Tiia Liuski

Dr. Liuski works as a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Theology, University of Eastern Finland. She has been serving as a visiting researcher at the Department of Leadership and Military Pedagogics, National Defence University, since September 1, 2025.

Her research bridges academic inquiry and educational development, with a focus on strengthening individual and societal resilience in crisis-sensitive sectors. She specializes in multidisciplinary approaches that recognize the existential dimension as an essential part of human safety and security, performance, and sustainability.

Her current research centers on the professional competence of Finnish military chaplains and the existential well-being of soldiers, particularly within the Finnish Defence Forces. She examines how existential and spiritual dimensions are embedded in individual and collective performance, as well as in preparedness.

Liuski leads her the two-year FIN-ARMOR project (2025–2027), which investigates the competence needs, pedagogical role, and professional development of Finnish military chaplaincy. The project draws on Theology of Well-being, Military Pedagogy, and the Psychology of Religion, and addresses how technological change, growing diversity, and an evolving security landscape shape the work of chaplains. It also aims to develop a theoretical meta-framework for articulating the deep structures and anthropological foundations of chaplaincy.

She is actively involved in developing a new theological discipline titled Theology of Well-being and Professional Skills, which explores existential well-being and meaning in relation to values, crises, and societal dynamics. The discipline supports students in cultivating critical thinking, communication, and professional identity. She also serves as a second supervisor for two doctoral dissertations focusing on themes related to well-being and security.

In parallel, Liuski is outlining a theoretical paradigm tentatively titled Theology of Safety and Security, 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.

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, in which she examined the double-bonded profession of Finnish military chaplaincy and its development in the context of the 2020s.

She is a founding member of the European Military Chaplaincies Research Network (EMCRN) and 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), Senior Chaplain and Researcher Janne Aalto (Finnish Defence Research Agency), and Senior Researcher Jan Grimell (Umeå University). Liuski also serves as the editorial secretary of the scientific journal Religion, Worldviews, and Education.