Anne Ketola
Anne Ketola (PhD, Principal Investigator) is a linguist who specializes in cognitive accessibility and plain language. Her recent research has focused on comic contracts and the accessibility of visual communication. Her recent publications include a practical guide on designing accessible images for picture communication (Selkokuvaopas, Kaatra & Ketola 2023, developed in collaboration with The Finnish Centre for Easy Language and The Finnish Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Ketola holds a PhD in Translation Studies. In her PhD dissertation, she cognitively modeled how the combination of words and images is interpreted.
Contact: anne.ketola@tuni.fi
Helena Haapio
Helena Haapio, DSc (Econ), LL.M, is a pioneer in proactive legal thinking and contract design. Based in Helsinki, Finland, she works as a Contract Strategist at Lexpert Ltd. She is currently Associate Professor of Business Law at the University of Vaasa and Professor of Practice at the University of Lapland. For her, promoting commercial-legal foresight and better contract communication is not just a job, but a calling. She has co-edited several publications in this field, most recently Legal Design (2021) and Research Handbook on Contract Design (2022), both published by Edward Elgar. Her publications in Finnish include Yritysten sopimus- ja vastuuketjut – Sopimusten hallinta käytännössä [Corporate Contract and Liability Chains – Contract Management in Practice] (Tietosanoma 2014) and Ennakoiva suunnittelu ja sopiminen koneiden vaatimustenmukaisuuden ja turvallisuuden varmistamisessa [Proactive Planning and Contracting to Ensure Conformity and Safety of Machinery] (2011). Together with Stefania Passera, she created the WorldCC Contract Design Pattern Library.
Contact: helena.haapio@lexpert.com
Henrik Oksanen
Henrik Oksanen (M.A.) is a PhD researcher specialising in German and Finnish legal language at Tampere University. He is currently finishing his German-language monograph on sentence and text structures in legal texts. Oksanen represents Finland in the international network of doctoral researchers at the German Language Institute (IDS) in Mannheim. In addition to his research, he has worked as a teacher of German and English at all levels of education, from early childhood education to higher education. In this project, Oksanen will carry out linguistic analysis with a particular focus on the identification and definition of the structural features of genre as well as on the description of language use. This will link to his post-doc research on the relationship between complex genre and register features and the use of power, starting in 2024.
Contact: henrik.oksanen@tuni.fi
Merja Pentikäinen
Merja Pentikäinen (Doctor of Laws, DES (Graduate Institute of International Studies, Univ. de Genève)) is a lawyer and an expert on corporate sustainability (CS) and human rights as well as an entrepreneur at Opinio Juris Ltd. Pentikäinen is among pre-eminent experts in CS and a trailblazer in the fields of corporate human rights responsibility in Finland. Her academic credentials based on her previous roles as a researcher, teacher, and (acting) Professor of International Law anchor her expertise to research as well as to the themes of sustainability and sustainable development. Pentikäinen has conducted pioneering research in the field of corporate human rights responsibility and authored the first study on business and human rights in Finland (“Yritystoiminta ja ihmisoikeudet”) in 2009.
Additionally, in 2019 she co-authored “Menesty Yritysvastuulla – käsikirja kokonaisuuteen” (Success with Corporate Responsibility – a Handbook), a critical resource in the field of CS. Since 2015, Pentikäinen has been a full-time entrepreneur specializing in CS and corporate human rights responsibility in particular. In this role, she has assisted a number of companies to develop their CS work. For the project at hand Pentikäinen brings her expertise on CS regulation and corporate human rights responsibility, her understanding of concrete business practices and her contacts with business enterprises. Her role is to specify how enterprises have taken rapidly increased CS requirements in their operations and how CS matters are approached and discussed in business contexts.
Contact: merja.pentikainen@opiniojuris.fi
Juho Saloranta
Juho Saloranta (LL.M.) is a doctoral researcher specializing in human rights issues in corporate responsibility at the University of Eastern Finland. His research focuses on advancing legal protection through contractual practices, corporate mechanisms, and other collaborative methods. He also serves as the responsible teacher for the Corporate Responsibility Law course at the University of Eastern Finland. Saloranta is a founding member of the Corporate Responsibility Law Association and has been serving as its chairman for four terms. In addition to corporate responsibility issues, Saloranta has broader experience in human and fundamental rights from his work in the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and as a legislative secretary in the Finnish Parliament. Saloranta has actively followed the development of corporate responsibility legislation. In his dissertation, he has contemplated the significance and role of due diligence in relation to responsible contracting and the realization of stakeholders’ legal protection. In the project, he continues to develop practical applications of proactive contracting theory, especially through corporate collaboration.
Contact: juho.saloranta@gmail.com
Anna Hurmerinta-Haanpää
Anna Hurmerinta-Haanpää, LL.D., is a University Lecturer in Business Law at the Aalto University School of Business. She defended her doctoral thesis in spring 2021 on the many functions of contracts in business-to-business relations. Hurmerinta-Haanpää has solid experience working in multidisciplinary research projects and using empirical methods in legal research. She has published on topics such as proactive contract design in the context of corporate sustainability due diligence, proactive contract theory, the functional contracting approach, and action research in legal research. Hurmerinta-Haanpää gives her expertise to the project on proactive contract design and the use of empirical methods in contract research.
Contact: anna.hurmerinta-haanpaa@aalto.fi
Soili Nystén-Haarala
Soili Nystén-Haarala (LL.D.; M. Sc. (Econ.), one of the pioneers of research on proactive contracting in Finland. Nystén-Haarala works in the steering group of the project. Her Ph.D (1998) dealt with the gap between contract law and the real contracting based on economic circumstances. From 2003 onwards she had led or participated in multiple interdisciplinary research projects on empirical studies of business contracting e.g. SOPO/CCC 2006-2009, IPOB 2008-2011, APD 2015-2017. She has studied corporate responsibility empirically in forestry, mining as well as oil/gas industry in the Arctic areas. She is Professor of commercial law (2014-) at the University of Lapland and has also worked as the dean of the Law Faculty (2017-2022) and currently as the vice-rector of research (2023-2024).
Contact: soili.nysten-haarala@ulapland.fi