Contributions to society
Entomology and entomological Societies in Finland
Finland has a long tradition in entomological research extending over 200 years. The Finnish insect fauna is remarkably well-known due to research pursued by both university researchers as well as a large and active amateur community. The important aspect of the current high knowledge level of Finnish entomology is that it has been achieved by the active participation of both academics and amateurs, both groups being members of the entomological societies. Since decades they provide species occurrence information for mapping species distributions and participate actively in compiling species red-lists.
The first Finnish academic society, 
which promoted research in entomology was Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica, established already in year 1821. The first president was the well-known entomologist Carl Reinhold Sahlberg. The first purely entomological society, Societas Entomologica Helsingforsiensis, was established in 1919, and the society published the journal Notulae Entomologicae 1921- 1989.
Another entomological society was established in 1935, the Finnish Entomological Society (Suomen Hyönteistieteellinen Seura), publishing the journal Annales Entomologici Fennici and the monographic series Acta Entomologica Fennica.
Both entomological societies regularly continue with well attended meetings in Helsinki. Their programs include scientific presentations and short notes presented by the members or by invited speakers at each meeting. Additionally every year longer and shorter insect collecting excursions in Finland are arranged. The societies annually provide stipends and grants to cover travel or other research costs particularly for students. The entomological publishing activity was reformed in late 1980ies, and since 1990 both entomological journals were merged to form the current journal Entomologica Fennica.
Lepidoptera are the most popular insect group with amateurs, and the Lepidopterological Society of Finland was established in 1955. 
The
Lepidopterological Society currently has the highest number of members (>1100), publishes the journal Baptria, and annually hosts a weekend meeting for members as well as other entomologists with presentations and workshops on faunistics and taxonomy of all insect groups. Several other entomological clubs have been established in other Finnish cities.
Citizen science
Citizen science (also known as crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, volunteer monitoring, or networked science) is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or nonprofessional scientists. It is sometimes described as “public participation in scientific research”, participatory monitoring, or participatory action research. Citizen science has long been an integral part of entomological knowledge creation, and essential to a large body of research on insects. For example, butterfly counts have a long tradition of involving individuals in the study of the range of butterflies and their relative abundance.
In the forthcoming 26th International Congress of Entomology (2022) in Helsinki we intend to dedicate special attention to this interaction between scientific research and the general public, and plan to arrange an array of events aimed at school children, hobby entomologists, biology teachers, and the media.
We consider that biology teachers at our schools are in the key position to stimulate young persons to become fascinated by the insect world, and plan to organize a special event for biology teachers to collate ideas on how to arise interest in entomology. This could be accomplished in collaboration with the Finnish Science Center HEUREKA.
Based on these reflections, we have the ties and cooperation arrangements with entomologists around the globe to contribute to society. Leaflet on sustainable management, supported by a Finnish organisation, has been produced, and we are in the process to contribute to a podcast on the topic, being prepared by high school students.
