There has been ecocritical research in Finland for several decades, but empirical ecocriticism is rather new here. The research project which is organizing this workshop is the first larger project of its kind in Finland.
The research group will publish studies also in English, but so far what is available is the first set of articles in Finnish, in Joutsen, the yearbook of Finnish literary research. However, English summaries of the articles are available at the international website of empirical ecocriticism, and the articles can be translated online with GoogleTranslate or other software.
Finland has a lively scene of research about environmental emotions. Interest on the topic has grown steadily since 2017. One of the conference organizers, Dr. Panu Pihkala, has been much involved in this research field both in Finland and internationally, and the organizing research project led by Lahtinen integrates inquiry about eco-emotions in its studies. For a glimpse of what kind of climate change -related emotions Finns have self-recognized, see the national climate emotion survey conducted by SITRA and Kantar TNS in 2019. The conference organizers hope that the event will provide much opportunities to discuss between related studies in various countries, and we will be happy to provide information about the many studies which are only available in Finnish.