Professor Emeritus Martti Koskenniemi (b. 1953) has been Professor of International Law at the University of Helsinki since 1994 and founder and director of the Erik Castrén Institute of International Law and Human Rights since 1997. He is one of the world’s leading international law scholars.

He has contributed widely to the scholarly debate in the field of international law for the past 30 years. His main areas of research interest include the history of international law, state succession, human rights and the fragmentation of international law.

He has always been keen to boldly explore new research subjects. Critical theory has provided the framework for Koskenniemi to address issues sidelined in traditional international law doctrine. This is also the basis for his active involvement in public debate in society.

Koskenniemi obtained his doctorate at the University of Turku in 1989. He has held visiting or part-time professorships at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics, the University of Melbourne and Sorbonne University in Paris. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has honorary doctorates from several universities. He has also served as a member of the UN International Law Commission. He was Academy Professor in 2005–2009 and 2013–2017. He received the Finnish Science Award in 2021.

Koskenniemi received the title of Academician of Science in 2023.