People & Contact

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Leadership and administrative team

Marika Jalovaara.
Marika Jalovaara FLUX Consortium director
University of Turku

I am a professor in sociology and demography. Most of my research focuses on links between fertility and family dynamics (that is, childbearing, cohabitation and marriage), social inequalities, gender, and the welfare state. I am the FLUX consortium’s Principal Investigator (PI) and director and the leader of FLUX-UTU sub-project.

Milla Ikonen.
Milla Ikonen Impact and Interaction Manager
University of Turku

I work in FLUX as impact and interaction manager. My task is to support FLUX researchers in reaching their goals in interaction and societal impact.

Jonna Paavilainen.
Jonna Paavilainen Research Coordinator
University of Turku

I work as a coordinator at FLUX, focusing on supporting research, managing administrative tasks, and planning and organizing events.

Work package leaders

Jessica Nisen.
Jessica Nisén WP1 leader, researcher
University of Turku

My background is in demography and sociology. I am interested in family-demographic questions, particularly in the determinants and consequences of childbearing. Cross-cutting themes in my research are gender, life course, and social stratification. My work is largely based on register data. I am interested in country and regional comparative research, such as Nordic comparisons. In FLUX, I am responsible for the work package 1.

Katariina Salmela-Aro.
Katariina Salmela-Aro WP 2 leader
University of Helsinki

I am an Academy Professor at the University of Helsinki, and my main fields of research are educational sciences and psychology. I study many topics such as youth, motivation and well-being. I lead or have lead numerous research projects, and In FLUX I am responsible for the work package 2.

Mika Gissler.
Mika Gissler WP 3 Leader
University of Turku & Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I have a background in Economics and Statistics and I did my PhD in Epidemiology. Currently, I hold professorships and faculty appointments at the THL Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, the University of Turku, Finland, the University of Oulu, Finland, and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. My main research focus has been in utilization of routinely collected health and welfare registers, and this I will also do in FLUX.

Mikko Myrskylä.
Mikko Myrskylä FLUX consortium co-director
University of Helsinki

I am a professor of social data science at the University of Helsinki and a director at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. Previously I have worked as a professor of demography at the London School of Economics, where I lead a research group funded by the European Research Council (ERC.) I conduct research in several fields of demography, including population health, trends of fertility, and population forecasts. In FLUX I am the consortium co-director and I lead the work packages 4 and 5.

Eva Österbacka.
Eva Österbacka WP 6 Leader
Åbo Akademi University

I am an economist and my research interest has been within family economics. Previous research has included intergenerational income mobility, transition to the labour market, wellbeing, and household division of labour. I am the PI of WP6. I will study short- and long-term labour market outcomes of childcare leaves for both women and men, and furthermore the implications for fertility.

Pasi Moisio.
Pasi Moisio WP 7 leader
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I am a research professor at THL and the co-PI of WP7, which focuses on family and social policy at FLUX. I am a sociologist by training and my research area covers socio-economic inequality and social policy. Along with research, I also work as an science advisor and policy expert in many  legislative drafting and experts groups for the government.

Researchers

Linus Andersson.
Linus Andersson Researcher
University of Turku

I have a background in demography and economic history. My research interest includes the determinants of fertility, partnering, kinship, and family regimes in contemporary and historical populations. I am active in WP1 and also pursue research on partnership markets dynamics in my own project funded by the Swedish Research Council.

Marguerite Beattie.
Marguerite Beattie Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a social psychologist and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki working on psychosocial factors in WP2 of FLUX. My research has spanned well-being, social cognition, motivation, and behavior change.

Erik Carlsson.
Erik Carlsson Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Turku

I am a demographer interested in fertility and family dynamics. My previous research has mainly focused on fertility behavior and preferences among immigrants and children of immigrants in the Nordic countries. I have also studied how mental health status, political preferences, and religion relate to fertility.

Philipp Dierker Doctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and the University of Helsinki. I am interested in the interplay of family dynamics and health. In my dissertation, I study the health-related antecedents and consequences of partnership transitions.

Julia Hellstrand.
Julia Hellstrand WP5 co-leader, postdoctoral researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. My background is in social statistics and demography. In my recently finished dissertation, I studied the fertility decline in the 2010s with a particular focus on fertility forecasting, fertility postponement, partnership dynamics, and economic uncertainty. My research interest lies in the understanding of the drivers and consequences of low fertility. In FLUX I am co-leader of WP5 and part of WP4.

Satu Helske.
Satu Helske Researcher
University of Turku

I am a senior researcher in the INVEST research centre at the University of Turku and I hold a PhD in statistics. I am interested in multigenerational and life course research, especially how educational, work, and family events are linked across the life course. I work in FLUX work packages 1 and 6, and I am the PI of the PREDLIFE research consortium where we study the causes fathers’ parental leave uptake and its consequences on the individual and his family.

Lauri Hietajärvi.
Lauri Hietajärvi University Lecturer
University of Helsinki

My background is in educational psychology and I am a University Lecturer in University of Helsinki. One of my main research focus areas is youth and adolescent development and well-being from various perspectives. Methodologically my main field has been in latent variable and person-oriented modelling, but I’m currently exploring possibilities in utilizing and combining different sources of data from self-report to registers or physiological measurements, as well as text mining and natural language processing.

Sanna Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist.
Sanna Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist WP4 co-leader, postdoctoral researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a sociologist and my research interests have been in intergenerational inequality, life course, and family dynamics. I work as a postdoctoral researcher at FLUX and study family dynamics and fertility using register data.

Johanna_Lammi-Taskula.
Johanna Lammi-Taskula Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I am a sociologist. My research focuses on family policy and wellbeing of families with young children. Parental leave policies and gender equality are my favourite research topics. In FLUX I analyse the possibilities of national and local family policies such as leave schemes, benefits and care services to support the wellbeing of children and parents in everyday life.

Rasmus Mannerström.
Rasmus Mannerström WP 2 co-leader, researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a social psychologist and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki with a keen research interest in youth, higher education, life transitions, identity issues and well-being in a sociohistorical perspective. I have also studied values, political ideology and engagement among young adults. In FLUX I am part of WP2 on the Psychosocial factors driving fertility and family dynamics.

Merita Mesiäislehto.
Merita Mesiäislehto WP 7 co-leader, researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I am senior researcher at THL with a PhD in social policy. My research focuses on comparative welfare state research and social and economic inequalities. I have studied topics such as child support policies, lone parents and child poverty and the politics of gender and care work, with special interest in policy outcomes on vulnerable population groups in different countries. I am the Co-PI together with Pasi Moisio of WP7 that focuses on family and social policy.

Anneli Miettinen.
Anneli Miettinen Researcher
Kela & University of Turku

My background is in demography and family sociology, and I work as a researcher at Kela and FLUX. I’m interested in gender equality in childcare and in working life, and links between family dynamics and social stratification. In FLUX my research mainly focuses on fertility, using register data.

Miika Mäki.
Miika Mäki Researcher
Family Federation of Finland

I study the determinants, dynamics and outcomes of romantic relationship histories. My background is in social demography and statistics.

Johanna Närvi.
Johanna Närvi Senior researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I’m a sociologist with a PhD in Gender Studies and I work as a senior researcher at THL. My research focuses on work–family reconciliation, parental leave, parental division of labor and wellbeing of families with children. In FLUX, I will study mainly with survey data the effects of diverse family policies on the wellbeing of young children and their parents (WP7).

Lydia Palumbo.
Lydia Palumbo Researcher
University of Turku

I am a researcher with a background in demography and economics. My research area is in family demography and focuses on the intersection between young adults’ partnership dynamics and their economic resources. I mostly work with longitudinal data using both objective and subjective measures of economic uncertainty and adopting a “linked lives” perspective, e.g., performing analyses at the couple or intergenerational level. In the Flux project, I am part of the WP1.

Maria Ponkilainen Doctoral researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki. I am interested in family diversity and questions related to equality in family formation. In my dissertation, I study same-sex couples’ unions and childbearing.

Ziwei Rao.
Ziwei Rao Postdoctoral researcher
University of Helsinki

I am an applied microeconomist in labour economics, and my research interests lie in family and fertility studies, intergenerational interactions, and public health. My research has employed causal inference techniques with large household survey data, and it aims to provide policy-relevant suggestions. I work as a postdoctoral researcher at FLUX and will be working with Finnish register data within work packages 4 and 5.

Liina Rintala.
Liina Rintala Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

I am a researcher at THL with a background in sociology and geography. My current research at FLUX focuses on gender roles and diversity in family formation. I enjoy exploring topics such as social sustainability and gender equality, as well as the connections between them, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Tapio Räsänen.
Tapio Räsänen Researcher
Kela & Åbo Akademi University

I am a researcher at Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, a project researcher at FLUX, and a PhD in economics. My research interests include employment and health effects of family policies and childcare subsidies. In FLUX Work Package 6, I study how childbirth and childcare affect the labor market outcomes and the health of parents, children, and grandparents.

Katrin Schwanitz.
Katrin Schwanitz Postdoctoral researcher
University of Turku

I am a family demographer with a background in longitudinal and life course research. My work so far has been mainly focused on the transition to adulthood in Europe. Specifically, I used population census and survey data to investigate family living arrangements across several European countries in multiple social contexts, from the perspective of different social groups, and by taking into account variability on an intra-national level. In FLUX, I will be mainly working on WP 1.

Florencia Sortheix.
Florencia M. Sortheix Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Helsinki

I am a Psychologist (Ph.D. in Social Psychology), Psychotherapist, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki. My areas of expertise are personal values, well-being and their interconnections across cultures. My research analyzes how the context shapes individuals´ values, the inequalities in well-being and their potential links to fertility.  I´m part of WP2 on the Psychosocial factors driving fertility and family dynamics in FLUX.

Heikki Tikanmäki.
Heikki Tikanmäki WP 4 and WP 5 co-leader
Finnish Centre for Pensions

I am a pension geek with a background in mathematics. I am interested in demography as it is one of the main drivers of the future of pensions. My role in FLUX is to provide pension simulation models for WP4 and WP5.

Citlali Trigos-Raczkowski.
Citlali Trigos-Raczkowski Research assistant
University of Helsinki

I am a research assistant at FLUX, studying the fertility patterns of immigrants and their descendents in Finland. I studied math and computer science at MIT for my bachelor’s and I’m currently pursuing my master’s in data science at the University of Helsinki. I’m especially interested in immigration and equity, and I enjoy using data to learn about people and their experiences.

Claudia Troccoli
Claudia Troccoli Postdoctoral researcher
Åbo Akademi University

I am a postdoctoral researcher in Economics at Åbo Akademi. In FLUX, I am part of WP6. My research interests include the effects of family policies on parental employment and children outcomes, as well as the labour market consequences of childbirth.

Katja Upadyaya.
Katja Upadyaya Associate professor, FLUX researcher
University of Helsinki

I am an Associate Professor on educational psychology at the University of Helsinki, and my research has focused on the well-being of students, parents, teachers, and school principals, examining also student engagement and socio-emotional skills, and taking into account various educational and occupational transitions. In FLUX I am part of WP2 and will study personal goals and fertility over time.

Kelsey Wright.
Kelsey Q. Wright Postdoc Researcher (Ph.D.)
University of Helsinki

I am a post-doctoral researcher and teacher who specializes in demography and fertility, alongside research interests in inequity, culture, and uncertainty. My research often seeks to intertwine demographic and alternative components to better understand social phenomena and how to implement progressive social changes. I will be working on WPs 4 and 5 within the FLUX Consortium.