Dr Visa A. J. Kurki is an Associate Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Helsinki, Principal Investigator of the Agency in Law project (LEGACY), and Director of the Helsinki Animal Law Centre. His particular expertise lies in the topic of legal personhood, on which he has published the monograph A Theory of Legal Personhood (OUP, 2019). Some of his recent publications include “Towards an Agency Turn in Animal Law” (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 2025), “A Bird’s-Eye View of Animals in the Law” (Modern Law Review, 2024), and Legal Personhood (Cambridge University Press, 2023).
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Tero Kivinen is a postdoctoral researcher in
Dr Veera Koponen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Law. Her research focuses on intersections of animal health and welfare and food and drug security. Koponen defended her doctoral dissertation in 2025 on the general doctrines of animal welfare law within the framework of European constitutional law.
Keywords: animal welfare, animal health, food security, drug security, animal testing, animal law, constitutional law, legal theory
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Marina Baptista-Rosa commenced her doctoral studies in the project in 2022. Her master's thesis critically analysed the strengths and weaknesses of EU animal law and proposed a pathway for higher animal welfare in the post-Brexit UK. In her doctoral research, Marina investigates the role of constitutional law in advancing animal rights, with a focus on comparative analysis and transformative constitutionalism. By examining constitutional provisions for animal protection—focusing on Brazil as a case study—and drawing on the theoretical foundations of human rights, Marina aims to develop a theoretical roadmap for the progressive realisation of animal rights.
Julia Sundström started in 2023 as a doctoral researcher at the Helsinki Animal Law Centre. She graduated in 2021 with a Master’s thesis on ritual slaughter as an exception from the prohibition of slaughter without prior stunning in EU law. In her research she aims to explore the limits that EU law sets on Member States’ animal welfare schemes
Marcia is a Peruvian lawyer, currently a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki on the topic "Animal Legal Agency" as part of the ERC "Agency in the Law" led by Visa Kurki. Her research explains that many animals are, or have the ability to be, legal agents who can act within the framework of the legal system by being endowed with legal powers. Previously, Marcia obtained a master's degree in Animal Law from Lewis & Clark Law School (graduated with Honors). She is the Director of Derecho Animal en Perú, an organization for the promotion and development of Animal Law as a legal area in Peruvian academia and legal practice.
Xin Zheng commenced her doctoral studies in 2025. She holds a Master’s degree in International Law and is dedicated to exploring the legal recognition of pet animals. Her research examines the possibility of granting pets an intermediate legal status between property and citizenship, combining citizenship theory with legal personhood. Using China as a case study, she investigates the theoretical foundations, cultural barriers, and legal implications of this new framework. Her work aims to reshape human–pet relationships and contribute to the development of more inclusive animal protection laws across cultures.
M. Gürkan Gür is a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. He completed his master’s degree in 2025 with a thesis on the protection of animal interests in human rights law, which was subsequently published as a book following his graduation. His doctoral research critically focuses on anthropocentrism within human rights from an environmental perspective.
Veerle Platvoet defended her PhD on wild animal law at the University of Helsinki in October 2025. In her PhD, she connected environmental law and animal law by uncovering the ethical and legal foundations of wild animal law. As of November 2025, Platvoet is working as a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, where she continues her work on wildlife law and questions of international law.