Research team
The power of academia
Four of Finland’s leading universities join forces in RELIEF to promote a just green transition.
Niko Soininen
Project leader and leader of WP1
Professor of Environmental Law and Member of the Governmental Expert Panel for Sustainable Development in Finland
UEF Law School and CCEEL
ORCID: 0000-0003-0941-0594
Niko Soininen
Soininen is a Professor of Environmental Law at the UEF Law School and at the Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law (CCEEL). He is co-director of the CCEEL and the Water Research Community at UEF.
His research focuses on the institutional foundations of law and its role in governing complex societal transformation to sustainability. Outside academia, he has worked as a consultant for HELCOM, the World Bank, and several Finnish ministries and public authorities.
In RELIEF, he is the Principal Investigator, and he is in charge of WP1, which focuses on the theoretical foundations of law in sustainability transformation.
Kaisa Huhta
Associate Professor of European Law and Academy of Finland postdoctoral fellow
- UEF Law School
ORCID: 0000-0001-9273-552X
Kaisa Huhta
Dr. Kaisa Huhta is an Associate Professor of European Law, especially energy law, at the UEF Law School and at the Centre for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law (CCEEL)
She is also a part-time professor at the European University Institute’s Florence School of Regulation and an expert member of the Finnish Market Court. Her research focuses on EU energy law.
In RELIEF, she leads the analysis of the legal feasibility of sustainability transformation points.
Anni Kärkkäinen
- Doctoral Researcher in Law
- UEF Law School
Anni Kärkkäinen
Kärkkäinen is a doctoral researcher in Law at the UEF Law School.
In RELIEF, her research focuses particularly on issues related to environmental law. She mainly contributes to WP1, but she is also working on other WPs.
Anssi Keinänen
- Professor of Legislative and Empirical Legal Studies
- UEF Law School
Anssi Keinänen
Keinänen is a Professor of Legislative and Empirical Legal Studies at the UEF Law School. His research focuses on law drafting and regulation, impact assessment, consultation, political influence, and implementation of law.
Keinänen has close connections to ministries by educating law drafters and advising ministries.
Niko Vartiainen
- University Lecturer in Legislative Studies
- UEF Law School
ORCID: 0000-0002-5735-6847
Niko Vartiainen
Vartiainen is a University Lecturer in Legislative Studies at the UEF Law School. His areas of expertise and interests are particularly related to the quality of law drafting, regulatory impact assessment and application of economics and statistics in legal issues.
In RELIEF, Vartiainen works on issues related to the regulatory impact assessment of sustainability regulation.
Michael Ristaniemi
Research Director
- UEF Law School
ORCID: 0000-0001-8881-0187
Michael Ristaniemi
Michael Ristaniemi is a legal and policy officer at the European Commission, whose work focuses on corporate sustainability and responsibility. He holds a PhD in law from the University of Turku. His research interests include the market economy and its sustainability, as well as the overall role of business in society. In the RELIEF project, Ristaniemi is an adjunct research director, focusing on corporate actors and relevant the legal norms that apply to them.
Arto Hietaniemi
Project Researcher
- UEF Law School
Arto Hietaniemi
I’m working as a project researcher for the RELIEF-project in WP2 until the end of 2024. My work is currently focusing on studying how the legislator has approached and perhaps should approach the environmental constitutional right in the sustainability transformation. It seems that in 2025 I shall return to my normal duties as a judge in the Administrative Court of Vaasa.
Myele Rouxel
Project Researcher
- UEF Law School
ORCID: 0009-0007-6186-6448
Myele Rouxel
Marina Dutra Trindade
Project Researcher
- UEF Law School
Marina Dutra Trindade
She is a lawyer, qualified in Brazil, and also works as executive assistant to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, World Commission on Environmental Law’s Climate Change Law Specialist Group (IUCN WCEL CCLSG).
In RELIEF, her research focuses on energy law within the EU sustainability goals, and applies path dependence theory as the framework for legal doctrinal analysis.
Ismo Pölönen
Professor of Environmental Law
- UEF Law School
- ORCID: 0000-0002-1480-7206
Ismo Pölönen
Ismo Pölönen is a Professor of Environmental Law (Bioeconomy and Natural Resources Law) at the UEF Law School. His expertise covers various sectors of environmental law. Most recently, his research has focused on the theory and practices of collaborative governance and legislation on mining, environmental impact assessment and nuclear energy. Pölönen has held several expert roles that have supported the drafting of legislation and the practical implementation of legal statutes.
In Relief, he conducts legal-dogmatic and evaluation research on the policy instruments relevant for the sustainability transformation.
Hanna Partinen
Project administration
University Teacher and Doctoral Researcher
- UEF Law School
Hanna Partinen
I serve as the coordinator for the RELIEF project. My duties include reporting and other administrative and practical tasks. My role is to support the project leaders and do my part to ensure that the project runs smoothly.
I also work as the university teacher and doctoral researcher at the UEF Law School. My research focuses on land use and building law.
Jenna Vänttinen
Project administration
- Law Student
- UEF Law School
Jenna Vänttinen
I’m helping to coordinate things in RELIEF.
I’m second year law student in University of Eastern Finland. My interests are environmental and constitutional law.
Seita Vesa
Vice-PI, interaction leader
Research Professor and Professor of Enviromental Law
SYKE and CCEEL
- ORCID: 0000-0003-1622-7464
Seita Vesa
Vesa is a Professor of Environmental Law, specialising in sustainability transition, at the UEF Center for Climate Change, Energy and Environmental Law (CCEEL), and a Research Professor at the Finnish Environment Institute’s Climate Solutions Unit (SYKE).
Her research is grounded in EU climate and environmental law, adopting a multilevel perspective to legal research. She thrives in multidisciplinary settings, bringing a comprehensive approach to complex environmental challenges.
In RELIEF, she serves as the vice-Principal Investigator, collaborating on the scientific framework (WP1) and leading the development of a transformation toolkit that integrates insights from across all work packages. Additionally, she oversees RELIEF interaction activities, ensuring effective communication and collaboration among stakeholders.
Antti Belinskij
Research Professor and Professor of Enviromental Law
- SYKE and UEF
Antti Belinskij
Belinskij is a joint professor at the Finnish Environmental Center (SYKE) and the University of Eastern Finland (UEF) in the field of environmental law. He has considerable expertise in constitutional legal questions related to sustainability goals. Previously, he worked as a senior legal adviser at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry with close involvement in legislative drafting.
In RELIEF, he is the leader of WP2, which examines how the legal system allocates societal power for the legislators, courts, public authorities, and business and civil societal actors in relation to sustainability goals and how this power is exercised.
Outi Penttilä
- Senior Policy Researcher
- SYKE
ORCID: 0000-0003-1550-9152
Outi Penttilä
Penttilä is a senior policy researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). Her research focuses on the opportunities and limitations of different legal actors in contributing to sustainability goals, including their role in legislative processes.
In RELIEF, she contributes to WP2, which examines how the legal system allocates societal power for the legislators, courts, public authorities, and business and civil societal actors in relation to sustainability goals and how this power is exercised.
Katja Kurki
Researcher
- SYKE
Katja Kurki
I am (MSc Econ., MSSc) a researcher at the Finnish Environment Institute in the Climate solutions unit within the Policies and risks group. I will be pursuing a doctoral programme in Law at the University of Eastern Finland. I am particularly interested in societal justice and the interdisciplinary approaches to tackle the complex challenges of sustainability transformation. In RELIEF I work in WP6.
Niina Pykäläinen
Project administration
- Coordinator
SYKE
Niina Pykäläinen
I work as a coordinator at the Finnish Environment Institute’s Societal change unit. In RELIEF I am part of the project’s interaction and communication team.
Marko Keskinen
- Associate Professor of water governance
- Aalto University
ORCID: 0000-0001-5236-2327
Marko Keskinen
Keskinen is an Associate Professor of Water Resources Management and Policy at Aalto University. His research interests include sustainability, water governance as well as knowledge of co-production processes.
He also has a close relationship with public actors, having previously worked for Finnish ministries as well as international organisations. Keskinen has previously coordinated the Strategic Research Council (SRC) funded project WINLAND, which brought together various scientific disciplines and societal actors to consider the long- and short-term links between sustainability and security.
In RELIEF, he is the leader of WP3 related to the scoping of so-called policy transformation points, with the aim to identify, with the stakeholders, the conceivable policy transformation points that have a particularly significant potential to support just sustainability transformation.
Essi Huotari
Doctoral researcher in Water and Environmental Engineering
- Aalto University
ORCID: 0000-0001-5236-2327
Essi Huotari
Huotari is a doctoral researcher in Water and Environmental Engineering at Aalto University.
In RELIEF, she contributes to WP3 studying the co-producing process of identifying potential transformative policy changes in Finland that could promote a just sustainability transformation. Moreover, she concentrates on studying the science-governance interface as a place to intervene and as a leverage point to promote sustainability transformation from the perspective of systems thinking and resilience thinking within the framework of deep sustainability.
Petri Uusikylä
- Research Director
- University of Vaasa
ORCID: 0000-0002-6120-7553
Petri Uusikylä
Uusikylä is a Research Director at the University of Vaasa, where he co-leads the Public Policy and Governance Research Group. He has considerable expertise in information resilience, systems change and transformation, governance, innovation policy, policy evaluation, regulatory impact assessment, public budgeting, systems analysis, complexity, and European policymaking.
Previously, he has also worked as Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Finance and EU Twinning adviser (law harmonisation and public management reforms) in Latvia (technical adviser), Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, and Georgia as well as government policy advisor in OECD and several other countries.
In RELIEF, he is the leader of WP5, which analyses the social, economic, and environmental consequences of the policy transformation points that other WPs aim to identify.
Harri Jalonen
Professor of Social and Health Management
- University of Vaasa
ORCID: 0000-0002-6941-7969
Harri Jalonen
Jalonen is a Professor of Social and Health Management at the University of Vaasa. His expertise lies at the intersection of social sciences and public administration, where he explores innovative approaches to understanding and managing complex systems.
In RELIEF, he is the Principal Investigator for the project site, and his focus is on developing a complexity-information evaluation framework. His work underscores his enthusiasm for applying theoretical concepts in practical settings, thereby bridging the gap between academic research and real-world application.
- GoogleScholar: https://scholar.google.fi/citations?hl=fi&user=GIL1aa8AAAAJ
- ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harri-Jalonen
Jari Autioniemi
Postdoctoral researcher in Social and Health Management
- University of Vaasa
ORCID: 0000-0001-5451-9746
Jari Autioniemi
Autioniemi is a postdoctoral researcher specialising in the complexities, tensions, and paradoxes of good governance.
In RELIEF, he is working on WP5, analysing positive and negative transformation points that are legally feasible. Within the project, he examines the societal impact of these transformation points through the lens of complexity theory.
Rose Thompson Coon
- Project researcher in Social and Health Management
- University of Vaasa
Rose Thompson Coon
Thompson Coon is a part-time project researcher for RELIEF. Under WP5, she supports the development of a Complexity Evaluation Approach and Framework for RELIEF. She has worked extensively outside academia in evaluation, assessments, and research (for the United Nations) as well as in strategy and foresight (The Finnish Innovation Fund, Sitra).
Miia Toikka
Doctoral researcher in Social and Health Management
- University of Vaasa
Miia Toikka
In the Relief-project, Toikka is contributing to WP:5, which assesses the societal impacts of identified legal tipping points.
Ville-Pekka Niskanen
- Project researcher in Social and Health Management
- University of Vaasa
ORCID: 0000-0002-5109-6183
Ville-Pekka Niskanen
International collaborators
Our allies for success
Seven international universities that support and collaborate with our project.
