Since April 15, 2015 Associate Professor Kjell-Åke Nordquist functions as Acting Director of The Åland Islands Peace Institute, while Director Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark works as a research leader of the new research project “Demilitarisation in an increasingly militarized world. International perspectives in a multilevel framework – the case of the Åland Islands.”Kjell-Åke Nordquist is Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, Sweden, and Visiting Professor at the Research Program on Human Rights and Peace-Building at Stockholm School of Theology, Sweden.
He has been working in the fields of autonomy and conflict resolution both as a researcher and a practitioner, and has been a member of the Board as well as the Research Council of the Åland Islands Peace Institute since its start. As a practitioner Nordquist has been working with peace processes mainly in Colombia, the Middle East, and Timor-Leste.
The Board of directors of the Åland Islands Peace Institute has recently indicated the importance of maintaining focus and competences in its core areas, such as research and dissemination of knowledge on autonomy, minorities and self-government. As part of this work the Institute has linked also another experienced researcher more closely to its activities, by appointing Ph. D.Gunilla Herolf Chairman of the Research Council of the Peace Institute.
At the annual meeting of the Board o Directors 14 April 2015 three new board members were elected; Director Göran Lindholm, PhD Kenneth Gustavsson and PhD Lia Markelin. Lars Ingmar Johansson and Olav S Melin resigned and received warm thanks for their important contributions. Also Kjell-Åke Nordquist resigned from the board, to take up the position as Acting Director.