Jenni Tapio
Jenni Tapio works as a Chief Specialist with a special focus on space activities, representing Finland at the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) as the head of delegation to the legal and scientific subcommittees and as alternate head of delegation in the main committee. She has been nominated as the First Vice-Chair of COPUOS for 2022-2023.
Ms. Tapio is involved in the activity of the European Space Agency (ESA) in her current roles as the vice-chair of its international relations committee, as well as a delegate of the programme board on space situational awareness and the committee dealing with industrial policy. She acts as a national expert for the Finnish delegation to the European Union (EU) Council space committees and as delegate in the EU space programme committee’s space situational awareness configuration. She participates actively in the different European forums dealing with space traffic management (STM).
She is the chair of Finnish space committee’s division on space situational awareness, and is a member of the secretariat of the space committee.
Ms. Tapio participated in the making of the Finnish Act on Space Activities (63/2018), and her daily work involves the practical and legal questions arising from its implementation and further development.
Prior to joining the ministry, she worked for 15 years in the private sector specialising in technology, telecommunications, satellites and space law, most recently as a senior associate at Bird & Bird Attorneys LLP, and previously as an in-house legal counsel for Airbus Defence and Space, and Nokia Corporation.
Ms. Tapio holds a LL.B in English and European laws (Hons.) from the University of Essex (the United Kingdom), with a dissertation in public international law, a LL.M degree in international business law with a focus on European Union law as well as a Master’s degree in public international law with a dissertation on space law from the University of Helsinki (Finland). She is currently in the final stages of her doctoral studies in space law at the University of Helsinki. She has passed the Finnish Bar examination.
Ms. Tapio is a member of the board of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL). She acted as the faculty advisor of the University of Helsinki team in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition in 2015-2019. She has authored various publications in the field of space law and policy, and lectures frequently on these topics. She engages actively with the space community in space law and policy related events.
She is a member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), the ECSL, and the Finnish Branch of the International Law Association (ILA) and acts as an alternate member of its Space Law Committee for Finland. She is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Permanent Committee on STM. She is also a member of the URSA Astronomical Association.
She is an elected ECSL Board Member since 2019.