Tapio Markkanen teaches Astronomy at the Universities of Helsinki and Joensuu in Finland. He has also been active in Finnish and European university and science politics, notably as Secretary-General of the Finnish Council of University Rectors for fourteen years. He has participated in many projects aiming at the dissemination of the results of science, such as the planning and setting up of the Finnish Science Centre Heureka. He has given numerous public lectures and been a frequent guest on radio and TV.

Tapio Markkanen is currently serving as Chair of the Finnish National Commission for Unesco, Chair of the Ursa Astronomical Association and Chair of the Finnish Working Group for the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
 

He has published research on the structure of the Milky Way, the birth of stars, and the history of astronomy in international journals. He has designed many exhibitions and written hundreds of articles for anthologies and journals and dozens of TV programmes, and has participated in numerous projects to popularize science.