Olli Ruohomäki (PhD) is a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Global Security and Governance research programme of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. He is also a government official working on conflict issues in the political department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. His areas of expertise include terrorism, armed non-state actors, peace processes, fragile states, crisis management, development policy, and foresight. Ruohomäki has worked for the United Nations, World Vision, and the Finnish government in Cambodia, Laos, Palestine, and Afghanistan, and has undertaken several special missions in conflict and war zones in the Middle East, Africa, and Myanmar. He participated in the investigation of the 2017 Turku terrorist attack with the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation and the The Safety Investigation Authority of Finland. Ruohomäki has also worked as a researcher at the University of Helsinki, the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, and the Academy of Finland.
Ruohomäki has extensively published on the war in Afghanistan, the situation in Palestine, terrorism, fragile state issues, development policy, Thailand’s social development, and the conflict in Myanmar.
Position of trust
Chairman of the Board of the Foundation of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (FIME)
Expertise
Afghanistan, Middle East, Southeast Asia, Horn of Africa, terrorism, armed non-state actors, fragile states, peace processes and reconstruction, development policy and foresight
Degrees
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 1997
Master of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, 1991
Language skills
Finnish, English, Thai (working languages), Spanish, Lao, Khmer, Arabic
Projects
Finland in Afghanistan 2001–2021