Duties
Research based on social science and qualitative methods on the challenges and changes caused by climate change mitigation. Investigation of the interrelations between national security and defence and energy transitions in the Nordics, including the Arctic areas.
Subject area
Education and academic titles
PhD in Social Sciences, University of Tampere
Master’s Degree in Social Sciences , University of Tampere
Memberships and networks
Finnish Arctic Society, Member of the board, vice-director
Arctic International Relations group (AIR), University of Lapland, Visiting researcher
Helsinki Epistemic governance research group, University of Helsinki, Member
My area of expertise is qualitative, social science research on sustainability transitions, climate change mitigation and adaptation, specifically examining the interconnections between energy transition and national security, and just transition in the Nordic countries and the Arctic region.
Ongoing projects
Previous projects
Recent general publications
- Sivonen. M.H. (2024). Report from Rovaniemi Arctic Spirit 2023: Collaborative Science in the Sámi Climate Council to address Climate Change. Arctic Centre news.
- Sivonen, M.H. ja Hakala, E. (2023) Syke Ratkaisuja-blogi 21.6.2023: At the speed of trust: New ways of action are needed for Arctic cooperation.
Recent peer-reviewed publications
- Honkonen, T. & Sivonen, M.H., (2025) "“There is so much knowledge” − The Saami Climate Council: institutionalising traditional knowledge in policymaking in Finland" In Review: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. (Submitted 26.8.2025).
- Hildén, M., Kułakowska, M., Magnuszewski, P., Obermeister, N., & Sivonen, M. H. (2025). Climate Change in the Arctic: A Policy Simulation with and for Emerging Leaders. ARCTIC. https://doi.org/10.14430/arctic81736
- Sivonen, M.H., Kivimaa, P. 2025. ‘Interrelations between Security and the Zero carbon Energy Transition in the Finnish and Norwegian Arctic’. Energy Research & Social Science 119 (January):103841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103841.
- Sivonen, M. H., Kivimaa, P. 2024. ‘Securitization of Energy Transitions in Estonia, Finland and Norway’. International Political Sociology 18 (3): olae017. https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae017
- Kivimaa, P., & Sivonen, M. H. (2024). “We rather not connect trade to politics, let alone geopolitics” – The changing role of Russia as a landscape pressure for zero-carbon energy transitions. Energy Research & Social Science, 118(103775). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103775
- Kivimaa, P., Hildén, M., Carter, T.R., Mosoni, C., Pitzén, S. and Sivonen, M.H. (2024). Evaluating Policy Coherence and Integration for Adaptation: The Case of EU Policies and Arctic Cross-Border Climate Change Impacts. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2337168
- Sivonen, M. H., and Kivimaa, P. ‘Politics in the Energy-Security Nexus: An Epistemic Governance Approach to the Zero-Carbon Energy Transition in Finland, Estonia and Norway’. Environmental Sociology, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2023.2251873.
- Kivimaa, P, and Sivonen, M.H. 2023. ‘How Will Renewables Expansion and Hydrocarbon Decline Impact Security? Analysis from a Socio-Technical Transitions Perspective’. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 48 (9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2023.100744
- Sivonen, M. H. and Syväterä, J. 2022. ‘Formal commitments versus actual practices? Narratives as tools of epistemic governance in the debate over Finnish forestry’, Acta Sociologica. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699322109961
- Kivimaa, P., Sivonen, M.H. 2021. Interplay Between Low-Carbon Energy Transitions and National Security: An Analysis of Policy Integration and Coherence in Estonia, Finland and Scotland. Energy Research & Social Science 75: 102024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102024