Jan

Löfström

My research interests include intersections of historical consciousness and moral consciousness, and historical consciousness and democratic consciousness. The first was the focus in the research project History in Moral Encounters, led by Professor Niklas Ammert at the Linnaeus University and funded by the Swedish Research Council (2018–2021). In the project were engaged Niklas Ammert, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström and Heather Sharp. The project was outlined in the Special Issue of Historical Encounters (4/2017), eds Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp, and the results were published in a serie of peer reviewed articles (see my ORCID), and in Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2022) Historical and moral consciousness in education: Learning ethics for democratic citizenship education. (Routledge); and Ammert, Edling, Löfström & Sharp (2023) Att lära från, om och med historia. Historiemedvetande, moral och didaktik (Gleerups).

The project above connects closely with my research on historical apologies and historical responsibility as a perspective on historical consciousness (Journal of Curriculum Studies 4/2014, Citizenship Studies 1/2011, the edited book Löfström (2012) Voiko historiaa hyvittää? (Can history be repaired? Gaudeamus University Press). Issues of controversial history are on my desk also as a Board Member in the association Historians without Borders (www.hbw.fi).

The project on historical and moral consciousness resulted in a network, Democracy in the past, the present, and looking to the future: historical, moral, and democratic consciousness in history education, research and policy; funded by Swedish Research Council (2023–2025). It engaged as the steering group Niklas Ammert (PI), Fredrik Alvén, Silvia Edling, Jan Löfström, and Heather Sharp. Members of the network have contributed in 2025 to a Special Issue on Historical and Democratic Consciousness in the journal Citizenship, Social and Economics Education.

An other network relating to links democracy education, history education and social science education is the workshop serie, Educating active and democratic citizens in challenging times: exploring the past, present and future of social studies in the Nordic countries" funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (2022–2023), led by Jakob Maliks  and engaging Tom Gullberg, Brit Marie Hoveland, Jan Löfström, and David Rosenlund. Rosenlund, Hoveland, Heidi Eskelund Knutsen and Löfström are currently editing a Special Issue on these topics for the journal Nordidactica.

Further relating to democracy education, I currently lead a project in the consortium Education for deliberation: practices of inquiry in dialogue-based democratic education, funded by the Finnish Research Council (2024–2028). The consortium engages researchers at the universities of Oulu, Tampere, and Turku (Katariina Holma, PI of the consortium; Veli-Matti Värri, Tuukka Tomperi, Julia Jaakkola, Hanna-Maija Huhtala, Jan Löfström). For more information see deliberate.fi.

Currently I'm engaged in the European research project, Youth and History II, coordinated by Dr. Piero Colla and Professor Margarita Limon, The research is a partial replication of the large European survey Youth and History, in 1995. The Finnish research team includes Jan Löfström (PI), Jukka Rantala, Najat Ouakrim-Soivio, Elina Vaara, Tanja Taivalantti, and Johanna Norppa. A student survey and a teacher survey was carried out in Autumn 2025, and the first results will be published towards the end of 2026. The data collection was financially supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation (Varsinais-Suomen maakuntarahasto) and the University of Turku Foundation, and Elina Vuorela and Otto Mäntyniemi were research assistants. Finnish Cultural Foundation also supports the next stages of the project in 2026–2028.