Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark

Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Professor of Law at Åbo Akademi University since November 2023. Before joining Åbo Akademi, she was the director of The Åland Islands Peace Institute (2007-2023). In 1990-2006 she worked at the faculty of law at Uppsala University (Sweden) from where she holds her doctoral degree. She has had various tasks and fellowships in international and non-governmental organisations and research institutions. She has served as expert and president of the Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention on National Minorities in the Council of Europe and as member of the Truth and Re-Conciliation Commission on Tornedalen in Sweden. Her work has focused on two strands: first, the legal position of minorities, indigenous people, language rights, diversity accommodation and the spectrum of autonomy arrangements. Second, concepts and practices of security, the use of force and conflict prevention.

Among her many works are the books: Justifications of Minority Protection in International Law (1997), International Obligations and National Debates: Minorities around the Baltic Sea (co-edited, 2006), The Åland Example and its Components - Relevance for International Conflict Resolution (ed., 2011); Demilitarization and International law in Context – The Åland Islands (2018, co-authored with S. Heinikoski and P. Kleemola-Juntunen).

I teach currently mainly the following courses:

- Rättsfilosfi och etik (Legal philosophy and Ethics) - in Swedish

- The Many Faces of Autonomy - Theory and Practice - in English

- Åland - en autonomi fyra rättsordningar (Law in the Åland Islands - law at multiple levels) - in Swedish

More information: https://studiehandboken.abo.fi/sv/index?period=2024-2027