The research strength at the University of Lapland lies in questions of the north, particularly with research into welfare and that associated with minorities, international relations and research into international jurisprudence and applied environmental research in the north. University researchers also move with sovereignty among the fields of art, science and technology - whether there is a question cooperation between social work and industrial design or just research into the application of new media.
Functional research divides into basic and applied research, as well as service and custom research.
Basic research appears, for example, in university dissertations. Various research and development projects, which are conducted in cooperation with actors outside of the university, are considered as applied research. Conducting service and custom research is agreed separately with representatives of the university.