When I visited Finnish Lapland and the “Arktikum House” for the first time in November 2010 as a tourist, I could not imagine that the Arctic Centre located in this building would become my workplace in the future and the place where I will get the opportunity to do research. Back in 2010, I was dealing with my master studies and studying one autumn semester at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Around one year later in autumn 2011, I had the chance to do a four-month-internship in the Northern Political Economy team at the Arctic Centre and received in spring 2012 my master´s degree in the study programme Sustainability, Economics and Management from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. In the following I supported the ecotoxicology research team of the UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Science in Leipzig, Germany and worked for a financial services company in Brussels, Belgium in the corporate governance department. Last January, I could eventually come back to Rovaniemi and consequently started my research work in the Arctic Centre.

My research will mainly focus on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the four markets of the Barents region. Accordingly, the analysis to what extent organisations in the Arctic regions consider environmental and social aspects plays a superior role in my work. In addition, international CSR frameworks and standards are essential parts of the studies. There are different options and approaches to apply reporting standards to reduce negative environmental impacts and to improve social performances within enterprises without necessarily losing competitiveness on the market. Among other research objectives, it is my intention to learn and find out how it works in practice.

 Several industrial sectors have a high relevance in the Arctic regarding social and environmental impacts. These include the exploration and production of oil & gas, fishery & shipping in the Barents Sea and tourism, just to name a few. In the beginning of my research work I am concentrating primarily on two further sectors with importance to ecological impacts and societal welfare. These are the sectors of forestry and mining. Approximately 87 million hectares comprises the enormous forestal area in the Barents region. Forests are essential for the production of oxygen and simultaneously function as carbon sinks, a meaningful issue in the climate change debate. In the North of Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Northwest of Russia are immense reserves of diverse raw materials. These include amongst others gold, nickel, chrome, iron, zinc, copper and coal. Hence just as forestry, the mining industry has a considerable influence on the environment, society and economy in the Arctic.

 Apart from my studies, I like walking and running in the beautiful natural areas around Rovaniemi (for instance Ounasvaara) to relax. I also like in my free time to listen to rock music (I noticed that there are some really good Finnish rock bands) and watching ice hockey or football matches occasionally.