Kaijus Ervasti (Lead National Researcher) is working as a director of research in the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy in the University of Helsinki. He is doctor of laws. He has been involved in many Governmental and Working Group Committees on issues related to civil procedure, court system and mediation. Ervasti has given lectures on sociology of law, procedural law and ADR and mediation in many universities. He has given also lectures on effects of laws to law drafters in HAUS (Finnish Institute of Public Management). He has worked as a trainer in mediation training programs for judges, attorneys and mediators. He worked also as a training expert in EU Twinning project “Support to the development of alternative dispute resolutions in Albania” 2015-2017 and in TAIEX project “ADR in administrative law” 2015 in Turkey. He has written 25 books or research reports and hundreds of articles and reviews. Writings are dealing with sociology of law, history of the law, procedural law, law drafting, mediation and conflict resolution. In the year 2017 he published with other Nordic researchers (Anna Nylund, Lin Adrian) book “Nordic Mediation Research” (Springer).
LOCAL RESEARCHERS - FINLAND
Kati Rantala (Lead National Researcher) is working as a research director at the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy in the University of Helsinki, at the research unit of Legal Policy Research. She has earned a PhD in sociology and, and she is also an Adjunct Professor of Sociology. The research unit of Legal Policy Research focuses on access to justice, debt problems and legislative issues (for example ex ante and ex post evaluations). Rantala has published on all of those areas, and several others. Regarding access to justice, ongoing projects include, for example, an evaluation of the law on equality, the functioning of legal aid services, and a survey on legal needs. Recently, Rantala has worked for a year as a Senior Adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland, in the secretariat of Finnish Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis.
Sonal Makhija is post-doctoral researcher at the legal policy unit of the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (ICLP).
Noora Alasuutari is doctoral researcher at the legal policy unit of the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (ICLP).
Chris A. Carling is research assistant at the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (ICLP).
Aino Jauhiainen is research assistant at the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (ICLP).
Kati Nieminen (MA, LLD) is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Criminology and legal policy at the University of Helsinki. Her research covers areas such as access to justice and legislative research. Currently she participates in research projects on access to legal aid (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/oatvhanke/enhancing-the-quality-and-equality-of-legal-aid/), and discrimination (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/aidosti-yhdenvertaiset/genuinely-equal-assessing-the-non-discrimination-act/).
Yaira Obstbaum works as postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy in the University of Helsinki. She is Doctor of Social Sciences. She is currently working with launching a Finnish legal-needs study. Dr. Obstbaum has worked in the areas of sociology, criminology and sociology of law. She has done research on services for alcohol and drugs users, and problems concerning their implementation and sufficiency, particularly among Finnish prisoners. She has also worked with juvenile delinquency surveys. Obstbaum has also worked at the intra-governmental Nordic Welfare Centre (NVC), with Nordic cannabis policy and legislation from a cannabis user-perspective, and with youth drinking trends as well as for the Finish Ministry of Justice with crime prevention questions. Obstbaum has spent time as a guest researcher at the Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies at the University of Bergen.
Laura Sarasoja is doctoral researcher at the legal policy unit of the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy (ICLP).