Research Professor

Arctic Centre

Educated as a political scientist (international relations) Monica has studied Arctic politics since early 1990s. Currently, she focuses in her research to Foucaultian perspectives to the Arctic working with concepts such as heterotopia, environmentality and governmentality.

Research Professor

Arctic Centre

Sanna Kopra’s research focuses on Arctic geopolitics and global environmental politics. She is the author of China and Great Power Responsibility for Climate Change (Routledge 2019) and a co-editor of Chinese Policy and Presence in the Arctic (Brill Publishing 2020, with Timo Koivurova). Currently, Sanna leads three research projects: Rethinking International Relations in an Era of the Planetocene: Case Arctic Ocean Up to 2050 funded by the Research Council of Finland (2023-2027), A Planetary Approach to Global Arctic Politics funded by the University of Lapland’s internal strategy funding (2022-2024), and Climate Responsibility as a Cornerstone of Multilateral Cooperation? funded by the Kone Foundation (2022-2025).

Junior Researcher

Katharina Heinrich holds a master’s degree in Polar Law from the University of Akureyri, Iceland, and a master’s degree in Coastal and Marine Management from the University Centre of the Westfjords, Iceland. Her research focuses on Arctic and Antarctic Law and Policy, Environmental Law, Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Management under consideration of ecosystem dynamics and climate change impacts. Katharina works on the following projects: Transboundary governance models of biodiversity protection: case studies for an enhanced protection of natural resources in Europe; Rethinking International Relations in an Era of the Planetocene: Case Arctic Ocean Up to 2050; and ICEBERG – Innovative Community Engagement for Building Effective Resilience and Arctic Ocean Pollution-control Governance in the Context of Climate Change.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Sohvi Kangasluoma is a postdoctoral researcher in the project “Post-anthropocentric Water Relations in the Bothnian Bay”. Her research focuses on the environmental, geopolitical, and societal changes in northern waters, with a particular emphasis on understanding and incorporating more-than-human actors into the discussions. In the project, she concentrates on the role of ice in redefining human-nature relations within the Bothnian Bay. Previously she worked in the project ”Rethinking International Relations in an Era of the Planetocene: Case Arctic Ocean Up to 2050”. Sohvi holds a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki, awarded in 2023.

Researcher

Arctic Centre

Liisa Kauppila is a China researcher and a futurist. Her research interests include China’s economic engagement in the Arctic and Nordic countries, technology related aspects of great power rivalry, experimental futures research methods and relational theory. Kauppila works in the project Rethinking International Relations in an Era of the Planetocene: Case Arctic Ocean Up to 2050.

She has published peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and policy-oriented reports and facilitated five major Delphi studies at the intersection of social science and art.

Researcher

Arctic Centre

Heidi’s two Master of Arts degrees are from the fields of design and sustainability. Her transdisciplinary research interests include the plurality of sustainabilities in the Arctic, which she approaches with a decolonial lens. Heidi has completed the first year of her doctoral research on the Arctic seal hunt, crafts and trade in the University of Helsinki’s Indigenous Studies research group, which has a strong influence on her work.

University Researcher

Arctic Centre

Marjo holds a doctoral degree in social sciences (International Relations). Her research focuses on the entanglements between power and development in global and Arctic politics. Her work has investigated the dynamics between politics and rights and the question of resilience in contemporary colonial conditions. In her recent work she has explored the political purchase of hope.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Arctic Centre

Hannah completed her PhD on public participation in large scale energy siting procedures at the University of Oulu in 2011. As an environmental sociologist with an interest in science policy and socio-legal studies she focuses on the Arctic region. Hannah teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at the University of Lapland.

Academy Research Fellow

Arctic Centre

Vesa is a political geographer who works as an Academy Research Fellow in the project “Rethinking the territory of geopolitics: spatialities, temporalities and materialities of Arctic geopolitics”, which is funded by the Research Council of Finland (2024—2028). The key objective of his research is to dismantle the prevailing spatial ontology of territories and the associated understanding of geopolitics that are the key drivers in many a socio-ecological crisis today. Before the current position Vesa worked in the project “A Planetary Approach to Global Arctic Politics”. Put together, his previous and current research seeks to integrate more-than-human thinking into research on Arctic geopolitics and promote ways of thinking that enable the realization of socio-ecological justice.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Satu is a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki and a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre. Satu holds an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Creative Sustainability from Aalto University. Her research is situated within the field of environmental social science and focuses on multispecies justice and more-than-human futures in policymaking.

Visiting Researcher

Adrian Braun holds a doctoral degree in social sciences and business studies awarded from the University of Eastern Finland. The dissertation had a strong thematic focus on Corporate Social Responsibility in the European Arctic with consideration of natural resources exploitation. Currently, Adrian puts emphasis on the novel developments around sustainable investments and links this topic partly to Arctic and Sub-Arctic regional plans.

Junior Researcher

Arctic Centre

Zoha Fatima is a visiting researcher at the Arctic Centre and a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lapland. Her research examines Arctic governance in the context of intensifying great power rivalries, with a particular focus on China, the United States, and Russia. She explores how geopolitical competition intersects with environmental change, existing governance frameworks, and emerging security dynamics in the Arctic. Zoha holds an MSc in Diplomacy and International Security from the University of Strathclyde, where her dissertation analysed Chinese and U.S. approaches to the Arctic region.

Junior Researcher

Currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Lapland, Marco Ghisetti holds degrees in world politics and international relations and in philosophy. He has worked and conducted research in Europe, Russia, and Australia. He is the creator and leader of the Italian-language scholarly, peer-reviewed “Classics of Geopolitics” book series. He also participates in the current “second rebirth of Geopolitics,” which advocates for a spatially grounded approach to international relations research. His primary areas of study include geopolitics of the Arctic, classical and history of geopolitical thought and North American geopolitics.

Full-Time Teacher

Faculty of Education

Auni holds an interdisciplinary master’s degree in climate change at the University of Copenhagen. Her ongoing doctoral research focuses on the roles of Arctic cities in the makings of global extractivism. Auni’s research combines feminist and urban studies with political ecology.

Visiting Reseacher

Joni’s research examines the discursive constructions of military governance in Arctic security, with a specific focus on how strategic actions of Arctic-interested states—including overt action, non‑action, silence, and the exclusion of particular actors or narratives—shape perceptions of threat and rationalities of control. His work analyses how these practices contribute to the formation of security measures, countermeasures, and emerging forms of both security and vulnerability in the Arctic region. He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Lapland. He is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Lapland.

Junior Researcher

Ilmari’s doctoral research is located at the intersection of critical men and masculinities scholarship, Arctic research, and feminist organization studies. His research is directed towards organizing masculinities in an ecologically sustainable ways by looking into human-snow relations through the practice of free-touring in the melting Arctic. His work draws from feminist new materialist theories and more-than-human sensory ethnography. Ilmari holds a master’s degree in social policy with a focus on masculinities and the care practices of men.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Punam Noor’s research focuses on accommodating indigenous peoples’ traditional knowledge in international climate change law with special reference to the European High Arctic, where she combines conceptual frameworks with indigenous traditional knowledge for the promotion of indigenous peoples’ resilience against climate change. She is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lapland. She specialised in Environmental and Climate Change Law and she did European Union Law as her minor studies. She has completed Postgraduate Diploma in Law from Northumbria University in the UK.

Vieraileva tutkija

Tom is pursuing his PhD in Space Law at the University of Lapland, examining space sustainability and commercial spaceports in the European North (Norway and Sweden). Tom holds degrees in Political and Social Sciences, Space Law, and Digital and IP Law.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Marja Helena Sivonen earned her PhD in Social Sciences (Sociology) from Tampere University in March 2025. She currently works as a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute and is a visiting scholar at AIR during 2025–2026. Her research spans climate mitigation and adaptation from social sciences point of view, energy transitions, security, justice, and Arctic affairs. Grounded in social constructivist perspectives, she explores how discourse shapes societal change. She is also a chair of the Arctic Society of Finland and a member of the Saami Climate Council.

Researcher

Arctic Centre

Paula Tulppo is a PhD candidate in the field of Administrative Science and in her PhD research she scrutinizes European Union’s cross-border cooperation as a tool for regional development at the northern border region between Finland and Sweden. She graduated as a Master of Administrative Sciences from the University of Tampere, with Regional Studies as a main subject. Paula works in a project Transboundary governance models of biodiversity protection: case studies for an enhanced protection of natural resources in Europe.

Postdoctoral Researcher

Faculty of Social Sciences

Joonas is a doctor of social sciences and a scholar of political science. His work concentrates on a deconstructive reading of the Arctic, politics of aesthetics and post-human relations.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Marco Volpe’s research focuses on China´s engagement in the Arctic region with a specific look at the Chinese epistemic community´s debate related to Arctic issues. His research comprehends analysis of Chinese language-based literature. He holds a Master´s degree in Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of Rome La Sapienza, an Mres in East Asian Studies from the University of Leeds and a Master in Sustainable Development, Geopolitics of Resources and Arctic Studies from the Italian Society for International Organization. He is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Lapland.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Yue Wang is a Doctoral Researcher in International Relations at Tampere University in Finland. His research lies in the overall theme of international politics and governance in the Arctic. More specifically, he focuses on China and the Arctic, Arctic energy politics, and unintended consequences of international cooperation in the Arctic. Yue holds a MA degree (cum laude) in International Relations from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and a BA degree with honours in History from China.

Visiting Researcher

Arctic Centre

Xinyuan Zhang (Olivia) is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Lapland with a background in international relations and media studies. Before transitioning to research in Europe, she spent nearly eight years reporting on economic, political, and technology news in China for an international audience. Her research explores China’s economic engagement in the Arctic and Nordic regions, BRICS involvement in polar affairs, and China’s AI policies. She has contributed to projects on China’s evolving policies in the critical minerals industry and their impact on Norway, as well as China’s domestic discourse and actions in the Bering Strait and Bering Sea.