Summer School Alum Story: 'Working with living materials gives you new perspectives every day'
Students are taking action for a sustainable future with natural materials at the Aalto University Summer School course Nordic Biomaterials.
Nordic Biomaterials
The use of materials today is not sustainable for the environment and our future. Take action and learn how to create new concepts for sustainable material development by combining design, technology and natural materials science in the context of circular economy.
Teaching period:
-
Application period:
31.1.2025 – 31.5.2025
Course format:
Campus
Duration:
2 weeks
full-time
Course level:
Graduate
Doctoral
Professional
Field of study:
Technology and Engineering
Credits:
6 ECTS
Organiser:
School of Chemical Engineering
Tuition fees:
1950€
Our material world will change dramatically in the coming years. The overuse of existing raw materials cannot continue and global consumption must fall. But our need for materials will not disappear: materials will continue to nourish us, cover us, comfort us, delight us and keep us alive. This means that we need new ideas, cooperation across borders and hard work to replace our existing material systems and consumption habits with more sustainable ones.
Used wisely, wood and plant-based materials offer one possible route to a more sustainable material world: they come from renewable sources, can be chemically modified, and can be used to make recyclable or biodegradable products.
Nordic Biomaterials by CHEMARTS inspires students to combine design and materials science for new bio-based material concepts and ideas. This graduate-level course is suitable for students from a variety of backgrounds (design, science, engineering, business). It introduces a wide range of bio-based materials, particularly those based on wood and plants. Materials may be derived from virgin sources or by-products, recycled, or harvested directly from nature.
During the course, you will become familiar with the material-driven experimental process, experience how interdisciplinary materials research works in practice, and explore how raw materials can be turned into innovative business ideas in the context of the circular economy.
The course includes three phases: self-paced pre-work including Laboratory Safety course, two intensive workshop weeks and an individual post-work assignment.
| WEEK 1 | Monday 4 August | Tuesday 5 August | Wednesday 6 August | Thursday 7 August | Friday 8 August |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning (09-12) |
Kick-off | Lecture: On Materials |
Full day excursion | Lab Work | Lecture |
| Afternoon (13-16) | Lecture: Designing with Biomaterials | Lab Work | Lab Work | Lab work |
| WEEK 2 | Monday 11 August | Tuesday 12 August | Wednesday 13 August | Thursday 14 August | Friday 15 August |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morning (09-12) |
Lab Work | Lab Work | Researcher Talk | Lab Work | Final Presentations |
| Afternoon (13-16) | Lab Work | Lab Work | Lab Work | Prep for Final Presentations | Course Wrap-Up |
*Note that this is a preliminary schedule subject to change or updates.
28 July - 1 August: Pre-work (online)
- Optional kick-off meeting
- Self-paced course orientation
- Laboratory Safety course
4 - 15 August: Intensive weeks (on-campus)
- Daily program 9-16, including lectures, discussions, guided experiments, project development, hands-on experimentation in pairs/teams/individually (detailed program to be shared later)
- One-day excursion
- Joint presentation event and feedback discussion on the last day
by 30 August: Post-work (online)
- Report including documentation of the research process, individual reflection on key takeaways and course experience.
- Familiarize with materials that are processed either chemically or mechanically from trees or other plants, such as cellulose fibres, fibrils (micro- or nano-structured), lignin, bark extractives and novel combinations of these
- Develop innovative ideas through hands-on prototyping and experimenting with materials
- Awareness of the main sustainability issues related to this field
- Understanding of the principles of scaling the ideas towards innovations and even commercialisation
- Experience of an interdisciplinary working environment in practice
Course workload
Self-paced orientation and Laboratory Safety course 25h
Lectures, discussions and presentation 25h
Class preparation and reflection 40h
Laboratory work 35h
Excursion 10h
Post-work assignment 25h
Total 160h (6 ECTS)
The course is graded pass/fail.
The passing of the course requires active participation individually and in teamwork, and a report of the working process.
The minimum requirement for this course is a finished Bachelor's degree.
Participants must have completed a high school or vocational degree or equivalent by the time the course starts. However, they do not have to be a degree student at a university to participate in our courses.
Additionally, all summer school course students must be 18 years or older, as it is the legal age in Finland.
Please include a motivation letter or video in your application. In your motivation letter or video, describe your motivation for taking this course. The recommended length for the motivation letter is 150-250 words, and 1-2 minutes for the video.
Tuition fees for Summer School courses
One course: 1950€ (incl. VAT 25,5%)
- The course fee includes academic course sessions and assignments, an official digital Aalto University certificate and support from the Summer School team. Additionally, the course fee for Nordic Biomaterials includes portfolio photography of your course work and a field trip related to the course content.
- The fee does not cover accommodation, daily meals, or transportation during the course
- Unfortunately, Aalto University Summer School does not offer scholarships for participants.
Social program fee
If you need a visa, we recommend applying by April 15th 2025.
- This is to ensure that we have enough time to process your application and that you have time to make the tuition fee payment, book a visa appointment and wait for the application to be processed.
- You can apply and be accepted to the courses after April 15th. In that case, we recommend that you pay at your earliest convenience so that we can deliver your invitation letter to you promptly.
- According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, the processing time for a visa application is 15 days. However, the processing time may be longer if a more detailed application examination is required.
Learn about the Aalto University Summer School cancellation terms. You will receive the full terms before making the payment and confirming the course participation.
What is CHEMARTS?
CHEMARTS is a long-term strategic collaboration between two schools at Aalto University, the School of Chemical Engineering (CHEM) and the School of Arts, Design and Architecture (ARTS). The schools joined forces in 2011 with the aim of exploring bio-based materials in an innovative way. The main objective is to inspire students and researchers to work together with bio-based materials and to create new, sustainable concepts for their future use. CHEMARTS’ core values are the sustainable use of natural resources, experimental working methods, and the respectful cross-pollination of design and materials research.
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