Prof. Liisa Laakso, UNESCO Chair, University of Helsinki, Finland

Liisa Laakso, Dr.Soc.Sc is currently a Professor of World Politics, University of Helsinki and hold the UNESCO Chair in Development and International Cooperation. Her areas of expertise include conflicts, democratisation, and development cooperation in Finland, the European Union and non-governmental organisations. She is co-author of Evaluation of Coordination and Coherence in the Application of Article 96 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (2007) and co-editor of Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa (1996), Multi-party Elections in Africa (2002) and Twenty Years of Independence in Zimbabwe, From Liberation to Authoritarianism (2003). Her articles have been published in the Journal of Modern African Studies, Journal of International Development, Journal of Commonwealth & Comparative Politic, the Round Table, International Journal of Development Issues, African Studies Quarterly, and Current Research on Peace and Violence, among others. She is a co-editor of the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, chair of the Advisory Group of CONCORD (European NGO Confederation for Relief and Development), member of the Executive Committee of the EADI (European Association of Development Research and Activities Training Institutes) and member of the Development Policy Committee of the Government of Finland.