The Myco Files: becoming a mycological engineer

Peter is an amateur research engineer currently co-writing an academy research proposal on applied fungi in treatment wetlands whilst working for Kääpä Biotech - a super neat, 3 year old, "all-things-mushroom" startup based in southern-Finland. Peter met one of the co-founders in 2017 at a Finnish mushroom day event (or 'sienipäivä' in Finnish) where he first saw oyster-colonised toilet paper roles and oyster-colonised used cigarette butts. After just having quit his PhD, Peter was asked to come and do an internship at Kääpä on mushroom cultivation, production and research methods. The timing was opportune, but surely a sign from the mushroom gods?.. The company now works more and more on incorporating fungi into the Finnish agroforestry sector and other fungi-related R&D for the future, and Peter is eyes-open to what comes pops-up next in terms of mushrooms, while living with his partner in Finland, where the land is full of forest, berries ... and fungi!The presentation will touch on how to become a "mycological engineer" - an engineer that solves problems using fungi - with particular focus on applied fungal methods for potentially treating heavy metals in contaminated sites, recovering rare resources from waste streams, and improving the growth, functionality and performance of plants in agriculture, forestry and other phytotechnologies.
As an amateur himself, Peter will briefly touch on the key steps required in identifying the problems at hand and seeking out the fungi in nature that can potentially help solve the problems. The journey's purpose in Peter's head is to help us get as as close as we can to a true bio-circular world. Where our industries and economies utilise the gifts of fungi and nature for the benefit of the whole.
All profits go to support the Wild Fungi DNA project. Tickets will be sent out 15 minutes before the meeting starts. Please make sure you download and still zoom before hand.