On the Autonomy Day the 9th of June the Director of the Åland Islands Peace Institute Sia Spiliopoulou-Åkermark will be receiving a €15,000 research grant from the Jubilee Fund of the Åland Autonomy. The grant is awarded annually, and is this year awarded to Docent Spiliopoulou-Åkermark for a research project concerning the viability and international significance of the Åland example in conflict solution.The project will address several questions: How come the Ålandic autonomy and demilitarization shows such durability and perseverance? In which ways have the Ålandic institutions changed over time and how have they adapted or reacted to new factors surrounding them?
The research is led by Sia Spiliopoulou-Åkermark and is co-conducted by researchers Heidi Öst and Sarah Stephan of the ÅIPI.
The project will further map the insights and experiences of a number of experienced persons concerning the role, relevance and weaknesses of the Åland example in conflict situations. Politicians, diplomats and researchers from Åland, Finland, and other Nordic countries will write their own texts or be interviewed for the project. A publication in English will be ready by late 2011, and the project will end with a larger conference in Åland in the autumn of 2011.
The project has received funding also from the Ministry for foreign affairs of Finland.
