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THE ÅLAND EXAMPLE
JASS

Category: Research Fellow

Elisabeth Alber joins us as Peace Fellow in autumn 2026

We are delighted to announce that Elisabeth Alber will join us this autumn as our new Peace Fellow. Elisabeth brings extensive international experience and a strong commitment to research on federalism, democracy and participatory governance. At the Eurac Research Institute for Comparative Federalism, Elisabeth leads the research group Participation and Innovations and the Eurac Research Federal Scholar programme. Her work spans democratic and institutional innovation, minority and autonomy studies, deliberative constitutionalism, and democratic regression. Elisabeth also holds several external academic positions, including at the Universities of Innsbruck and RWTH Aachen, the Centre for Deliberative Democracy at the University of Canberra, and the Centre for Multilevel Federalism in New Delhi. She chairs the Scientific Committee of the Alexander Langer Foundation and serves on multiple scientific committees and networks, such as the Permanent Citizens’ Dialogue (Ostbelgien Model) and the Global Autonomy Network Group. In addition, Elisabeth has over fifteen years of experience as an international consultant, having worked in Pakistan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Moldova and Jordan. We look forward to welcoming Elisabeth to Åland this autumn.

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Call for Applications: Åland Peace Fellow 2026

The Åland Islands Peace Institute invites applications for the Åland Peace Fellowship for a funded research stay of approximately two months during 2026. We are seeking a Peace Fellow with documented interest in questions of territorial autonomy. Working experience from an autonomous region is considered a merit. The research which will be performed during the fellowship does not need to include Åland as a case but should be relevant to Åland’s context and have the potential to contribute to local discussions on autonomy, minorities, and/or security. The Peace Fellow is expected to write a scholarly article for publication in the Journal of Autonomy and Security Studies (JASS, https://jass.journal.fi), and to contribute to the Institute’s seminars and communication activities occurring during the stay. In addition, opportunities to present research at a public seminar for a local audience and to publish in the Institute’s report series can be discussed. The fellowship includes: Return ticket (economy class) to Mariehamn Monthly stipend of 1200 euros (maximum two months) Accommodation in Mariehamn (single room or assistance in finding suitable accommodation) Workspace and access to the Institute’s library and networks Collegial support and opportunities to discuss your research with Institute staff and its Research council Who

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Ralph Wilde is this year´s Peace Fellow

In his field of international law, the Åland Islands are well known for their special status as an autonomous, demilitarized and neutralized zone. This was and is of great interest for Ralph Wilde as a scholar of international dispute settlement through special, unorthodox forms of sovereignty/territorial status and territorial administration/self-determination. Dr. Ralph Wilde seems to be busy and work with a high pace. He is not only a member of the Faculty of Laws at University College London, University of London, where he publishes, teaches and conducts external consultancy and public engagement on international law. In his previous work he has also focused on the concept of trusteeship over people in international law, addressing colonialism, belligerent occupation and international territorial administration. His book on that topic, International Territorial Administration: How Trusteeship and the Civilizing Mission Never Went Away (OUP) was awarded the Certificate of Merit (book prize) of the American Society of International Law. His current research project, ‘human rights beyond borders’, on the extraterritorial application of international human rights law, supported by an ERC Research Frontier Award, has led to various publications and will involve the production of three monographs for CUP. He also works on international law issues

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Åland Peace Fellow 2021: Ivan Ulises Kentros Klyszcz

Ivan holds a BA in philosophy from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and an MA on Russian, Central and Eastern European Studies from the Universities of Glasgow and Tartu. He is currently pursuing research at the University of Tartu, Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies. His research interests are paradiplomacy, international security, Russian foreign policy and Central Asian international relations. The title of his doctoral research is How does conflict drive paradiplomacy? Examining the nature and scope of external activities of substate entities in the North Caucasus. Ivan speaks Spanish, English, French, Russian and is currently improving his capacity in German and Uzbek. During his stay on Åland, planned for autumn 2021, Ivan shall be focusing on aspects of his research from the point of view of peace studies and he shall contribute to discussions and work at the Åland Islands Peace Institute.

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Armenak

Research Fellow 2014: Armenak Tokmajyan

Armenak Tokmajyan is a visiting junior researcher at the ÅIPI during August 2014. He holds a Master’s Degree in Peace, Mediation and Conflict research from University of Tampere and Tampere Peace Research Institute, Finland. He previously studied at the University Van Amsterdam, Sciences-po Paris and University of Kalamoon, Syria. In summer 2013, Tokmajyan worked as a research assistant at the Crisis Management Centre (CMC) in Finland. In 2012, he interned at UNHCR Aleppo Field Office in the Legal Protection Unit. Armenak’s areas of research interest include conflict dynamics in the Middle East, bottom-up peacebuilding efforts inside Syria, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and visual art and peacebuilding. At the ÅIPI, he is studying the role of visual arts in peacebuilding processes. Armenak has published articles in a number of academic journals. He is also a regular contributor to newspapers which cover the conflict dynamics in the Middle East. You can find his publications online at www.academia.edu. You can contact him at armenak.tokmajyan(at)uta.fi

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Adem Ferizaj

Research Fellow 2014: Adem Ferizaj

From February until June, Adem Ferizaj was a research fellow for the Åland Islands Peace Institute (ÅIPI). He has worked on a report entitled “Military Presence in Minority Regions: Case Study of Greenland and Cyprus”. Adem is currently enrolled in multi-disciplinary, trilingual studies (German, French and English) of social sciences of the Franco-German campus of Sciences Po Paris in Nancy. His specialisation lays in European history and international relations. Adem’s research interest lays in peace-consolidation – especially of the Western Balkans. He is particularly interested in both the military implication and the minority protection of the peace-building process.

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Research Fellow 2013: Txomin Hernández

For a few weeks in June and July 2013, Txomin Hernández is a research fellow at the Aland Islands Peace Institute. Txomin is a researcher in International Human Rights Law at the University of Lapland, in Rovaniemi, and he is working on Self-determination Law and Minority Law during his stay at the Institute.

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Research Fellow 2013: Felix Schulte

Felix Schulte is a guest researcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute in May and June 2013. He is investigating the conflict-solving potential of territorial autonomy arrangements for his Master’s thesis at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. He is primarily interested in the key factors for the high durability and the sustainable success of the Ålandic autonomy system. Felix holds an Bachelor´s degree in political science and sociology of the Cath. University of Eichstaett.

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Research Fellow 2009: Alice Kennedy

From 5th of May 2009 and during the summer Alice Kennedy was a research fellow at the Åland Islands Peace Institute. As part of a team of researchers working for the Jesuit Refugee Service Europe within the project Detention of Refugees and Asylum seekers in Europe, Alice Kennedy was analysing hundreds of interviews with refugees and asylum seekers in 23 European countries.

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Sarah_sommar_2010

Research Fellow 2008: Sarah Stephan

Starting 6th of October 2008 Sarah Stephan will be a guest researcher at the Åland Islands Peace Institute. She will be conducting research about the role of the regions within the EU. Sarah holds an LL.M.  in Public International Law from Helsinki University and a Bachelor’s degree in European and Comparative Law from the Hanse Law School of the Universities of Bremen and Oldenburg. She has complemented her law studies with courses in political science, in particular in global governance and peace and conflict studies.

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