Arctic Portal would like to congratulate and wish all the best to Timo Koivurova, appointed new Director of the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland.
Here is the press release by the Arctic Centre:
The Board of the University of Lapland has in its meeting on 3rd November appointed Research Professor Timo Koivurova as the Director of the Arctic Centre for the five-year period from 2016 to 2020. Koivurova has worked as the acting Director of the Arctic Centre since August. In total 13 people from Finland and abroad applied for the directorship, and four candidates were interviewed.
48-year old Koivurova graduated as Doctor of Law from the University of Lapland in 2001. The topic of his dissertation was "Environmental impact assessment in the Arctic: a Study of International Legal Norms". Koivurova has worked as the Director of the Northern Institute of Environmental and Minority Law at the Arctic Centre since 2004.
“The global significance of the Arctic region has grown rapidly and the interest towards Arctic is nowadays global. This is mainly the result of climate change but many other factors are also included. In our own work we face this vast interest every day, as we are in the middle of all this. The way the Arctic Centre works, combining strong Arctic research with dissemination and popularization of information is unique internationally. We have an opportunity to be a forerunner both at the national and international levels”, says Koivurova.
“One of the biggest challenges of my directorship will be the chairmanship of Finland in the Arctic Council, starting spring 2017. As a research community, we will play an important role. We have already begun to prepare ourselves both at the national level and in Lapland for enhancing the chairmanship as effectively and reasonably as possible. This is also a great opportunity for increasing knowledge about the Arctic issues in Finland”, says Koivurova.
“The Arctic Centre has reached a high level international status in Arctic research and it holds a good national position as well. But there are also many other places where a top-level work is carried out, and it is important to develop networks of cooperation. In Lapland the University, the University of Applied Sciences and various research institutes all have much potential for world-class research in their own fields. We also need even closer connections to other institutions doing Arctic research in Finland. Those can be found especially in Oulu and in the Helsinki region. An important international network is the University of the Arctic. The Arctic Centre wants to enhance cooperation and continue to be an active actor at the regional, national and international levels”, Koivurova states.
“In the Arctic Centre we have strong multidisciplinary research as well as expertise on how to bring the information in use for various target groups in a meaningful way. Therefore we can form the foundation for the EU Arctic information Centre should they so decide in the EU. We have the capacity to lead a European-level network that can also produce for the whole European Union information about the Arctic region that is both popularized and credible”, says Koivurova.
Timo Koivurova is a docent at the universities of Turku and Eastern Finland. His field of expertise is international and EU law, and especially their applications in the Arctic region. He has been an expert member in many international processes and cooperative networks concerning the Arctic region and has written an extensive amount of publications about the theme.
The Arctic Centre is a research institute at the University of Lapland. Its premises are located in the Arktikum Building in Rovaniemi. Its functions also include an Arctic Science Centre, science communications and interaction towards the society. The Centre employs around 70 people from more than ten different countries.