id=\"content-3542\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/esa.penttila\/\">Esa Penttil\u00e4<\/a> has a research background in cognitive linguistics and cognitive translation studies and is currently leading a project that concentrates on multillingual and translatorial aspects included in research work. His special areas of interest include figurative and metaphorical language, conceptualizations in multilingual encounters, idiomaticity, and non-professional translation.<\/p>\n<p>Penttil\u00e4 has supervised eight completed PhD projects and is at the moment supervising three active PhD projects. He is the vice chair of leading group of the FILOTO doctoral programme at UEF and has actively participated in the activities of the Finnish Langnet doctoral network (earlier doctoral programme) as a supervisor member since 2016.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion accordion-js\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"accordion__button\" aria-controls=\"content-5653\" aria-expanded=\"false\" id=\"accordion-control-5653\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"accordion__heading\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTuija Saresma\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion__content\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"accordion-control-5653\" aria-hidden=\"true\" id=\"content-5653\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/tuija.saresma\/\">Tuija Saresma<\/a> has a multidisciplinary background in the social sciences and humanities, with a focus on cultural studies and the analysis of contemporary phenomena such as populist radical right political discourses, affective polarization, and online hate speech. She currently leads two projects: one examining language tensions and the racialized and gendered stereotypes associated with language-minority users, and another developing tools to counter hate speech.<\/p>\n<p>Saresma has supervised nine completed PhD projects and is currently supervising six doctoral researchers at UEF, as well as five additional PhD candidates at other Finnish and Nordic universities.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion accordion-js\">\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"accordion__button\" aria-controls=\"content-3416\" aria-expanded=\"false\" id=\"accordion-control-3416\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"accordion__heading\" >\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRelated articles\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"accordion__content\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"accordion-control-3416\" aria-hidden=\"true\" id=\"content-3416\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p>M\u00e4kisalo, Jukka, Katarzyna Wi\u015bniewska &amp; Esa Penttil\u00e4 (accepted for publication) Enriching Cognitive Semantics with Insights from Translation Description: Analysing Information Retention. In Larisa Cercel, Anna Pavlova, Holger Siever eds<em>), Can translation studies provide useful input for linguistics? \/ Kann die Translationswissenschaft Input f\u00fcr die Linguistik liefern? <\/em>Walter de Gruyter.<\/p>\n<p>Hillbom, Annika, Marja Nenonen &amp; Esa Penttil\u00e4 (2025) Metaphorical conceptualizations of knowledge in Swedish and Finnish primary school curricula. <em>Linguistics and Education<\/em>. DOI: <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.linged.2025.101421\">10.1016\/j.linged.2025.101421<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Penttil\u00e4, Esa (2017) Natural Translation of Idiomatic Constructions as a Form of Concealed Code Switching. In Milla Luodonp\u00e4\u00e4-Manni, Esa Penttil\u00e4 &amp; Johanna Viimaranta (eds), <em>Empirical Approaches to Cognitive Linguistics: Analyzing Real-Life Data<\/em>. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 143\u2013173.<\/p>\n<p>Kaarina Nikunen, Haara, Paula, Kosonen, Heidi, Knuutila, Aleksi, P\u00f6yht\u00e4ri, Reeta, &amp; Saresma, Tuija (2025) Contested Meanings of Hate Speech and the Post-Truth Condition on Digital Platforms. <em>Social Media + Society<\/em>, <em>11<\/em>(2). <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/20563051251341794\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/20563051251341794<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Norocel, Ov Cristian, Tuija Saresma, Tuuli L\u00e4hdesm\u00e4ki &amp; Maria Ruotsalainen (2021) Performing \u2018Us\u2019 and \u2018Other\u2019: Intersectional Analyses of Right-Wing Populist Media. <em>European Journal of Cultural Studies <\/em>25: 3, 897\u2013915. DOI: 10.1177\/1367549420980002<\/p>\n<p>Arjoranta, Jonne, Hirsj\u00e4rvi, Irma, Kovala, Urpo, Saresma, Tuija &amp; Ruotsalainen, Maria (2017). Turvetta tupaan: faktat, valheet ja affektiivinen vastaanotto Turveinfo-mainoskampanjassa [Facts, Lies, and the Affective Reception of the Peat Advertising Campaign\u201d]. <em>Media ja viestint\u00e4<\/em>, <em>40 <\/em>(3\u20134), 76\u201399. <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.23983\/mv.67795\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.23983\/mv.67795<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>APPLY FOR THIS PhD POSITION Application period: 11 June \u2013 10 August, 2026 Research project description Planetary sustainability is a widely shared aim in present society, with forests and bioeconomy playing an important role in the development. The public discussions and policy negotiations related to how we treat our forests and natural resources, however, are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1364,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-160","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses - Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/dp-fobi\/contested-conceptualizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses - Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"APPLY FOR THIS PhD POSITION Application period: 11 June \u2013 10 August, 2026 Research project description Planetary sustainability is a widely shared aim in present society, with forests and bioeconomy playing an important role in the development. The public discussions and policy negotiations related to how we treat our forests and natural resources, however, are [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/dp-fobi\/contested-conceptualizations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T12:12:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/contested-conceptualizations\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/contested-conceptualizations\\\/\",\"name\":\"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses - Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T06:56:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-10T12:12:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/contested-conceptualizations\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/contested-conceptualizations\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/contested-conceptualizations\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Etusivu\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/\",\"name\":\"Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)\",\"description\":\"DP-FOBI\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sites.uef.fi\\\/dp-fobi\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses - Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/dp-fobi\/contested-conceptualizations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Contested conceptualizations of forest in bioeconomy-related discourses - Doctoral Programme for Advancing Forest-Based Bioeconomy (DP-FOBI)","og_description":"APPLY FOR THIS PhD POSITION Application period: 11 June \u2013 10 August, 2026 Research project description Planetary sustainability is a widely shared aim in present society, with forests and bioeconomy playing an important role in the development. 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