The VERA Centre coordinates, enhances and promotes the activities of the various research groups working in border studies and multidisciplinary research on Russia and ex-Soviet space across the UEF. The name ‘VERA' comes from a combination of two Finnish words: ‘Venäjä' meaning Russia and 'raja', which means border, summing up the Centre's thematic focus.
VERA acts as a hub for UEF researchers and their national and international collaborators for developing new projects, exploring links between existing projects, and raising the national and international visibility of our research. The Centre organises or supports regular events, from small-scale workshops to large conferences.
The VERA Centre is part of the Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters, BOMOCULT, Research Community of the University of Eastern Finland.
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Our research builds on a strong tradition of border studies and multidisciplinary research on Russia and the post-Soviet space. Themes such as borders, migration, intercultural contacts, Karelia, minorities, Russian and Finno-Ugrian cultures and languages, and the history of the Russian-Swedish and Russian-Finnish borderlands have always featured high on the university’s research agenda.
Local and regional social, economic, and political transformation also have been priority research areas since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The UEF’s expertise in border studies is now applied well beyond the Finnish-Russian border, to the various internal and external borders of the European Union, the recent Post-Soviet borders of the Eurasia, and beyond to borders in Africa, Asia and North America.
The coronavirus crisis underlines the complexity, importance and interconnectedness of Russia and Borders. The VERA Centre is at the forefront of creating and disseminating research-based knowledge about these issues
Jeremy Smith
Professor, Border and Russian Studies
Researchers affiliated to the VERA Centre
Researchers affiliated to the VERA Centre for Russian and Border Studies form a multidisciplinary network. Here you can get familiar with their research.
Read morePartners
The VERA Centre operates across faculties and campuses at the University of Eastern Finland. The research projects at the Centre have involved collaboration with the Aleksanteri Institute and other institutes at the University of Helsinki, the Finnish Institute for International Affairs, the University of Tampere, the University of Oulu, and other Finnish universities. Its researchers also participate actively in national networks dedicated to the study of borders and border areas, ethnic issues and transnationalism as well as Russia and other countries of the former communist bloc – The Finnish Association for Russian and East European Studies (FAREES), the Society for the Study of Ethnic Relations and International Migration (ETMU), the ExpREES MA and the FRRESH PhD networks for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
The VERA Centre also has extensive cooperation and collaboration with researchers and institutes active in Border Studies and Russian and Eurasian Studies around the world, from Japan to Canada. It is also prominent in international networks such as the Association for Borderlands Studies (ABS), Borders in Globalization (BIG), Border Regions in Transition (BRIT), and the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES).
Researchers of the VERA Centre actively participate in projects with actors outside academia, e.g. the European Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Finnish Immigration Service, and the Regional Council of North Karelia.
Education
The VERA Centre promotes teaching of Russian and border studies at the University of Eastern Finland. Affiliated staff also supervise doctoral theses at the UEF and other universities. The Centre organises and supports expert workshops and training events for young scholars in collaboration with the Doctoral programmes of the university. We also participate in the ExpREES Master-level expert programme coordinated by the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki.
Contact information
Paul Fryer, Department of Geographical and Historical Studies
paul.fryer@uef.fi, +358 50 372 8521
Heta Hurskainen, School of Theology
heta.hurskainen@uef.fi, +358 50 383 4158
Pekka Kilpeläinen, School of Humanities
pekka.kilpelainen@uef.fi, +358 50 465 7514
Evgeniya Kurvinen, Karelian Institute
evgeniya.kurvinen@uef.fi, +358 50 336 3762
Pauliina Lukinmaa, School of Humanities
pauliina.lukinmaa@uef.fi, +358 50 512 5482
Kati Parppei, Department of Geographical and Historical Studies
kati.parppei@uef.fi, +358 50 531 3543
Minna Piipponen, Karelian Institute
minna.piipponen@uef.fi, +358 50 442 3347
Jeremy Smith, Karelian Institute
jeremy.smith@uef.fi, +358 50 442 3665
Tiina Sotkasiira, Department of Social Sciences
tiina.sotkasiira@uef.fi, +358 50 442 3770
Joni Virkkunen, Karelian Institute (chair)
joni.virkkunen@uef.fi, +358 50 442 4469
VERA mailing list supports the communication of the VERA network. Everyone who is interested in Russian and Border Studies is welcome to join the list.
If you wish to join the list or if you have any other questions, please, contact: Joni Virkkunen, joni.virkkunen@uef.fi.
Joensuu campus
Postal address
University of Eastern Finland
Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies
Karelian Institute
The VERA Centre
P.O. Box 111, FI-80101
Finland
Visiting address
Yliopistokatu 2, Aurora B, Joensuu