The South Karelian Institute conducts academic research in the fields of the humanities and social sciences in themes relevant to the region and its surrounding area. The special expertise of the institute concerns social, cultural, and environmental issues in border areas and especially in South Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus.
Although the research programme is mainly concerned with South Karelia, the themes and problems addressed have both national and international significance and the theoretical and methodical starting points are scientifically ambitious and of high quality. A multidisciplinary approach is often applied to the research projects.
The institute’s research activities are dominated by three main lines of research: border (Russia, cultural conflict, immigrants, language), water (Lake Saimaa, River Vuoksi, Lake Ladoga, environmental protection, tourism), and identity (region, university, image, language, and culture).
The institute’s fields of research include: social sciences, history, historical research, technology research, Russia know-how, Russian language and culture, Finnish language and culture, linguistics and translation studies, tourism, intercultural relations, immigration, diversity, assimilation, cultural research, environmental history, art history, cultural anthropology, media culture, environmental politics, architectural history, constructional history, and cultural environment.
The personal, project, and contact information of the researchers can be found in the introduction of the staff.