Staff
Approximately 150 people work at Luomus. In addition to employees on permanent and fixed-term contracts, Luomus accomodates several visiting researchers. Approximately a fourth of all staff are involved in teaching and research. The staff structure of Luomus differs from the faculties of the University, for example in that it has a much greater number of non-research staff. This is because of Luomus’ duties in maintaining the collections, digitalisation efforts as well as the duties of science and environmental education and customer service.
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees went down from previous years during the term 2017–2018. In 2017, Luomus had a staff of 129 FTE, the lowest number this decade. In 2018, this rose to 133 thanks to project funding (Table 1). This is still less than the five-year (2014–2018) average of 140 FTE, indicating that Luomus is yet to fully recover from the significant budget cuts of 2015, which led to staff terminations in 2016.
The share of international employees among teaching and research staff has shown steady growth during the past few years. In 2018, this percentage was 22%, a significant increase from 13% in 2014.
STAFF CHANGES
Six people retired from Luomus in 2017, and four in 2018. Senior Curator Jyrki Muona retired from the Entomology Team in 2017 after a long career at Luomus, while Curators Anders Albrecht and Pekka Vilkamaa, also long-term employees, retired in 2018. In 2017, Senior Museum Technician Roland Skyten of the Mycology and Bryology Team retired from the Botany Unit along with Senior Laboratory Technician Pirkko Harju, Curator Arto Kurtto at the Plant Geography Team and Collection Coordinator Paula Havas-Matilainen at the Garden Team. In 2018, the Vascular Plant Team’s Preparator Päivi Rajala and the Horticulture Team’s Gardener Anneli Vaniala retired. The last remaining member of Luomus’ library staff, Library Secretary Marjatta Mikkonen, retired in 2017.
In 2017, Pasi Sihvonen was hired as Senior Curator to the Entomology Team. A total of nine fixed-term employment contracts were made permanent in 2017. Anni Granroth and Hanna Hyvönen were made permanent customer advisors and Olli Seppänen a permanent exhibition supervisor. In the Zoology Unit’s Metazoa Team, Emma-Sofia Hyytiäinen received a permanent position as Senior Museum Technician. In the Botany Unit, Saara Velmala of the Mycology and Bryology Team received a permanent position as Senior Museum Technician, Mari Miranto of the Vascular Plants Team as Collection Coordinator and Mikael Lindholm of the Horticulture Team as Gardener.
In 2018, the following employers started in Luomus with permanent contracts: Marketing Coordinator Salla Mehtälä and Customer Advisor Milla Koivumäki in the Public Outreach Team, Manager Kari Lahti, Research Director Atte Moilanen and IT-specialist Ville-Matti Riihikoski in the new Biodiversity Informatics Unit, in the Zoology Unit’s Monitoring Team Senior Museum Technician Juha Honkala, in the Botany Unit Gardeners Aino Anttila and Timo Janhonen at the Horticulture Team, and in the Natural Sciences Unit Coordinator Kari Lintulaakso at the Geology Team.
In 2017, Maarten Vanhove became Curator in the Metazoa Team, and Netta Lempiäinen received a permanent position as Taxidermist, but both of them left Luomus for new challenges in 2018. As the Botany Team’s ESCAPE project drew to a close, Project Coordinator Sanna Laaka-Lindberg transferred to the position of Collection Coordinator in 2017, and Garden Technician Toomas Kangro from the Garden Team as well as Coordinator Katriina Rautala left Luomus for other positions in 2018.