Research Focus Areas

Short Biography

Currently, Ria-Maria Adams works as a researcher for the ERC funded project: https://infranorth.eu, focusing on the role of transport infrastructures in the Fennoscandian Arctic. Her PhD research is concerned with Arctic youth well-being issues and she is being supervised by Prof. Peter Schweitzer and co-supervised by Prof. Florian Stammler. Ria-Maria also contributes as a guest researcher to the Academy of Finland funded project on declining northern Finnish towns: https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/focusing-on-the-liveability-of-small-shrinking-cities

Previously, she has worked as a researcher in the project: 'Live, Work or Leave? Youth – wellbeing and the viability of (post) extractive Arctic industrial cities in Finland and Russia' and had a personal grant ‘uni:docs’ by the University of Vienna to conduct research focusing on youth well-being in Northern Finland.

Recent Publications

• Adams, R.-M. & Bennett M. (2022) Moving Mountains to Ship Iron: Transport Hierarchies in the Scandinavian Arctic – InfraNorth Blog. https://infranorth.eu/blog/moving-mountains-to-ship-iron/
• Adams, R.-M., Bolotova, A., & Alasalmi, V. (2022). Liveability under shrinkage: Initiatives in the ‘capital of pessimism’ in Finland. European Planning Studies, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2022.2126721
• Stammler, F.; Adams, R.-M. & Ivanova, A. (2022). Rewiring Remote Urban Futures? Youth Well-being in Northern Industry Towns. Journal of Youth Studies. DOI:10.1080/13676261.2022.2081493
• Adams, R.-M., & Bennett, M. (2021). When Imaginary Infrastructures Become Real: The Development of Santa Claus Tourism in Northern Finland – InfraNorth Blog. https://www.infranorth.eu/blog/when-imaginary-infrastructures-become-real-the-development-of-santa-claus-tourism-in-northern-finland/
• Adams, R.-M., & Komu, T. (2021). Radically Ordinary Lives: Young Rural Stayers and the Ingredients of the Good Life in Finnish Lapland. YOUNG, https://doi.org/10.1177/11033088211064685
• Adams, R.-M., Allemann, L., & Tynkkynen, V.-P. (2021). Youth Well-being in “Atomic Cities”: The Cases of Polyarnye Zori and Pyhäjoki. In F. Stammler & R. Toivanen (Eds.), Young People, Wellbeing and Placemaking in the Arctic (pp. 222–240). Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003110019-14
• Komu, T., & Adams, R.-M. (2021). Not wanting to be “Stuck”. Exploring the role of mobility for young people’s wellbeing in Northern Finland. In F. Stammler & R. Toivanen (Eds.), Young People, Wellbeing and Placemaking in the Arctic (pp. 32–52). Routledge.

Current Affiliations

• Guest Researcher at Arctic Centre/University of Lapland in the Arctic Anthropology Team lead by Prof. Florian Stammler
  https://www.arcticcentre.org/EN/About/Contacts/anthropology-staff