The position was established to meet the internationally growing interest in questions pertaining to the Arctic and Northern areas. The geopolitical, economic, and environmental situation in Northern areas is currently in considerable transition. This is due to the active, international discussion about the climate change and its effects, new sea routes created by ice melt, the possibilities of benefiting from natural resources in the Arctic as well as the growing global interest. Therefore, there is an increased need for scientific research on geopolitics and questions related to security and international co-operation in the Arctic, and the politics of countries in the Arctic as well as other countries interested in the area.

Lassi Heininen obtained his Master’s degree at the University of Tampere in 1987 and continued to a Licentiate degree, which was earned at the University of Tampere in 1991. He obtained his Doctoral degree at the University of Lapland in 1999.

The scientific expertise of Lassi Heininen focuses on International Relations in the Arctic and Northern areas, Geopolitics, Security, Environmental Politics, research pertaining to Russia, and Political History. He has produced a substantial number of literary works, most of them in English. Most recently he was editor of the Arctic Yearbook 2012.


In his career, Dr. Heininen has worked at the University of Lapland as a University Lecturer, as a Senior Researcher, and as a Coordinator of teaching pertaining to the Arctic in 2005–2013 and 1991–1996. He was nominated Docent of International Relations at the University of Lapland in 2000, and Docent of Geopolitics, focusing mainly on Northern areas, at the University of Oulu in 2002.

In addition, he has worked in various research and teaching positions at Trent University, Université du Québec , and Lakehead University in Canada, the University of Akureyri and the University of Iceland in Iceland, the University of Latvia, the Barents Institute in Norway, the University of West Georgia in the United States, the Petrozavodsk State University and the Saint Petersburg State University in Russia, Panjab University in India, the Tampere Peace Research Institute, and Turku School of Economics.

He is one of the founders and active members of the annual Calotte Academy, which was established in 1991. Furthermore, he has worked as the Chairman in the Steering Committee of the Northern Research Forum since 1999, the Academic Leader of the International Summer School of Karelia since 2003, and the Leader of the Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security in the University of the Arctic since 2009. He also teaches and gives lectures abroad on a regular basis and serves as a supervisor for doctoral students in Finland and other Arctic countries.

For more information:

Lassi Heininen
Professor of Arctic Politics
Tel. +358 40 484 4215
lassi.heininen@ulapland.fi