New communications experts at ICOS Head Office

17 March 2022
Image of ICOS new people Laurent and Maria smiling in front of a tree

ICOS gained two new employees to the communications team in March. The two new people, Laurent and Maria, have diverse backgrounds in visual storytelling, content creation and project management. They will be replacing Magdalena Brus and Mari Keski-Nisula, who have decided to seek new challenges after years at ICOS.

Co-creation as a driving force for change

A new addition to the communication team at ICOS, Laurent Chmiel is a communication specialist with a knack for visual and written content creation. Besides taking part in transverse activities at ICOS, Laurent will be focusing on the promotion and communication of ENVRI projects in collaboration with other stakeholders and fellow ICOS team members.

“I’m very proud to be part of ICOS, and be avant-garde of climate action. More than just a career move, this position and the impact we can generate at ICOS is an important commitment for me.”

Before joining ICOS, Laurent was employed by Aalto University in Finland, being the other half of the central team of DigiEduHack, a series of hackathons on digital education created by the European Commission.


Name & title: Laurent Chmiel, Communications Specialist
Education: Master’s degree in Communication (Paris II Panthéon Assas)
Born: Paris, France
Languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian. Basic Finnish that needs to be improved. Rusty Chinese and Dutch that need to be exercised. Currently learning Swedish and Russian.
Hobbies: Anything outdoors
Secret skills: Former vegan chef, very bad accordion player


Experience from branding and storytelling to ICOS

Maria Luhtaniemi joined the ICOS in early March as a Communications Specialist. She has a background in social sciences and has work experience in branding, digital marketing and content creation. Her most recent experience as Content Designer the brand agency N2 Albiino has given her strong competencies in maintaining ICOS’s brand and increasing its visibility.

“ICOS has great credibility amongst the scientific community. I would like to bring this work to the forefront and highlight all the ways ICOS data benefits not only the scientists but also the rest of the society.” 

In the new position, Maria will be creating content for ICOS’s newsletters, news and social media channels, as well as work on the ERIC Forum project. She will be taking over many of the tasks from Mari Keski-Nisula, a communications team member who will be moving on the new adventures after five years at ICOS.

“ICOS has a very experienced, proactive and skilled communications team. I’m very proud to be a part of it”, Maria says.

Name & title: Maria Luhtaniemi, Communications Specialist
Education: Master’s degree in Urban Studies. Bachelor’s degree in Sociology.
Born: Jyväskylä, Finland.
Languages: Finnish, English. Basics in Swedish and German.
Hobbies: Cooking, baking, spending time with friends and family.