Between 7 – 17 August 2018, interested students are invited to participate in an inter-disciplinary training summer school training program, NEWDAY–Nansen East-West Dialogue Academy, held at the Nansen Academy in Lillehammer, Norway.
NEWDAY is a training program that addresses current global challenges in a unique social setting. The program emphasizes cultural understanding and cross-cultural communication with classroom teaching, lectures, discussions, socializing, workshops, and excursions, and features lectures by prominent scholars, journalists, and thinkers as well as debates and dialogue between students and teachers on the burning issues of our time.
The main themes of the 2018 include gender and society; media and activism; and climate crisis and environmental degradation.
The organizers welcome applications from students at the BA and MA levels from all disciplines.
The deadline for applications is 22 June 2018.
More information
For more information on this year’s program, how to apply and other practicalities, please visit the official NEWDAY webpage: www.newdaylillehammer.org.
Students are at any time welcome to email contact@newdaylillehammer.org for any questions regarding the summer school.
‘Nordic China Law Week 2018 will be held 17 – 23 April and will feature an exciting array speakers and contributors from China and the Nordic region’, says Professor Ulla Liukkunen, Director of the Center.
‘This reflects ever-deepening interest in Chinese law in the Nordic academic, and broader public, arena’.
‘In addition, Nordic China Law Week 2018 is being held in response to strong and growing interest in Chinese law and the Chinese legal system from the private and non-profit sectors’, Professor Liukkunen says.
‘In light of corporate demand, including from local SMEs and startups, Nordic China Law Week 2018 will include many events on Chinese business and corporate law, including Chinese intellectual property law’.
The Week is targeted at lawyers, those in business (including entrepreneurs), people working in governments or international organizations, academics, students, those working in NGOs /civil society and anyone with an interest in learning about Chinese law and legal culture.
All events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the Nordic China Law Scholars Meeting (aimed at senior scholars from education and research institutions in the Nordic region, though junior academics, including doctoral candidates, are welcome to join). The host of the Nordic China Law Scholars Meeting will be Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki.
Further details of each event in Nordic China Law Week 2018, as well as links to register where relevant, can be found in the following event pages on the website of the Finnish China Law Center:
The Workshop will provide an overview of how to approach Chinese legal research and comparative law research involving China.
The event will be of benefit to students, researchers and practitioners who are interested in Chinese law and the Chinese legal system, and provide an excellent opportunity for participants to meet and network with others who are working with, or interested in, Chinese law and legal culture.
Venue: Small Hall, Fourth Floor of the Main Building of the University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 33
08:30 – 09:00 Registration and coffee
09:00 – 09:15 Welcome to the workshop
Introduction to the Workshop and Some Thoughts on China Law Research: Professor Ulla Liukkunen, Director of the Finnish Center of Chinese Law and Chinese Legal Culture (University of Helsinki)
09:15 – 10:45 Session 1. Background: China and Chinese Law in Context
Session moderator: Professor Alan C. Neal (University of Warwick)
Discovering ‘China’: An Overview: Professor Alan C. Neal (University of Warwick)
Sources of Chinese Law: Professor Yan Dong (Beijing Foreign Studies University)
Nordic Reflections on Chinese Culture, the Rule of Law and Judicial Reform with Chinese Characteristics: Professor Ditlev Tamm (University of Copenhagen)
10:45 – 11:00 Morning tea/coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Session 2. Theoretical Perspectives: Historical and Comparative Approaches to Chinese Law and Legal Culture
Session moderator: Professor Alan C. Neal (University of Warwick)
Culture and Contemporary China: Professor Julie Yu-Wen Chen, Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of Confucius Institute at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki
Intersections of Economics, Business and the Law in China: Implications for Legal Research: Professor Matti Nojonen (University of Lapland)
Questions about the Workshop from interested participants and the media can be directed to the Coordinator of the Finnish China Law Center, Stuart Mooney, at stuart.mooney (at) helsinki.fi.
On Friday 20 April 2018, the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki and the Finnish China Law Center will host the first-ever Nordic China Law Scholars Meeting.
The purpose of the Meeting, which will be held between 09:00 – 11:00, is to provide a forum in which scholars can share their China law-related activities and plans, and explore forms and possibilities of inter-institutional collaboration at a general level.
There will also be discussion of Nordic-wide involvement in some events being organized by the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki and the Finnish China Law Center, including the 9th Bilateral Seminar on Comparative Law with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) (Beijing, September 2018 – exact date to be confirmed).
This round table discussion is open to those affiliated with universities or research institutions in the Nordic region whose research or teaching relates to the law and China (including Chinese law, comparative law involving China, and China’s engagement with international law).
Scholars who would like to pursue legal teaching or research involving China are also invited to attend.
While the meeting is intended for senior scholars, junior academics, including doctoral students, are warmly encouraged to join.
Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki, will chair the Meeting.
Tea and coffee will be served during the meeting, and a light lunch will follow.
Registering to attend
Those interested in attending the event are kindly asked to register, and indicate any dietary preferences/needs, through this electronic form:
The Meeting will be held in the Meeting Room of the Faculty of Law (P545), 5th floor of the Porthania Building (Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki).
Other events in Nordic China Law Week 2018
Those interested in Chinese law and legal culture are encouraged to join other events being held during Nordic China Law Week 2018.
Directly after the Meeting (from 12:15 to 13:45), legal scholar and judge Professor Alan Neal (Warwick University) will give a guest lecture, which participants at the Meeting are encouraged to attend.
Questions about the Nordic China Law Scholars Meeting, and Nordic China Law Week 2018, can be directed at the Coordinator of the Finnish China Law Center, Stuart Mooney, at stuart.mooney (at) helsinki.fi.
The Kone Foundation, an independent non-profit organisation with a mission to make the world a better place by advancing initiatives in research and the arts, offered two 4 to 6 month-long scholarships to conduct research in China. The cut-off to apply for those scholarship was 28 March 2018.
The Finnish member universities of the Fudan Nordic Center are the University of Helsinki, the University of Eastern Finland, Hanken School of Economics, the University of Lapland, the University of Tampere and the University of Turku. All of these universities are also member institutions of the Finnish Center of Chinese Law.
The scholarship program is intended to support and expand China-related research conducted in the Finnish universities. The aim is to stimulate researchers to expand their research focus towards research connected with China and to facilitate longer research periods in China. When possible and relevant, doctoral candidates can attend teaching offered by the Fudan Nordic Centre.
Further information and application process
More information about the scholarships, including the full Call for Applications and instructions on how to apply, can be found on Asianet’s website.
According to Feedspot.com, the ranking was based on the following criteria:
Google reputation and Google search ranking
Influence and popularity on Facebook, twitter and other social media sites
Quality and consistency of posts; and
Feedspot.com’s editorial team and expert review.
The ranking was released on 21 February 2018 and the rankings list will be updated weekly.
‘I’m pleased at the attention the Finnish China Law Center’s blog is attracting from the Nordic region, China and around the world’, says Stuart Mooney, who manages the blog and is the Coordinator of the China Law Center.
‘The blog is an important forum through which the Center communicates with its stakeholders about the China law-related education and research activities of the Center and its 10 member institutions.’
‘We also use the blog to highlight the important contribution of our international partners, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University, in promoting China law-related education and research in the Nordic region, as well as Nordic collaboration with Chinese scholars and institutions in the fields of comparative and international law’, Stuart says.
ELSA is an international, independent, non-political and non-profit organisation run by and for students and recent graduates interested in achieving academic and personal excellence in addition to their legal or law-related studies at university.
The visit by ELSA was hosted by Professor Pia Letto-Vanamo, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki.
Dean Letto-Vanamo is a legal historian and comparative lawyer specialized in European legal history, history of European integration, Nordic legal culture(s) and transnational law, with a strong interest in Chinese law and Chinese legal culture.
During her opening speech at the event, Dean Letto-Vanamo delineated the history of comparative law and Chinese legal education and scholarship in Finland, and underscored the increasing importance of understanding Nordic law not just in its European context, but from the global perspective, including in comparison with Chinese law.
Professor Ulla Liukkunen, also of the University of Helsinki, was another speaker at the event. Professor Liukkunen is Director of the Finnish Center of Chinese Law and Chinese Legal Culture and has been recently elected as a Member of the Board of Directors of the European China Law Studies Association (欧洲中国法研究协会).
Professor Liukkunen spoke about the Finnish China Law Center’s role in facilitating and promoting China law and comparative law research, and about the increasing Nordic-wide approach to Chinese legal education and research. During her presentation, Professor Liukkunen also drew upon her research in Chinese law and comparative law involving China, and highlighted the importance of taking local conditions and culture into consideration when conducting comparative research with Chinese law.
Dr Zhang, who lectures at the University of Helsinki and is responsible for its popular annual summer school program in Chinese law, drew upon her academic and professional experience in China when discussing the Chinese legal system in a comparative context, including its foundations, sources of law, the way law is applied and enforced, and current legal ‘hot topics’ in China.
A short discussion followed Dr Zhang’s presentation, during which time students asked questions about China’s criminal justice system and the rule of law in China.
The Center strongly encourages students – and anyone else – interested in Chinese law and legal culture to follow its blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Questions about Chinese law can be directed to the Coordinator of the Center, Stuart Mooney, at stuart.mooney (@) helsinki.fi.
The Joel Toivola Foundation is an independent Finnish foundation supporting Finnish academic studies on China.
The Foundation awards grants for talented young scholars in the fields of humanities and social science research on China, as well as for Finnish students’ Chinese linguistic studies in China.
The last deadline for applying for grants, including Research Fellowship and travel funds, closed on 15 February 2018 at 16:00.
Further information on the grants and detailed application instructions can be found on the Foundation’s website.
For further information on the Joel Toivola Foundation, please contact Foundation’s Executive Director, Mr. Mikko Eskola at saatio@helsinkinet.fi.
About Joel Toivola
According to the website of the Joel Toivola Foundation, Ambassador Joel Toivola (1915-1999) worked for the Finnish Foreign Service in several important posts for more than three decades. He is especially remembered as a great friend of China and throughout his career encouraged relations between Finland and the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Toivola served as the Ambassador of Finland to Beijing from 1961 to 1967.
The purpose of the Rector’s visit was to underscore the significance the University of Helsinki attaches to its friends and partners in China.
During his visit, Rector Kola further developed the important relationship between the University of Helsinki and Peking University, a key partner institution in China of the Finnish China Law Center.
More about Professor Chen’s engagement and research in the University of Helsinki and the Finnish China Law Center can be found in the recently published Report on the First Four Years of the Center.
Sanna Villikka, acting Head of Administration of the Faculty of Medicine, was also part of the Rector Kola’s delegation.
Ms Villikka visited China in her former capacity as Senior Advisor in Research Funding Services at the University of Helsinki’s City Centre Campus. The purpose of her trip was to develop staff exchange between the University of Helsinki and Peking University, to further enhance the University of Helsinki’s relationship with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and to emphasize the high esteem with which the University of Helsinki views its relationship with the Faculty of Law of Peking University.
Another important visit to China was by then Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Kimmo Nuotio.
Professor Nuotio joined the Annual Meeting of the Silk Road Law Schools Alliance hosted by Wuhan University.
Professor Nuotio was invited to give public lectures at universities across the country, including Peking University, the University of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Wuhan University, Shandong University, and Wuhan University of Technology.
Professor Nuotio also gave a presentation at the Chinese Academy of Social Science’s annual international Rule of Law conference in Beijing.
In addition to her many academic and professional responsibilities, including serving as a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, Professor Petman also visits and lectures at the prestigious Peking University Law School on a regular basis.
The CIMO project, the result of an application made by Kangle Zhang, was jointly managed by several staff of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki prior to its conclusion at the end of 2017.
During its two years of operation, the project facilitated a range of successful activities that deepened collaboration between the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki and Peking University Law School.
The end of 2017 also saw a flurry of visits from China to Finland.
These inbound visits included two delegations in November alone.
These include a China Law Workshop (Helsinki, April – tbc), the 9th Bilateral Comparative Law Seminar (Beijng, August – tbc) with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the 6th China-Europe Legal Forum with the China Law Society (Helsinki, November – tbc).
Follow the Finnish China Law Center on Twitter (@ChinaLawCenter) and Facebook (@ChinaLawCenter) to keep up-to-date with the latest news, events, publications and other activities of the Center and its member institutions.
China’s new Food Safety Law was issued in 2009 and revised in 2015. For Post-Doctoral Researcher Harriet Lonka, the chance to be a visiting scholar at Peking University Law School and research this important legislative reform was an opportunity not to be missed.
Dr Harriet Lonka, from Finnish China Law Center member institution the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), was a visiting Post-Doctoral Researcher at Peking University from 1 October to 17 November 2017.
The highly respected Peking University is a key strategic partner of the Finnish Center of Chinese Law and Chinese Legal Culture, as detailed in the recently published Report on the First Four Years of the Center.
‘My research in China focused on the new Chinese Food Safety Law. This legislation is an important milestone in China’s legislative reforms and also a key issue concerning trade policy and China’s relations with its international trade partners, especially the WTO’.
During her time in Peking University Law School, Dr Lonka worked closely with Chinese legal scholar Professor Chen Yifeng.
Dr Lonka has a long background in the field of risk management studies, and during her PhD studies she studied the Finnish government’s Security Strategy work and how it effects the shaping of legislation.
‘Chinese Food Safety legislation is comparable in its target and format to the risk regulation tradition in Europe and in Finland’, Dr Lonka says.
‘In my current research, I focus on the aspects of the implementation of the law that have been identified as potential ‘Achilles heels’ of enforcement of the Food Safety Law in China’.
Dr Lonka believes that there are new and interesting challenges in applying measures of risk surveillance, risk management and risk communication at different levels of administration in China.
Given the angle of her research, she envisages many more opportunities for fruitful research cooperation with Chinese colleagues in the future.
Dr Lonka’s research was also supported by the fact that she had contacts to the local level administration and foodstuff producers in Hunan Province, which enabled useful data collection in the field.
The opportunity to conduct research not only in Beijing, but also in Hunan Province, was beneficial in many respects, Dr Lonka says.
‘My study visit provided me a lot of important background knowledge and new understanding of Chinese legislation, how it is created and implemented. This is of great interest to me as my own research field is legislative studies. Legislative studies concentrate on how laws are drafted and implemented and what defines their effect’.
One area of particular interest to Dr Lonka is the question of ‘decentralized development’ in China.
‘I would wish to better understand the structures and mechanisms for guidance and supervision from the central government level to provinces and further to the local level in China’.
‘The study of Chinese Food Safety Law provides an excellent case study to scrutinize these phenomena. I think this research focus can help us in general better understand the ‘many faces of China’ and how that effects the legislative processes and implementation of the administrative laws in the country’.
A six-person delegation from Beihang University, headed by Professor Long Weiqiu, Dean of the Law School, visited Helsinki last month to sign an MOU with the Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki and to discuss future collaboration.
‘The establishment of a Nordic Law Center in Beihang University Law School is an excellent idea. It provides an opportunity to build on our common interests, and we look forward to a fruitful collaboration’ , Professor Nuotio says.
While in Finland, the delegation also met with the University of Turku, another member institution of the Finnish China Law Center, and Pekka Hallberg, Emeritus President of the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland and the founder of Rule of Law Finland (ROLFI). Justice Hallberg has been long involved in China and Chinese law, and earlier this year the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki hosted the launch of Justice Hallberg’s book, ‘Rule of Law and Sustainable Development’.