The work package leader is an internationally recognised authority in the study of language and identity politics, with a long record of involvement in high-profile international research networks. His publication list evidences a wide range of interdisciplinary expertise in the fields of political linguistics and the political sociology of language. He has directed or co-directed several major projects for the Deutsche Forschungs-gemeinschaft (DFG), Finland’s Academy of Sciences and the European Science Foundation (ESF). He was the head of the Finnish research team in the EUROSPHERE project under FP6 (2006–2011), where he also was the co-lead of two work packages. He is the chairman of the ESF-funded Research Networking Programme RECODE (‘Responding to Complex Diversity in Europe and Canada’, 2010–2014), which comprises 13 European countries and Canada. He has served as a member of research and academic teaching assessment boards in Europe and North America. Trained as a sociologist and political scientist, he has pursued a pronounced interdisciplinary orientation in his research on language, politics and society.