Research team
Photos by Priscilla Osey
Camilla Nordberg
Camilla Nordberg, Project leader, D.Soc.Sc., Title of Docent, is a senior lecturer in social policy at Åbo Akademi University. She has conducted research broadly in the field of migration, ethnic relations and welfare, particularly on issues related to citizenship and welfare state restructuring, welfare services and street-level bureaucratic encounters, family, mothering and care, globalisation and elder care work, linguistic diversity and justice, and political discourse. She is also an affiliated researcher at the Center of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care at the University of Helsinki.
Meri Kulmala
Meri Kulmala, UH Responsible researcher, D.Soc.Sc., MA, is docent in Social and Public Policy (University of Eastern Finland) and in Russian and Eurasian Studies (University of Helsinki) and works as a research director in the Faculty of Social Sciences of University of Helsinki. She has conducted research broadly on post-socialist welfare states and social policy. Currently her research focuses on welfare inequalities in the Finnish context, e.g. through the lens of mental wellbeing of youth and accessibility of social services for people with diverse migration backgrounds. She leads the Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ) and is a founding member of the Finnish Co-research Network.
Camilla Granholm
Camilla Granholm, D.Soc.Sc, is a lecturer in social work at the University of Turku. In her research, she has followed the digitalization of social work since the early 2000s. The focus of the research is on how the digitalization of social work affects the encounter between professionals and clients and how the digital tools could be used to make social work practice more inclusive.
Eveliina Heino
Eveliina Heino, D.Soc.Sc., Title of Docent, licensed social worker) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Åbo Akademi University and university lecturer of Social Work at the University of Helsinki. Her research focuses on diversity, migration and social and health services. She is currently working on research related to the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic from the point of view of multilingual parents as well as trust between parents and professionals in the context of social services.
Paula Merikoski
Paula Merikoski, D.Soc.Sc., works as a postdoctoral researcher in sociology at the University of Helsinki and as a project researcher at Åbo Akademi. Her research interests are, among others, migration, asylum, borders, gender and home. Her current research focuses on the everyday life, rights and working conditions of irregularised migrants in Finland.
Antero Olakivi
Antero Olakivi, D.Soc.Sc., Title of Docent, is a university lecturer in Sociology, at the University of Helsinki. He has researched professions and work organisations within the social and healthcare system in various contexts. His focus lies in understanding individuals’ efforts to reconcile the ideals of professional work with everyday realities. Issues of inequality related to international migration, ageing, and gender are prominently featured in his research. Additionally, he is an affiliated researcher with the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care at the University of Helsinki.
Hanna Kara
Hanna Kara, D.Soc.Sc., is a university lecturer in social work at the University of Helsinki and postdoctoral researcher at Åbo Akademi University. She has conducted research on social work with migrant families and linguistic diversity and justice in social services in Finland, and the transnational migration of Latin American women in Barcelona. She has written for example on the role of public service interpreters in social services, transnational care and family relations, and research ethics in qualitative social research. She is also an affiliated researcher at Center of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care at the University of Helsinki.
Anni-Maria Lassila
Anni-Maria Lassila, M.Soc.Sc. is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Helsinki. She is working on her monograph dissertation in social work on the inclusion of multilingual girls at school and in groups of friends. She is a licensed social worker. Previously, she has worked as a child protection social worker and health social worker.