Biography & Research interests
I graduated from the University of Jyväskylä with a Master’s degree in Social Sciences in 2008. After graduation, I worked as a counselor at a youth home and as a social worker in child protection. In 2010, however, I returned to the university to pursue graduate studies and defended my dissertation in social work in the spring of 2015. My doctoral thesis concentrated on the work-related well-being of frontline social workers in an age of austerity.
In 2019- 2022 I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Psychology on a project concerning the ethical capabilities and well-being of social workers. This ProCApable-project, funded by the Academy of Finland, aimed to enrich the understanding of the ethical capabilities and well-being of frontline social workers in the field of child protection. In addition, it aspired to develop, implement and evaluate innovative practices aiming at promoting the capabilities of social workers to practice in an ethically sustainable way. As part of the project, a tool for measuring moral distress (Moral Distress Instrument, MDI) was also developed and validated, and it is available eg. in Finnish, English, French and Spanish.
From 2022 to 2024, in addition to my work as a university lecturer in social work, I participated in a research project funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health (STM) aimed at generating knowledge about social work with young adults from the perspective of promoting inclusion (NuoriSO).
From 2024 to 2026, I took a leave of absence from my position as a lecturer and worked as a social worker in child protection. In May 2026, I returned to my position as a lecturer in social work at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy.
My research interests focus particularly on the capabilities and wellbeing of social workers and child protection workers, and professionals’ experiences of ethical stress. More broadly, my research interests relate to public sector work, child protection work, workplace well-being, and professional ethics.
In addition to my research and teaching duties, I am a co-convenor of the Social Work Workforce Research Special Interest Group (WRSIG) under the ESWRA. I have served as an editor for the journal Työelämän tutkimus (2017–2020) and edited the Finnish Social Work Science Blog.
Tutkin sosiaalialan ammattilaisten toimintamahdollisuuksia ja työhyvinvointia julkisen sektorin muutoksessa. Työntekijöiden hyvinvointi sekä heidän edellytyksensä tehdä hyvää työtä ovat kiinteästi kytköksissä asiakkaiden mahdollisuuksiin saada apua. Tämä on työni tärkeä motivaattori.
