Professor Timo Koivurova is a director of the Arctic Centre. His expertize covers, among others, Arctic legal and governance questions, international environmental law and indigenous rights. He is one of the key scholars dealing with the Arctic regional cooperation, including in particular the Arctic Council.

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tel. +358 40 551 9522

Dr. Stefan Kirchner is specialized in international law. The focus of his work is the regulation of spaces and interactions between different actors in the Arctic. In addition to his academic work, he has extensive practical experience in international law, having worked in both private practice and public administration.

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tel. +358 40 484 4001

Dr. Sanna Kopra is an Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher who is specialized in International Relations. Her research interests include China's foreign policy, great power politics, international environmental politics and Arctic governance. Between 2018 and 2021, Sanna carries out a postdoctoral project “The Rise of China and Normative Transformation in the Arctic Region.”

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Katri holds a Master’s degree from the University of Lapland in Political Science and International Relations. During her studies she specialised in two different topics; one being sustainability and environmental issues, and the other ideological extremism in cyberspace. She was an intern at the Arctic Governance research team and works now as a Junior Researcher in SUMEX project, which addresses the definition of sustainability in connection with the extractive industry in Europe.

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Pamela’s background is in land use and urban planning as well as in environmental impact assessment. Her research at the Arctic Center focuses primarily on the social license to operate (SLO) and sustainable mining in the Nordic countries. The topic of her dissertation centers on the social license to operate concept as a form of private governance and seeks to operationalize SLO via economic compensation mechanisms such as Impact and Benefit Agreements.

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tel. +358 40 484 4051

The topic of Ilona's multidisciplinary doctoral research is the use of knowledge in environmental and regional development related strategic planning. Her research focuses empirically on regional level proactive climate change adaptation strategies in the Arctic. Ilona’s other research interests include collaborative planning, regional development in Arctic areas, multiple-use of nature, cartography (historical maps in particular), sustainable Arctic tourism, relational planning theory, and actor-network theory.

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tel. +358 40 484 4273

Adam Stepien is a political scientist. His interests include: policy coherence, Arctic governance, law and cooperation, indigenous governance, participatory decision-making, as well as development cooperation partnerships. Adam took part in several projects dedicated to the EU and the Arctic. The latter is the topic of his ongoing PhD.

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tel. +358 40 484 4298

Elena Cirkovic has a transdisciplinary background and specialization in international law. Her research centers on sustainable uses of outer space and the earth system. Some of her research areas include: Critical legal theory and philosophy, Earth System Governance, Indigenous peoples’ rights, Outer space law, greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic, Posthumanism and new materialisms, Science and technology studies, International Humanitarian Law and Sustainable landscape design. She also has a background in landscape architecture, visual arts, and music. She is currently affiliated with the Alexanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki.

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Susanna is also holding a position as a Doctoral candidate with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Oulu. Her thesis concerns human physiology and human thermoregulation in cold environments, which covers essential questions in the context of personal human safety in the Arctic. Lately she has been working for the maritime safety enhancement. Her research interests include human physiology, cold environment, health, tourism safety, economics, medical and biosciences and natural sciences.

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tel. +358 40 484 4297

Geographer, her research interest are: Community-based development in sparsely populated and peripheral places; Tourism in small-scale regions; Socio- cultural impacts of tourism development in peripheral places; Community resilience and adaptation to changes; Management, policies and planning in peripheral areas; Regional development in Arctic communities. Conducted several research projects in Greenland.

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Waliul Hasanat, LLD is a Professor of Law and Justice Discipline in Khulna University, Bangladesh. He has done his Doctor of Laws at the Faculty of Law in the University of Lapland on the Arctic Council. His main research interests include public international law, international soft-law, soft-law forms of cooperation, the Arctic Council, Arctic law and governance, changes in the Circumpolar North, sustainable development, and the protection of minorities.

Human rights issues; Minority and indigenous rights and issues, particularly Sámi Rights; Group rights and individual rights; Participatory approaches, deliberative democracy and community involvement; Environmental decision-making processes, particularly environmental mediation; Constructivism, particularly constructivist norm research.

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tel.  +358 40 484 4159