Riikka Koulu

Riikka Koulu is an Associate Professor of Social and Legal Implications of AI at the University of Helsinki, holding joint appointments at the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Social Sciences. She serves as Director of the University of Helsinki Legal Tech Lab, an interdisciplinary research hub focused on law, technology, and society, and is an affiliated researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. In 2025, she will be an academic visitor at Oxford University.

Education:

• Doctor of Law (OTT), University of Helsinki (awarded November 17, 2016)
• Title of Docent (digitalisation of law), University of Lapland (2020-present)

Riikka Koulu is a socio-legal scholar specializing in the interconnections between law, technology, and society. Her research focuses on understanding law's role in shaping and being shaped by digitalized societies. She combines doctrinal and theoretical legal analysis with empirical research from a public law perspective. Her current work examines digital public administration, AI policy and regulation, European technology regulation, and the impact of digital technologies on legal decision-making. She is particularly interested in human oversight mechanisms and interface design in automated systems.

Her recent publications reveal a strong focus on the legal implications of digital transformation, with particular attention to automated decision-making in public administration, algorithmic governance, and the changing nature of legal procedures in digital environments. Her work spans theoretical explorations of legal concepts in digital contexts and practical analyses of how technology is reshaping justice systems and public administration.

Scientific Recognition:

• Title of Docent (digitalisation of law), University of Lapland (2020)
• Affiliated researcher, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin (2019-present)

Riikka Koulu actively supervises doctoral researchers through the Doctoral Programme in Law and has secured significant research funding for multiple projects. Her current research portfolio includes the ADM-Gov project (2022-2026) on automated administration governance, the REPAIR project (2022-2025) on algorithmic system maintenance, and the DARE project (2021-2026) on inclusive digital administration design. These projects involve collaboration with international partners and interdisciplinary teams.

As Director of the University of Helsinki Legal Tech Lab, Koulu leads an interdisciplinary research hub that is part of the Network of Centers (NoC). The lab serves as a focal point for research on the intersection of law, technology, and society, bringing together scholars from legal studies, computer science, social sciences, and design disciplines to address pressing challenges in digital governance.