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General information | Career | Academic qualifications | Knowledge of languages | International Experience | Other important professional activities | Referee in scientific publications, academic thesis or research projects | Free time activities | Participation of the Research tenders of the Commission of the European commission | Publications
Name: Jari Varjo
Address: Finnish Forest Research Institute, Jokiniemenkuja 1, 01301 Vantaa
Marital status: Married, 2 children
Date of birth: 16.05.1968
Place of birth: Kangasniemi, Finland
Telephone: + 358 29 532 2120
Mobile phone: + 358 50 391 2120
Email: jari.varjo@metla.fi
Regional Director, Professor, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Southern Finland. 1.1.2010 – today Responsible for Metla Southern Finland and tree breeding, gene conservation forests, forest statistics as well as green house gas reporting on forests at national level.
Director of the Vantaa Research Unit, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Headquarters, 1.5.2005- 31.12.2009. Responsible for the Vantaa Research Unit of the Finnish Forest Research Institute.
Director of the international activities, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Headquarters, 1.5.2001- 31.4.2005. Responsible for the international activities of the Finnish Forest Research Institute.
Associate Professional Forest Inventory Officer , Timber Section/Trade Division, FAO/ECE, United Nations, Geneva 31.5.1999-31.5.2000, Working for the Forest Resource Assessment 2000 (FRA2000) C .
Manager of the Forest Resources Information Service, Finnish Forest Research Institute , Department of National Forest Inventory 26.2.1996 - 30.4.2001 [absence of leave 31.5.1999-30.6.2000] Managing Forest Resources Information Service
Post Doctoral training fellowship Joint Research Centre , IRSA/EMAP 1.11.1994 - 31.3.1996. Responsible for developing remote sensing methods for mapping and monitor ing boreal forest zone.
Responsible Scientist University of Joensuu 1.1.1994 - 31.10.1994. Responsible for developing the satellite based control system for updating and maintaining forest information.
Researcher University of Joensuu 1.4.1991 -31.12.1993. Responsible for developing the theoretical model for integrated forest management planning and space born forest measurement methods.
Researcher Finnish Forest Research Institute 1.1.1991-31.3.1991. Responsible for developing the new timber measurement system.
Researcher Academy of Finland Project Joensuu university and Metla 23.4.1990 - 30.11.1990. Responsible for pine the timber dry weight modeling.
Assistant researcher Finnish Forest Research Institute 6.11.1989 - 31.12.1989. Responsible for the dry weight laboratory measurements.
Assistant forester Enso-Gutzeit Ltd Polvijärvi, Joensuu region. 18.4.1988 - 20.8.1988 and 14.12.1988 - 12.1.1989. Responsible for part of the timber mensuration tasks.
Trainee Enso-Gutzeit Ltd. Uimaharju Sawmill 29.2.1988 - 8.4.1988. Different tasks in dry kiln and quality classification departments.
Forest worker Kangasniemi Society of private forest owners several periods in 1984 - 1987. Different tasks related to silviculture.
1988-1991 M. Sc. by thesis, Forest management planning, University of Joensuu
1992-1994 Ph.D. (Finnish Licentiate degree) by thesis, Forest Management planning, University of Joensuu. The public dissertation took place in 19 th November 1994.
1994-1997 Finnish senior doctorate degree by thesis. Remote sensing and Forest management planning University of Joensuu. Thesis was accepted for publication on 30th June 1997. The public dissertation took place on 21st November 1997.
2002-today Docent, University of Eastern Finland. Specialisation: Remote sensing of Forest, specially change detection
Finnish (fluent),French (few words), English (fluent), Italy (basic), Spanish (basic) and Swedish (fluent).
1991 , Duration: two weeks. Lecturing in Portugal, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes-de-Alto-Douro, Technical University of Lisbon.
1994 , Duration: two weeks. Lecturing in Greece, Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki.
1994-1996 Post doctoral training fellowship, Commission of the European Communities, Joint Research Centre, Ispra Establishment. Environmental Mapping and Monitoring Group, Institute for Remote Sensing Applications.
1997 , Duration three weeks, Lecturing in Chile, Austral University, Valdivia, CONAF, Santiago
1998 , Duration two weeks, Lecturing in Hungary, Hungarian Forest Service, Forest University of Soprone.
1999-2000 , Forest inventory officer in Forest Resource Assessment 2000, United Nations Geneva
Member of the Finnish Society of Forest Science
1999-todayMember of the Finnish Forest Taxator Club 1996-today
Member of the board of directors in the graduate school "Forests in GIS" at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Forestry 1998-2002
Leader of the research project 'Data Combinations and Updating in the Information Supply for Forest Management Planning' , Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 1999-2001
Member of the Management Board of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 2001-2004 and 2009 – today
Member of the International strategy planning board of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 2001
Member of the Strategy coordination group of Finnish Forest Research Institute 2004
Member of the Board of International Forest Policy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland 2004-2006
Responcibe for taking new output based salary system in use in Metla Vantaa Research Centre 2005-2006
Member of the Forest-Based Sector Technology Platform EU project group in Finland 2004-2006
Member of the Silva Club 2007- 2011 and Secretary of Silva club 2007-2008
Member of Academy of Finland EU PO7 7 th Framework Program environment support group 2007- today
Member of the steering committee of the World Forests, Society and Environment (WFSE) a Special Project of the International Union of Forest Research Organization (IUFRO) 2001- today
Member of the National board of gene conservation 2011- today
Member of the University of Helsinki Viikki Campus board 2011- today
Member of the CAPFOR - Capacity building in forest management Steering committee in Costa Rica 2010-2012
Member of the FORECAS –Forest Research Capacity Strengthening in Mozambique Steering committee 2012-2014
Member of the steering committee of the joint inventory planning project between The Finnish Forestry Centre and Finnish Forest Research Institute 2012-2014
Member of Kustens skogsråd 2010-1013
Member of the AHA and CAMA2 data management project steering committees in Metla 2011-2013
Member of the Research Data Management TAISTO steering group 2011-today
Member of WIN7 works station renovation steering committee in Metla 2012-2013
Expert for the planning group of the international activities and external funding in the merging project of Agrifood Research Finland, Finnish Forest Research Institute and Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, 2012
Member of the planning group of the scientific support methdologies in the merging project of Agrifood Research Finland, Finnish Forest Research Institute and Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, 2012 Responcible Scientis in Metla Tekes project New computational methods for effective utilization of the public geographic data, 2013-2014
Scientific series refereed:
Forest Ecology and Management, Forest Science, International Journal of Remote Sensing, Journal of Zhejiang University-SCIENCE, Pedosphere, Remote Sensing of Environment, Silva Fennica, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution
Research projects reviewed:
Membership of Expert Evaluators Panel for Management Proposals I -S1w2 under Programme Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources. 08 th -12 th May 2000. European Commission, Research DG, Brussels.
University of Helsinki Network for European Studies; Research calls for Europe Research 2003 and 2004
Evaluation of the research proposal for: Norges Forskningsråd (NO), 14.09.2006 - 21.09.2006
Academic thesis evaluated:
Monitoring Boreal Coniferous Forest Health in Finland Using the Reference Sample Plot Method with Multisource and Multitemporal Data (J. Heikkilä). Ph. D thesis (Finnish Licentiate thesis) , Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu.
The updating of forest resource data for management planning for privately owned forests in Finland (P. Hyvönen). Peer review of the Doctorate thesesis, Faculty of Forestry, University of Joensuu.
The performance of foliage mass and crown radius models in forming the input of a forest reflectance model ( Mait Lang), Opponent for the doctorate dissertation, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tarto.
Estimation of boreal forest canopy cover with ground measurements, statistical models and remote sensing (Lauri Korhonen) Opponent for the doctorate dissertation, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu
Literature, cooking, hunting and game management, fishing, motor cycles, Finnish sauna tradition (Member of the Sauna society), trekking, squash, tennis
Proposals accepted:
AAIR No 2392/89 Silvicultural strategies for predicting damage to forest from wind, fire and snow: Integrating tree, site and stand properties with geographical information systems and regional environmental models to evaluate options for forest management.
ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE Theme 3 Area 3.1.1. MARIE-F Monitoring and Assessment of Resources in Europe - Forest.
Forest Monitoring in Europe with Remote Sensing (FMERS) Phase II
Scale Dependent Monitoring of Non-Timber Forest Resources Base on Indicators Assessed in Various Data Sources MNTFR
Shared cost proposals with notable evaluation result:
FAIR PL95-659 Methods for evaluating and monitoring forest characteristics for sustainable management. Scientific evaluation, B.
Environment and climate: Earth observation of NATURA 2000 habitats (As a representing the University of Joensuu). Scientific evaluation B Later accepted into the CEO program
Ihalainen, A., Korhonen, K. T. & Varjo, J. 1991. Puiden käyttöosan mittauksiin perustuva metsurimittaus. Summary: Estimation of harvested timber volume using treewise measurements made during felling. Folia Forestalia 786:1-19.
Korhonen, K. T., Nalli, A. & Varjo, J. 1992. Metsätalouden suunnittelu Ruotsissa [ only in Finnish, Forest management planning in Sweden]. Forest Research Institute Research Notes:406:36-52.
Varjo , J., 1991. Männyn puuaineen tiheyden mallittaminen. [only in Finnish, Modelling the dry weight of knot free Scots Pine timber]. Thesis for M.Sc degree. University of Joensuu. 55 pp.
Varjo , J. 1992. Metsätalouden suunnittelun kehitys Suomessa [only in Finnish, Development of the forest management planning methodology in Finland]. Forest Research Institute Research Notes 406:5-22.
Kangas , J., Päivinen, R. & Varjo, J. 1992. Integroitu metsäsuunnittelu [only in Finnish, Integrated forest management planning]. University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry, Research notes 2:1-34.
Varjo , J. & Päivinen, R. 1992. Controlling stand register by using Landsat TM satellite data. Proceed- ings of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Commit-tee seminar, The use of information systems in forestry, 14.- 18. September, Garpenberg, Sweden.
Varjo , J. 1993. Forest change detection by satellite remote sensing in Eastern Finland. Proceedings of the International Workshop 'Satellite Technology and GIS for Mediterranean Forest Mapping and Fire Management' in Thessaloniki Greece. 11 pp.
Varjo , J. 1993. . A Nonparametric Method for Controlling Stand Register by satellite data. Thesis for Finnish licentiate degree in forest management planning. University of Joensuu, Faculty of forestry. 66 pp.
Kangas , A., Maltamo, M., Muinonen, E., Saramäki, J., Tokola, T. & Varjo, J. 1994 Skogsuppskattningstudier vid Joensuu Universitet [In Swedish only]. Nordic cooperative Research Group on Forest Inventory. Meeting in Denmark 1. - 3. August 1994.
Varjo , J. 1994. Satelliitti-informaation kuviotietojen ajantasaistuksessa [only in Finnish, Satellite information in updating forest information]. In publication: Niemeläinen, P., Kangas, J. and Päivinen, R. ( Edit), Integroidun metsäsuunnittelun menetelmiä ja välineitä, Integroudun metsällisen päätöksenteon tukijärjestelmä (IMPJ) -yhteistutkimushankkeen loppuseminaari 2.2.1994. University of Joensuu, Faculty of Forestry, Research notes 16:10-17.
Varjo , J. 1995. Forest change detection by satellite remote sensing in Eastern Finland. EARSeL Advances in Remote Sensing XII 4(3):102-106.
Varjo , J. 1995. Latvanhukkaosan pituusmallit männylle, kuuselle ja koivulle metsurimittausta varten [only in Finnish, Predicting nonmerchantable top for pine, spruce and birch in the treewise volume estimation based on the measurements made during felling]. Metsäntutkimuslaitoksen tiedonantoja 558:21-23.
Varjo , J. 1996. A Nonparametric Method for Controlling Stand Register by satellite data. International Journal of Remote sensing, 17(1):43-67.
Varjo , J. 1996. Radiometric correction of multitemporal Landsat TM data for detecting rapid changes in mineral soil forest land. Paper presented in XVIII International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Congress, Vienna 9-19 July 1996. International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sesing (IAPRS) XXXI.
Heikkonen , J., Varjo, J. and Varfis, A. 1996. Applying self-organizing map to select Landsat TM difference features for forest change analysis. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Engineering Applications of Neural Networks, London, England, June 17 -19, 1996. pp 329-332
Tomppo , E., Katila, M., Mikkelä, H. and Varjo, J. 1996. Nyheter från den finska rikskogstaxeringen [In Swedish only]: News from the Finnish National Forest Inventory). The paper presented in 16th September 1996 SNS meeting, Umeå, Sweden. 11 pp.
Varjo , J. 1996. Detecting manmade forest activities and natural disasters using Landsat TM satellite data - a method presented for controlling continuously updated forest information in Finland. Paper presented in Joint meeting of Council On Forest Engineering and International Union of Forest Research Organizations, Subject group S3.04-00, Marquette, MI, July 29 - 1 August, 1996.
Mäkelä, H., Mery, G. & Varjo, J. 1997. Method for detecting changes of the forest resources in Chile, Metsäntutkimuslaitos, Helsinki. 40 p.
Mcdonald , A, Gemmel, F. & Varjo, J. 1997. Invenstication of spectral vegetation indices for forest information content. Presented at the Remote Sensing Society Annual Meeting 2nd-4th 1997. University of Reading, Great-Britan.6 pp.
Varjo , J. & Folving, S. 1997. Monitoring of forest changes using unsupervised methods; a case study from boreal forests on mineral soils. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 12(4):362-369.
Varjo , J. 1997. Calibration and change detection method for controlling continuously updated forest information by Landsat TM material. Acta Forestalia Fennica 258:1-64
Tomppo , E., Varjo, J., Korhonen, K., Ahola, A., Ihalainen, A., Heikkinen, J., Hirvelä, H., Mikkelä, H., Mikkola, E., Salminen S., and Tuomainen, T. 1997. Study on European forestry information and communication system reports on forestry inventory and survey systems - Country Report for Finland 1:145-226.
Heikkonen , J., Varjo, J. and Vehtari, A. Forest Change Detection via Landsat TM Difference Features. 1999. Proceedings of the 11th Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis, Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, June 7-11,1999. pp157-163.
Gemmel , F. and Varjo, J. 1999 Utility of reflectance model inversion versus two spectral indices for estimating biophysical characteristics in a boreal forest test site. Remote Sensing of Environment 68:95-111.
Rouvinen, S., Korhonen, K.T. and Varjo, J. GPS-paikannuksen tarkkuus metsässä. 1999 [Only in Finnish, Precision of the GPS positioning in forest conditions] Folia Forestalia 1999(1)
Mäkelä, H. and Varjo, J. Metsäsuunnittelun eri tietolähteiden yhdistämisvaihtoehdot. [Only in finnish, methods for combining different data sources for producing information for forest management planning], in the publication: Nuutinen, T. and Suokas A. (Edit.) MELA99 ja metsätalouden suunnittelu, MELA -kayttäjäpäivä ja tutkimusseminaari 11. -12-5-1999 Majvik, Kirkkonummi. , Forest Research Institute Research Notes 752:41-44.
Mäkelä, H. and Varjo, J. 1999. Metsäsuunnittelun tietohuollon kehittäminen [Only in Finnish, Development of the information sources for forest management planning] , in the publication: Heikinheimo, M. (Editor), 1999. Metsäsuunnittelun tietohuolto, Forest Research Institute Research Notes 741:85-95.
Varjo , J. 1999. Metsäninventointi luonnonvarojen käytön suunnittelussa [Only in Finnish, Forest inventory in the management plannin of natural resources], in the publication: Heikinheimo, M. (Editor), 1999. Metsäsuunnittelun tietohuolto, Forest Research Institute Research Notes 741:5-7.
Varjo , J., Saramäki, J. and Mäkelä H., 1999. Monitoring Land-use Changes by Remote Sensing in Eastern Africa with Emphasis on Forest and Off-Forest Tree Resources. Paper presented in IUFRO Eastern-Africa Forest Congress, Arusha, Tanzania. 12 pp.
Anonymous. 2000. Forest Resources of Europe, CIS, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand, UN-ECE/FAO contribution to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000, Main Report. United Nations, New York and Geneva 2000. 467 pp. Available also from: http://www.unece.org/trade/timber/fra/pdf/fullrep.pdf. .
Varjo , J., Gemmell, F. and Strandström, M. 2000. A combined model based remote sensing approach for estimating forest characteristics. Paper presented in the ISPRS International Conference Amsterdam, July 2000 and published in IAPRS, Vol. XXXIII, Amsterdam, 2000. 8 pp.
Varjo , J., Korotkov, A.V. and Najera, J. 2000. UN-ECE/FAO Temperate and Boreal Forest Resource Assessment-2000 - An International System for Collecting, Processing and Disseminating Information on Forest Resources. Paper accepted to be presented in the Forestry Information Systems 2000 16-20 th May, Hyytiälä Finland and published in the Proceedings of the Conference. 5 pp.
Bilaletdin , Ä, Lepistö, A., Finér, L., Forsius, M., Holmberg, M., Kämäri, J., Mäkelä, H. & Varjo, J. 2001. A regional GIS-based model to predict long- termresponses of soil and soil water chemistry to atmospheric deposition: Initial results. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution 131: 275-303.
Gemmell , F., Varjo, J. & Strandström, M. 2001. Estimating forest cover in a boreal forest test site using Thematic Mapper data from two dates. RemoteSensing of Environment 77(2): 197-211.
Varjo , J. & Mery, G. 2001.Forest change detection. In: Palo, M., Uusivuori, J. & Mery, G. ( eds.). World forests, markets and policies. World Forests, Vol.III. Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 239-240.
Gemmell , F., Varjo, J., Strandström, M. & Kuusk, A. 2002. Comparison of measured boreal forest characteristics with estimates from TM data and limitedancillary information using reflectance model inversion. Remote Sensing of Environment 81: 365-377.
Tomppo , E., Korhonen, K.T. & Varjo, J. 2002. Team report from Finnish Forest Research Institute, National Forest Inventory. In: Heikkinen, J., Korhonen, K.T., Siitonen, M., Strandström, M. & Tomppo, E. ( eds.). Nordic trends in forest inventory, management planning and modelling. Proceedings of SNS Meeting in Solvalla, Finland, April 17-19, 2001. The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Research Papers 860: 9-19.
Varjo , J 2002. Change detection and controlling forest information using multi-temporal Landsat TM imagery. In: Saastamoinen, O., Kolström, T. & Oinasmaa,T. ( eds.). Lectiones praecursoriae forestales - Metsätieteellisiä väitöslektioita. Silva Carelica 39: 74-77.
Varjo, J. 2002. Metsäsuunnittelun tietohuollon järjestäminen tulevaisuudessa. Metsätieteen aikakauskirja 3/2002: 537-540.
Luhtala , A. and Varjo, J. (Editors) Proceeding of FAO Expert Consultation on Global Forest Resources Assessment 2002. The Finnish Forest Research Institute, Research Papers 889.
Theseira , M.A., Thomas, G., Taylor, J.C., Gemmell, F. & Varjo, J. 2003. Sensitivity of mixture modelling to end-member selection. International
Journal of Remote Sensing 24(7): 1559-1575.Heikkonen , J. & Varjo, J. 2004. Forest change detection applying Landsat Thematic Mapper difference features: A comparison of different classifiers in boreal forest conditions. Forest Science 50(5): 579-588.
Lorenz, M., Varjo, J. & Bahamondez, C. 2005. Forest assessment for changing information needs. In: Mery, G., Alfaro, R., Kanninen, M. & Lobovikov, M. (eds.). Forests in the global balance - Changing paradigms. IUFRO World Series Vol. 17: 139-150.
Bahamondez , C., Lorenz, M., Mery, G., Varjo, J., Kengen, S., Kometter, R., Nieto, V., Rodas, R., Trilles, M. & Trevin, J. 2006. Evaluación de los recursos forestales ante necesidades cambiantes de información. CD-rom. IUFRO, 17 p.
Varjo, J., Henttonen, H., Lappi, J., Heikkonen, J. & Juujärvi, J. 2006. Digital horizontal tree measurements for forest inventory. Working Papers of the Finnish Forest Research Institute 40. 23 p.
Bahamondez, C., Lorenz, M., Mery, G., Varjo, J., Kengen, S., Kometter, R., Nieto, V., Rodas, R., Trilles, M. & Trevin, J. 2006. Evaluación de los recursos forestales ante necesidades cambiantes de información. CD-rom. IUFRO, 17 p.
Mery, G., Katila, P., Galloway, G., Alfaro, R.I., Kanninen, M., Lobovikov, M. & Varjo, J. (eds.) 2010. Forests and Society - Responding to Global Drivers of Change. IUFRO World Series 25. 509 p. ISBN 978-3-901347-93-1Mery, G., Katila, P., Galloway, G., Alfaro, R.I., Kanninen, M., Lobovikov, M. & Varjo, J. 2010. Preface. In: Mery, G., Katila, P., Galloway, G., Alfaro, R.I., Kanninen, M., Lobovikov, M. & Varjo, J. (eds.). Forests and Society - Responding to Global Drivers of Change. IUFRO World Series 25: 3-4. ISBN 978-3-901347-93-1
Varjo, J. 2010. Forestry research – the past and the perspectives in Finland from the point of view of Finnish forest Research Institute (METLA). In Forestry and Forest Science (Ed. Miksys, V.) 2010. Proceedings/Abstracts of International Conference, Girionys, Lithuania, 17 th September 2010. Kaunas: 28-28. ISBN 978-9955-37-112-0
Updated: 16.11.2012/JVoi