Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen’s research projects have explored such themes as the environmental philosophy of indigenous peoples, indigenous peoples policy, the youth of indigenous peoples, local awareness of history and operating in new environments.

I have many great memories from the last intensive courses that I taught at the University of Helsinki. We managed to create a wonderfully open atmosphere where the students, on the basis of their own knowledge, were able to jointly construct something new with the topics I introduced.

Pirjo Kristiina Virtanen has given numerous presentations both in Finland and abroad. Moreover, she has been invited to review academic journals and doctoral dissertations.

The mass media seldom reports on indigenous peoples. In Brazil alone, there live around 240 indigenous nations who have their own way of seeing the past, present and future. Interconnectivity, the diversity of living beings and change are at the core of their thinking.

Dr Virtanen has been part of a Finnish-Brazilian research group that is researching “geoglyphs” that have been found carved into the land in western Brazil. In 2015, they were among the World Heritage List Nominations. The discovery of a more than 2000-year-old civilization which constructed geoglyphs and road networks will change our understanding of the Amazon region.

My dream is that indigenous people would themselves become participants in university research and teaching. One of the essential ideas of the new programme beginning at the University of Helsinki is that research occurs in close cooperation with indigenous peoples and indigenous researchers.