Young Scholar Workshop

Title: 

What Do We Mean by Societal Security? Rethinking Security in Times of Transition

Speaker: 

Vivi Veronika Varjo, PhD Candidate, University of Helsinki

Host: 

Dr. Lilian Zhang, Fudan IGPP

Time: 

10:00-11:00, March 25, Wednesday, 2026

Venue: 

Room 805E, 8th Floor, West Sub-building of Guanghua Towers

https://v.wjx.cn/vm/PjkAGfp.aspx#

The Speaker：

Vivi Veronika Varjo serves as a Research Coordinator at the Centre for European Studies at the University of Helsinki, where she is responsible for coordinating the recently established Societal Security Hub. In addition, she is a doctoral researcher at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Her research adopts a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on innovation policy, knowledge transfer, and, more recently, the connections between Finland and China, as well as the economic dimensions of societal security. She has contributed to the Nordic Networks esearch project and is an active member of a patent research network. Furthermore, she is involved in a stakeholder process led by Sitra, the Ministry of the Interior, and the University of Helsinki, aimed at producing new policy briefs on societal security.

Abstract:

Building sustainable security is a broader issue than military security. Societal security refers broadly to the society’s ability to retain its essential functions, structures and identities in face of various kinds of threats, crises and challenges. Ultimately, it builds on a broad and long-term understanding of what makes societies politically, economically, technologically, socially, culturally, and ecologically sustainable. This approach critically examines how various issues are framed as security concerns and the processes through which security is constructed within society. Furthermore, it investigates the interconnections between societal, human and state utilizing multidisciplinary perspectives that challenge traditional security studies. Newly established Societal Security Hub at the University of Helsinki respond to the growing demand for knowledge on security. It develops new research initiatives and educational offerings related to societal security.