At the beginning of his career, Yriö Kaukiainen did not really feel that his research resonated with his countrymen.

“To this day I still wonder why maritime history is often seen as some kind of romantic fringe area of history that doesn’t need to be taken seriously. In the present age of ever increasing globalisation, maritime history nevertheless offers an excellent vantage point on the birth and development of globalisation, and through this it is possible to shed light on the social history of cultural encounters, as well. Furthermore, at the micro level it can tell us how these kinds of macro phenomena are reflected in people’s individual lives.”

In maritime history internationalisation was the basic prerequisite for conducting research, although at time of his doctoral dissertation, scholars of Finnish history basically had contacts only with Sweden. Cross-border collaboration has increased significantly during Professor Kaukiainen’s career, which he considers a positive development. His own international activity is connected, above all, to two scholarly societies, the Association for the History of the Northern Seas, AHNS and the International Maritime Economic History Association, IMEHA, whose strict focus on economics has weakened in recent years and its activity has become more multidisciplinary.

Yrjö Kaukiainen worked as the secretary and president of the AHNS at the end of the1980s, and for several years in the 1990s as the vice president and president of the IMEHA and member of the editorial committee of its journal, the International Journal of Maritime History. Professor Kaukiainen describes his role as that of a bystander, as the most active participants came from Britain and Canada. Nevertheless, Professor Kaukianen’s foreign colleagues emphasise his importance as a scholar in the international waters of maritime historical research. For example, according to Professor Hugh Murphy from the University of Glasgow, Kaukiainen is one of the leading scholars in the field, but also one of the most modest. Professor Stig Tenhold, (Norwegian School of Economics), a representative of the younger generation of scholars, speaks glowingly of the quality and breadth of Professor Kaukiainen’s academic work. According to Professor Tenhold, Kaukiainen has succeeded in combining micro level research with wider questions in an impressive manner.

“Due to the eminent scholarship of Yrjö Kaukiainen, the profile of Finnish maritime history in the international arena far exceeds the role that Finnish shipping ever had,” says Tenhold.