Anna Niia Varfolomeeva

Category: Collaborations

  • Feelings of sustainability

    Amidst the heat of the grant application season, it is difficult to keep up with the blog. But very cool things are happening: over the past two weeks, I have taken part in conversations on emotional practices and relations within sustainability transitions at two conferences in opposite parts of Finland.

    First, at the Science for Sustainability conference in the heart of Helsinki, we held a panel devoted to actors often marginalized in energy transition debates in the North: Indigenous residents, migrant workers, animals, and nature. Our five-minute lightning talks were followed by a discussion on just transition and belonging (including some critical remarks on whether justice for all is actually achievable).

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  • Interdisciplinarity beyond buzzwords

    I often call myself an interdisciplinary researcher, but how often do I actually think about what that means? Well, not as often as I’d like to! But last week, I had a chance to reflect on this deeply during three vibrant days as the University of Oulu hosted the 47th Association for Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS) conference.

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  • Reconnecting with Hungary

    As busy May comes to an end, it’s time to recap my recent two-week research visit to the Center for Contemporary Challenges at the University of Pécs in Hungary, hosted by Dr. Judit Farkas. This visit was generously supported by a mobility grant from the Frontiers of Arctic and Global Resilience (FRONT) research program at the University of Oulu.

    I had not been to Hungary since my PhD defense at Central European University, so I saw this visit as an opportunity to reconnect with the Hungarian research environment. The history of higher education in Pécs dates back to 1367, and, as you can see, the main university building looks quite a bit like Hogwarts (and feels like a labyrinth at times, too).

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  • Arctic just transition: project notes

    I just returned from Denmark after ten busy days spent at Skalling Laboratory in Southwestern Denmark and at Copenhagen Business School. It was quite surreal to land back in Oulu after the full bloom of spring in Copenhagen and to feel the touch of snowflakes. Yes, we are still in (Arctic) April!

    During the first week of the trip spent at Skalling Laboratory, we discussed the research outcomes of the project Towards a socially just transition in the Arctic: Exploring, theorizing and disseminating best practice in meaningful stakeholder engagement for communities (PI Karin Buhmann): an one-pager on meaningful stakeholder engagement and a collaborative scientific article. All of this with great views included.

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  • Productive Bodies, Care, and Destruction

    Back in 2021, I published an essay based on my article for the Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies in the No Niin student magazine. Here is the beginning of that text, accompanied by the amazing illustrations of Zacharias Holmberg.

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