Göran Djupsund

Göran Djupsund was a Finnish political scientist, professor emeritus of political science with a focus on political communication at Åbo Akademi University in Vaasa, and one of the best known Swedish-language political commentators in Finland. He died on 1 October 2026 after a sudden medical episode, aged 73. His family confirmed the death to Nya Åland; Swedish Yle and other outlets reported the news the same day. He had settled permanently on the Åland Islands after retiring in 2018.

Djupsund was born in Tampere on 30 October 1952. He began studying sociology in the early 1970s and earned his doctorate in political science at Åbo Akademi in 1981 with a dissertation on municipal planning, Illusionen om planering. He worked as an assistant in political science and as a research assistant at the Academy of Finland, became assistant professor in 1986, and moved to Vaasa, where he played a central part in building the political science and social science research and teaching environment. Åbo Akademi appointed him professor of political science in 1988. He later held the chair in political science with mass communication at the Vaasa campus until he retired in March 2018, and he also served as rector of Åbo Akademi in Vaasa.

His research ranged across the interaction of politicians, media and voters. He was an early student of how parties and candidates used the internet, websites and blogs in election campaigns, and of how that exposure shaped young voters' views of party leaders. To the wider public he was familiar as a sharp election night and current affairs commentator on Finland-Swedish television and in the press. In 2017 Svenska Folkskolans Vänner awarded him its Folkbildningspris for illuminating political life without simplifying it. He had earlier received the Mauritz Hallberg Prize in 1983.

Colleague Kim Strandberg, who succeeded him in the Vaasa chair, remembered him as a pioneer who built a lasting research environment, energetic and stubborn in the best sense, and easy company. Djupsund leaves a body of work on political communication and a public voice that made complex Finnish politics clearer for Swedish-speaking audiences across the country.