Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oulu (2011-) and a Docent of Environmental and Applied Anthropology (2009-). Previously worked, among other places, at the Thule Institute of the University of Oulu, the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland, the Finland Futures Research Centre at the Turku School of Economics, Laboratory of Environmental Protection at Helsinki University of Technology, Finnish Forest Research Institute, and different museums. Heikkinen was a visiting scholar at the University of Arizona in the Department of Geography and Regional Development in 2006.  Currently he is a partner for example in Resource Extraction and Sustainable Arctic Communities (REXSAC), a Nordic Centre of Excellence https://www.rexsac.org/.

• Northern and Arctic societies in global connection
• Environment, sustainability and local adaptation
• Resource extraction and indigenous and local livelihoods and way of life
• Ecological, political and cognitive theories and participatory methodologies

Sarkki, S., Heikkinen, H.I, Herva, V-P & Saarinen, J. (2018) Myths on local use of natural resources and social equity of land use governance: Reindeer herding in Finland. Land Use Policy (77), 322–331. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837718303831 

Leah, A., Heikkinen, H.I, Tran Han, T., Geisenberger, L., Opfermann, S., Vale, B. and Vale R. (2018) Europe. In Everyday Lifestyles and Sustainability. The Environmental Impact Of Doing The Same Things Differently. (Eds.) Chicca, Fabrio, Vale, Brenda and Vale, Robert. Routledge, London. 63-75. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315529127

Lépy, É., Heikkinen, H.I., T. Komu and Sarkki, S. (2018) Participatory meaning-making of environmental and cultural changes in reindeer herding in the northernmost border area of Sweden and Finland. International Journal of Business and Globalisation 20 (2), 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJBG.2018.089868

Acosta, N., G, Farrell, K., N., Heikkinen, H.I. and Sarkki, S. (2017) A Teleological Approach to the Wicked Problem of Managing Utría National Park. Environmental values 2017, vol. 26, issue 5, 583-605. https://econpapers.repec.org/article/envjournl/ev26_3aev2623.htm

Heikkinen, H.I. Lépy, É., Sarkki, S., Komu, T. (2016) Challenges in acquiring a social licence to mine in the globalising Arctic. Polar Record, 52 (4) 399-411.

Sarkki, S., Komu, T., Heikkinen, H.I, Acosta G., N., Lépy, É., Herva, V-P (2016) Applying a synthetic approach to the resilience of Finnish reindeer herding as a changing livelihood. Ecology and Society 21 (4):14. URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol21/iss4/art14/

Heikkinen H.I., Acosta G., N., Sarkki, S. and Lépy É (2016) Context-sensitive political ecology to consolidate local realities under global discourses: A view for tourism studies. In Political Ecology and Tourism (Eds.) Sanjay Nepal and Jarkko Saarinen. Routledge, Taylor and Francis group. UK.

Lépy, É, Heikkinen, H.I. Karjalainen, T.P. Tervo-Kankare, K. Kauppila, P. Suopajärvi, T. Ponnikas, J., Siikamäki, P., Rautio, A. (2014) Multidisciplinary and participatory approach for assessing local vulnerability of tourism industry to climate change. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism 14 (1), 41-59.