Jutta Viinikainen appointed professor of economics
Jutta Viinikainen, D.Sc. (Econ.), has worked as associate professor of economics since September 2019. Viinikainen has gained insight into development both at the university level and in the teaching and research of economics during her work while in charge of this area since 2022. After starting her career at JSBE in 2004, Viinikainen has also worked, among other roles, as a university teacher and senior researcher, as well as a substitute professor.
Viinikainen has focused on empirical, policy-relevant research, examining in particular the relationship between health and health behaviour and the socioeconomic status of the individual as well as the socioeconomic determinants of health.
“My research career started in labour market research. In my doctoral dissertation, I examined the role of personality in the labour market,” says Viinikainen, who completed her doctoral degree in economics in 2012. “Since then, I have concentrated on multidisciplinary research, which combines the perspectives of health and the labour market.”
Extensive collaboration in domestic and international research groups
Over the years, Viinikainen has been involved in various research projects. After her doctoral dissertation, she has been involved in a multidisciplinary research project led by Professor Jaakko Pehkonen, which investigates, among other issues, the connection of health to individuals’ labour market outcomes and the correlation between education and health.
At present, Viinikainen is leading the international Health, health spill-over effects, and individual socio-economic status research group. This also involves training for postgraduates.
Viinikainen holds significant positions in international and national organisations and networks of economics and economic research. She is a member of the Finnish coordination group for the European Commission’s 1+ Million Genomes initiative as well as a member of a related international group of health economics. The initiative seeks to promote the use of genome data in health care and research in the EU.
Viinikainen is also active in the JYU.Well community, where researchers and other actors promote cooperation in matters related to well-being. She has worked in the management group of this multidisciplinary research community since 2023.
In addition, Viinikainen has made research visits to many universities, such as the University of Bamberg in Germany, Boston University in the United States, University College London in England, and Monash University in Australia.
Research focused on issues of health economics
Jutta Viinikainen is currently involved in the planning of a cooperation project to combine expertise in health economics and financing.
“The project explores the connections between an individual’s health and behaviour in financial markets,” Viinikainen states. “This is something that has not been studied much before with individual-level data.”
What would the recently appointed professor of economics like to promote in the future?
“In the long term, I want to develop research and teaching at JSBE. In my research, I will focus on health economics. There are big challenges in our health care sector, and in the future, I want to participate in finding solutions to these challenges.”
