Sven-Erik Soosaar

Sven-Erik Soosaar (born 12 November 1973) is an Estonian linguist, lexicographer, and a Wikipedian. He is a senior lexicographer at the Institute of the Estonian Language and served as an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 2020 to 2022.

Education and career Soosaar graduated from the University of Tartu in 1995, specializing in classical philology. He pursued further studies in Greenlandic at the University of Greenland (1995–1996) and Finno-Ugrian studies and Assyriology at the University of Helsinki (1997–1998). In 1998, he received his MA from the University of Tartu with a thesis titled Samojeedi ja eskaleuudi ühisjooned (Common features of Samoyed and Eskaleut languages).

Since 2016, he has served as a senior lexicographer at the Institute of the Estonian Language (EKI). From 2008 to 2011, he served as a department head and a member of the EKI scientific council.

Public activity and Wikimedia Soosaar is a member of the board of the Fenno-Ugria Foundation and the Estonian–Hungarian Society.

Since 2005, he has been an active contributor to the Estonian Wikipedia. From 2014 to 2018, he served on the board of Wikimedia Eesti, the local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, including a term as chairman. In 2021, he was named Estonia's "Volunteer of the Year" for his contributions to the digital encyclopedia.

Honours Volunteer of the Year (Estonia, 2021)