Helsinki’s Engagement in Nordic Asian Studies

Prof. Julie Yu-Wen Chen and Geir Helgesen, director of Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen.

Prof. Julie Yu-Wen Chen and Geir Helgesen, director of Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS) in Copenhagen.

University of Helsinki is one of the  26 Nordic universities and research institutions in all five Nordic countries that are actively participating in the Nordic NIAS Council, a body that works to support and strengthen Asian studies in the Nordic region.

In June, Prof. Julie Chen met with NIAS director Geir Helgesen and his staff in Copenhagen to talk about Helsinki’s involvement in NIAS. Over the past five years, University of Helsinki students have profited from NIAS’ SUPRA Nordic scholarships to stay in Copenhagen for a short while, accessing their rich library resources on Asia as well as presenting their own Master or PhD work on Asia. In 2015, University of Helsinki students actually stood out as the 2nd largest group of Nordic university students (after University of Oslo) to have made their trips to NIAS! Apart from offering early career researchers from Nordic countries to visit and make use their resources in Copenhagen, NIAS also helps negotiate on behalf of member institutions to have good subscription price for online journal and statistical sources in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other languages. NIAS is currently re-structuring their e-sources on Asiaportal. The site is not complete yet. Hopefully after this summer, we will have a completed portal to visit. By then, all NIAS publications (including e-books) will be freely available for University of Helsinki students and researchers!