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