I’m chief researcher at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare and adjunct professor in sociology at the University of Turku. I’m also researcher at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre . I gained my PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. I’m currently leading the SustAgeable consortium (Economic and social sustainability across time and space in an ageing society) funded by the Strategic Research Council. My research interests cover social inequalities in all forms, social sustainability, intergenerational transmission of disadvantage, poverty dynamics, and mental health. I enjoy interdisciplinary collaboration and often work in the intersection of sociology, social policy and economics. I mainly apply quantitative methods to longitudinal register data, but I’m also interested in cross-national comparative research with EU-SILC, for example.
New book: Social Sustainability in Ageing Welfare States
This book, edited together with Kenneth Nelson and Kati Kuitto, clarifies the meaning of social sustainability and how it can be assessed in ageing welfare states. It explores the impact of population ageing on well-being and social policies, identifying the resources and institutions which can facilitate well-being and social sustainability without compromising financial and environmental sustainability.
The book is available online with open access:
Read the book here
Most recent publications
- Auvinen, T., Uotinen, J., Vaalavuo, M. (2025). (Un)happy together – the interrelated life satisfaction of older couples. Social Indicators Research. Read online
- Böckerman, P., Kortelainen, M., Salokangas, H., Vaalavuo, M. (2025). A family affair? Long-term economic and mental health effects of spousal cancer. Journal of Population Economics. Read online