University of Oulu receives €1.2 million from the Research Council of Finland for OADJEBAS project
The Strategic Research Council, operating in connection with the Research Council of Finland, has awarded funding to the OADJEBAS consortium under the ARCTIC programme. The consortium is led by FRONT Associate Professor Tapio Nykänen from the Giellagas Institute at the University of Oulu. The University of Oulu’s share of the funding is 1,203,804 euros.
Security has traditionally been examined primarily from the perspective of the state and public institutions. OADJEBAS broadens this perspective to the relationships between people, communities and the environment.
“OADJEBAS shifts the focus to interaction: security emerges at the interfaces where the environment, civil society, authorities, and local and Indigenous communities meet,” says Nykänen.
In the project, the environment is also seen as a factor that shapes the construction of security. “In the Arctic region, the environment is tangibly a producer of both security and, in the worst case, insecurity: it sets both the opportunities and the conditions for human activity. This means that major environmental changes are immediately visible, for example, in the everyday lives of many livelihoods,” Nykänen continues.
The project is set against the backdrop of the global polycrisis, which is visible in the Arctic as rapid climate change, intensifying military competition, and changes in civic trust.
The project’s name derives from the North Sámi word oadjebas, which refers to trustful safety. The concept brings an Indigenous perspective alongside state-centred security frameworks and emphasises the role of local communities and nature in the construction of security.
Bringing together perspectives from sociology, international relations, geoinformatics, social work and Sámi studies, the project will produce research-based knowledge to support the development of Finland’s comprehensive security model. Security will be examined through quantitative, spatial and qualitative methods.
The University of Oulu contributes expertise in Sámi languages and Sámi culture from the Giellagas Institute, geography research, and multidisciplinary resilience research from the FRONT programme. The Giellagas Institute’s long-standing connections with Sámi communities support research collaboration that works with communities, not only on them.
The consortium includes the University of Lapland, the University of Oulu and the University of Helsinki. Postdoctoral Researcher Jutta Juvenius from the University of Helsinki serves as interaction coordinator, and the project’s work packages are led by Professor of Sociology Eeva Luhtakallio from the University of Helsinki, Associate Professor of Geoinformatics Aleksi Räsänen from the University of Oulu and Professor of International Relations Julian Reid from the University of Lapland.
The funding is divided between the three universities as follows: 1,203,804 euros for the University of Oulu, 1,062,497 euros for the University of Helsinki and 618,662 euros for the University of Lapland. The six-year Strategic Research Council programmes will start in autumn 2026 and continue until 2032.