Dr Emilia Korkea-aho is Associate Professor in European Law and Legislative Studies at the University of Eastern Finland and Academy Research Fellow. She is Docent in EU Law at the University of Helsinki, Affiliated Fellow at the Erik Castrén Institute, and Visiting Fellow at Maastricht University. Her main areas of expertise cover European Union law, especially administrative law, institutional policy-making, environmental law and governance. Her work combines a socio-legal perspective with the doctrinal analysis of legal norms.

Dr Korkea-aho’s current Academy of Finland funded project “The Lobbyist: A Socio-Legal Inquiry of Interest Representation in the EU” (2016–2021) engages with EU lobbying studies from a legal perspective. This socio-legally oriented project aims to identify and investigate the normative frameworks (legal, political, and constitutional) within which the lobbyist operates. These frameworks increase our understanding of the identity of a lobbyist and the proper place of the lobbyist in the democratic decision-making process.

Dr Korkea-aho is also Principal Investigator of the EU funded Jean Monnet Network “European Network on Soft Law Research” (SoLaR). The three-year project will look into the reception and impact of EU soft law in selected Member States. The project website can be found at: https://www.solar-network.eu

Her recently completed research project “The Politics of Super Laws: How third country actors shape the emergence and development of EU law” (2013–2016) dealt with the role that the US, China and Japan have in the evolution of EU chemicals law and policy REACH. This work continues as part of the current larger inquiry into the forms of interest representation in the EU.

She has held research fellowships at the European University Institute (2014–2015 and 2007), Columbia Law School (2010), and University College London (2008–2009).