October 2024 has been a busy month for border and security scholars at the Karelian Institute. Read our report about the events that we organized and find out what events are coming up.
Happened so far
This autumn has brought a bounty of border- and security-related events to the Karelian Institute. We kicked off October with a three-day Advanced Research Workshop supported by the NATO’s Science for Peace and Security Program under prof. Jussi P. Laine’s leadership. Guided by the theme Resilience as a Deterrence Strategy: Towards a Comprehensive Security Panorama, the event had brought border and security experts from NATO member and partner countries to Joensuu for insightful talks and interactive brainstorming. You can read Jussi P. Laine’s opening speech in the UEF’s blog.
The annual BOMOCULT conference took place the following week, on 10-11 October. This year’s theme was Resilience in Times of Uncertainty. Dr. Karin Dean from Tallin University gave the keynote lecture, in which she presented findings from her research in the Eur-Asian BorderLAB project. Speaking of the BorderLAB, it was a busy month for the project, too. The Karelian Institute hosted two doctoral students, Mert Cangönül from the University of Amsterdam and Katerina Maadla from Tallin University, who came for research visits organized under the BorderLAB banner. Earlier this year, three doctoral students from UEF visited the Tallin University. We also hosted the Lines that Live photo exhibition.
We did not slow down for the Autumn holiday week, as we hosted Dr. Stephen Phillips from Åbo Akademi University on 17 October. Dr. Phillips gave a guest lecture titled Nordic exceptionalism and its impact on law and policy at Finland’s eastern border, in which he explored the response to the asylum seekers’ continuous arrival in Europe from the legal studies’ perspective. He remarked that Finland’s policy in the matter follows the path of increasing securitization, already implemented in Australia and the United States.
Coming up
The end of the month brings in another highlight – an international conference titled Fostering Human Security in a Multipolar World organized on 25-26.10 in partnership with Nagasaki University, Zayed University, University of Canterbury and the International Political Science Association (IPSA). This event addresses the need for a broader view of security regarding potential international and regional cooperation and a deeper understanding of (in)securities that impact everyday life locally. It also focused on possible cooperation scenarios and the conditions affecting their realization.
That same week on 24.10, the Faculty of Social Sciences is organizing The Social Policy Conference. This year’s theme is security, and the organizers want to raise the question of the possibilities of institutions, individuals and communities to support and strengthen ontological and everyday security. More information is available on the conference website.
We will close the series with Luca Esposito’s doctoral defence on 29.11. Mr. Esposito will defend his dissertation An analysis of renewable energy policies, markets, and resources, through an econometric approach: A comparative study on Italy and Finland. His research offers important insights about resilience and security. he opponent will be Professor Tommi Inkinen, University of Turku, and the custos will be Professor Teemu Makkonen, University of Eastern Finland.
It's surely an intense autumn and we are looking forward to planning more exciting international events in 2025.
