Tiia Liuski

Dr. Tiia Liuski works as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Theology, University of Eastern Finland, in the newly established discipline of Theology of Well-being. She is actively involved in developing this field of study and its international Master’s programme Faith, Crises and Existential Wellbeing. Since September 1, 2025, she has also served as a visiting researcher at the Department of Leadership and Military Pedagogics, Finnish National Defence University.

Liuski leads her two-year postdoctoral research project Finnish Advanced Studies on Military Chaplaincies, Resources and Organisations (FIN-ARMOR, 04/2025–03/2027). The project examines existential, psychological and spiritual dimensions within the armed forces through interdisciplinary frameworks of Theology of Wellbeing, Military Pedagogy, Psychology of Religion and Existential Philosophy.

Her research focuses on the existential foundations of human agency in military and crisis contexts. She examines how questions of meaning, mortality, responsibility and uncertainty shape human action under extreme conditions, and how these dimensions are articulated within contemporary institutional frameworks.

Her research interests include:

• Existential preparedness and human orientation under conditions of uncertainty, crisis and irreversibility
• The conceptual articulation of the existential dimension within military sciences and human performance frameworks
• The role of theology as a conceptual resource in interdisciplinary contexts, particularly in relation to the human dimension in the armed forces
• Existential, spiritual and psychological dimensions of soldier performance and capability
• The profession, expertise and development of military chaplaincy
• Multidisciplinary and mixed-methods approaches to the study of religion in institutional settings

In parallel, Liuski is outlining a new theological paradigm tentatively titled Theology of Security and Safety, which seeks to articulate the theological and existential foundations of safety in contemporary societies. A collaborative scholarly volume on this emerging framework is currently in preparation (expected 2027).

She is one of Finland’s representatives in the newly established European Research Unit for Military Chaplaincy at Umeå University and one of the founding members of the European Military Chaplaincies Research Network (EMCRN). Liuski is also an active participant in international research networks such as ExistWell Lab, Research in Chaplaincy (ReChap), and Borders, Mobilities and Cultural Encounters (BOMOCULT). She collaborates closely with Associate Professor Suvi-Maria Saarelainen (UEF), researcher Janne Aalto (Finnish Defence Research Agency) and Senior Researcher Jan Grimell (Umeå University). In addition, she serves as the editorial secretary of the Journal for the study of Religion, Worldviews and Education.

Liuski earned her Doctor of Theology degree in 2023 with the dissertation The Finnish Military Chaplaincy: A Double Bonded Profession in a Changing Operational Environment, which examined the profession of Finnish military chaplaincy and its development in the context of the 2020s.