Faculty of Humanities
At the Faculty of Humanities, research is carried out in all represented disciplines. Research is focused on people, their activities and interactions – especially in northern Europe. In its research activities, the Faculty follows the Strategy of the University of Oulu as well as the Faculty’s own strategic plan. Of all the university’s focus areas, Understanding Humans in Change is connected to research conducted at the Faculty. The cross-cutting theme in research is the Arctic.
University of Oulu hosts multidisciplinary focus institutes, and Eudaimonia Institute brings together scientists in human sciences. It has an important role in offering opportunities for collaboration and funding.
Four main themes unite the research carried out in the Faculty:
Cultural change, interaction and human agency
Several humanistic disciplines in the Faculty research cultural phenomena in human societies, often in the long term/ diachronically. Interaction between human beings is investigated on the individual and group level.
Learning, language development and difficulties
The Faculty’s research on learning is linked in particular with different stages of language development and language learning, in different situations and environments. The majority of this research is related to teacher training.
Man, well-being and environment
Under this theme research focus is on human-environment relationship and well-being, especially in the context of northern Finland. Utilisation of nature and human-animal relationship are part of research on environmental studies.
Northern cultures
Researchers in many disciplines at the Faculty carry out research on northern cultures. They investigate global cultural processes and phenomena from North-European perspective and in northern context.
Research Units
Giellagas Institute
The Giellagas Institute is the only institution in Finland dealing solely with Saami research and education and therefore represents a national concentration of academic researchers and teachers.
History, Culture and Communication Studies
The Research Unit combines the expertise of archaeology, cultural anthropology, information studies, history as well as the history of sciences and ideas. The research focuses on issues related to health, well-being and environment.
Languages and Literature
The Research Unit explores questions and phenomena in language studies, literature and cultural studies. In general, its research studies social and cultural changes in communicative practices from linguistic, literary and cultural perspectives.
Logopedics
Research in the Research Unit of Logopedics (RULOGO) is concentrated into four multidisciplinary focus areas. Practically all our research projects are conducted with national and international research collaborators.
Multi-disciplinary Research Centres
Researchers
Education that the Faculty provides is of high quality, focuses on learning process and improved constantly. Individual students have an active role in the learning process. The Facylty has been awarded prizes for quality education both on national level as well as on university level.
There are about 2300 students at the Faculty and about 150 staff members.
Admissions
The University of Oulu welcomes over 600 exchange students from all over the world every year. Would you like to be one of them? High quality teaching and excellent programmes are offered in all of our ten faculties.
