معرفی
Eija Meriläinen is a post-doctoral researcher at Örebro University's School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, specializing in Human Geography. She coordinates the Human Geography group's academic seminars and teaches courses in Economic Geography I and Geography of Sweden. Her research spans disaster governance, urban resilience, and socio-spatial inequalities, with a particular focus on how urbanization patterns intersect with capitalist political-economic systems to produce economic and spatial inequalities that ultimately generate disasters.
Meriläinen's research interests center on disasters and crises, from headline-making events to the impacts of everyday inequalities. She examines how contemporary urbanization patterns weave with capitalist political-economic systems to produce economic and spatial inequalities, and ultimately disasters. Her work explores nature-society relations in disaster governance frameworks, with particular attention to rights of nature and indigenous knowledge systems. She investigates urban resilience from a critical perspective, challenging conventional approaches and examining power dynamics in disaster governance. Her regional focus includes Nordic countries, with case studies in Northern Finland and Bergslagen in Sweden, while her doctoral research focused on urban-forest fire in Valparaíso, Chile.
Her recent publications reveal a strong thematic focus on the intersection of climate change, disasters, and community action, with increasing attention to planetary health and translocal approaches. The research demonstrates a consistent commitment to examining power relations in disaster governance, with growing emphasis on climate justice, rights of nature, and community-led responses to crises. Meriläinen's work bridges theoretical frameworks from Latin American scholarly debates with empirical studies in Nordic contexts, creating a unique comparative perspective.
Meriläinen actively contributes to teaching and academic community building at Örebro University, coordinating seminars that likely foster interdisciplinary dialogue on disaster governance and human geography. Her research projects, particularly 'Making home in a mono-industrial urban region' and 'Water challenges in sustainable planning and built environment (WATCH)', indicate sustained funding and institutional support for her work. Her collaborations span multiple continents, suggesting international recognition of her expertise in disaster governance and urban resilience.
She maintains active research networks through her previous position at University College London's Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction and continues to build connections across academic institutions and disciplines. Her work with community-based organizations, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrates engagement with practical applications of her research.
