Doctor of Social Sciences Sanna Kopra has started as a new Research Professor in Arctic Geopolitics and Security in the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.

The
field of Kopra’s professorship is new in the Arctic Centre. It highlights the
strong growth in the need for Arctic research and knowledge related to geopolitics
and security in recent years. It is also a new opening nationally, as no Finnish
university has previously held a similar position.

Kopra
received her doctorate in social sciences at the University of Tampere in 2016. Her
doctoral thesis focused on China and great power responsibility in international
climate politics. Kopra graduated as a Master of social sciences at the University
of Lapland in 2010, majoring in International Relations. She has had a Title of
Docent in International Politics at the University of Turku since 2023. In addition,
since 2019 she has been a Senior Fellow at The Arctic Institute, a think tank based
in Washington, D.C. Since the beginning of this year, she has led a research team on
Arctic international relations at the Arctic Centre.

In
Kopra’s research career, China has been strongly present. She has been in
exchange in China on a couple of occasions, masters the Chinese language, has
written numerous research articles related to China and has become one of
Finland’s leading experts in China’s Arctic activities. However,
Kopra’s recent research has focused thematically on much wider areas. She
combines Arctic geopolitics and international environmental policy and seeks to
outline a planetary approach to these issues in her ongoing research projects.

– I am particularly interested in future developments in Arctic
geopolitics and security. Geopolitical tensions have increased in the Arctic, so in
my new position, I will continue to explore China’s Arctic interests and role.
Instead of focusing on mere threats, however, I aim for a more comprehensive
understanding of the dynamics of international relations in the Arctic in the age of
the polycrisis, characterized by the accumulation of many interconnected crises,
Kopra says.

– In particular, my aim is to promote critical
research on Arctic geopolitics and security by building theoretical and empirical
bridges between traditional issues of hard security and planetary approaches that
have recently emerged within my own discipline. If we focus only on state and
people-centered interests in politics, we will not succeed in achieving fundamental
change in international policy and economic practices required to avoid the looming
climate and ecological crisis, Kopra says.

Sanna Kopra

Research Professor
in Arctic Geopolitics and Security from 23 of September 2024, Arctic Centre,
University of Lapland

• Doctor of Social Sciences
2016, University of Tampere
• Title of docent in International
Politics, University of Turku
• Senior Fellow, The Arctic Institute –
Center for Circumpolar Security Studies, Washington D.C., USA
• Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher at the Arctic Centre and
postdoctoral researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute (University of Helsinki).
University researcher at the Arctic Centre since 2021.

Research projects currently led by
Kopra:

• Rethinking International Relations in an Era of the
Planetocene: Case Arctic Ocean Up to 2050 (Research Council of Finland,
2023-2027)
• A Planetary Approach to Global Arctic Politics
(University of Lapland’s internal strategy funding, 2022-2024)
• Climate Responsibility as a Cornerstone of Multilateral
Cooperation? (Kone Foundation, 2022-2025)
• Leads
Arctic Centre team in EU-funded TRANSNATURE project

Additional information:

Research Professor
Sanna Kopra
sanna.kopra@ulapland.fi; +358 40 132 4502