Anni-Helena Ruotsala is a PhD Candidate at the Sámi University of Applied Sciences in the Department of Language, Duodji and Social Sciences. She is pursuing a Doctor of Science (Technology) degree in the field of spatial planning and transportation engineering at the Aalto University, Finland.

Ruotsala’s PhD research focuses on investigating how and based on which evidence the legal concepts of minor, significant and substantial harm, caused by other land use on the reindeer herding Sámi, are being assessed, defined and argumented in three different knowledge systems – judicial, spatial data and the traditional knowledge of reindeer herding Sámi - which together form the current land use decision making system in Finnish Sápmi. The key concept through which harm is being analyzed in this research is the Sámi concept of birgejupmi. Her research is multidisciplinary and is deriving from multiple theoretical frameworks, such as political ontology.