Kjell-Åke Nordquist, Director
Tel. +358 18 21910
Mobile phone: +358 (0) 405 0405 71,
+46 (0)768 65 03 65
kjell-ake[at]peace.ax

Kjell-Åke Nordquist is Professor in International Relations, with particular focus on Peace Building and Human Rights, at the Stockholm School of Theology in Sweden.
He has been working in the fields of autonomy and conflict resolution both as a researcher and a practitioner, and has been a member of the Board as well as the Research Council of the Åland Islands Peace Institute since its start. As a practitioner Nordquist has been working with peace processes mainly in Colombia, the Middle East, and Timor-Leste.

Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark, Head of Research
Phone +358 18 21960
sia[at]peace.ax

Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark is on leave from her position as Director to work with research activities, especially as a Project Manager of the new research project “Demilitarisation in an increasingly militarized world. International perspectives in a multilevel framework – the case of the Åland Islands.” and as responsible for an e-course on territorial autonomy.
She received her doctoral degree in international law at the Faculty of Law, University of Uppsala (Sweden) in 1997 and became associate professor at the same university in 2001. She was acting professor at Åbo Akademi University in the autumn of 1997. Spiliopoulou Åkermark has published two books, four edited volumes, and more than 50 articles and reports in the fields of international law, human rights, indigenous peoples and minority rights. She speaks Swedish, Greek, English and French.

Elias Vartio, Research Coordinator
elias[at]peace.ax
Phone: +358 18 15574

Elias assists in the research activities and the work of the research council, e.g. with text editing, report publishing, seminar organization and development of the library. He also takes part in outreaching activities and co-ordinates internship applications. Elias holds a master in Social Science, and has previously studied public international law at Helsinki University and Åbo Akademi University. He has also previously worked as journalist both in print- and broadcasting media. Elias has also been actively engaged in the Brussels based youth think thank Futurelab Europe and the Turku University affiliated Finland Futures Research Centre (ffrc), where he was involved in two research projects on the impact of new and emerging technologies on security and privacy.

Heidi Öst, Mediation Officer
Tel. +358 (0)18 21967 
Mobile + 358 (0)457 343 3513
info[at]medlingsbyran.ax

Saila Heinikoski, Researcher
Phone +358 18 21960
saila.heinikoski[at]utu.fi

Saila Heinikoski is a researcher in the research project “Demilitarisation in an increasingly militarized world. International perspectives in a multilevel framework – the case of the Åland Islands”, funded by the KONE foundation. In the project, she focuses on the position of Åland demilitarisation in the foreign and security policy of Finland and the European Union. In 2016, she will defend her doctoral thesis in International Relations at the University of Turku, Finland. Her thesis focuses on the right to free movement in the European Union and she has published several articles on European Union issues as well as co-edited a volume on the European Union security and defence policy. She holds two Master’s degrees from the University of Turku: one in International Relations and the other in Translation Studies. Before her research career, she has worked, inter alia, as an intern at the Representation of the European Commission in Finland and at the Department of Strategic and Defence Studies of the Finnish Defence University.

John Knight, Library and Archive
Phone +358 (0)457 342 0778
john[at]peace.ax

The part time librarian John Knight is responsible for the library and archive, that includes material on peace and conflict issues, minorities, autonomy, security, gender, human rights, and the Åland Islands and their unique status.  John works at the Institute every Tuesday from 3.15 to 5 pm. At other times, John is available on the phone number,  +358 (0)457 342 0778, or by e-mail. You may also call other staff at the Institute, at +358(0)1815570, to arrange a time when books can be borrowed or read on site.

Tina Sjövall will be working as an Organisation Secretary while Justina Donielaite is on parental leave. Tina is responsible for the administrative planning of the Institute and for coordination of funding applications. She is also working as the Secretary of the Board of Directors. 

Tina holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stockholm University and a vocational degree in Human Resources. She also works as a project manager for the Norden Association Åland.

Justina Donielaite, Organisation Secretary  and Mediation Officer (on leave until 1.11.2017)
Phone +358 18 23238
justina[at]peace.ax