School of Wellbeing

JYU.Well is an interdisciplinary community of wellbeing researchers and a profiling area at the University of Jyväskylä. Our aim is to consolidate the University's strategy of promoting wisdom and wellbeing for people and society by bringing together research and education done in different faculties.

Integrating diverse disciplinary insights on wellbeing

JYU.Well promotes collaboration and a crossdisciplinary approach to wellbeing among researchers, educators and specialists from various fields. We offer new paths for active scientific collaboration. Moreover, we provide various networking possibilities for researchers and practical experts. Our community also functions as a platform for new researchers who want to discuss their ideas and projects in an interdisciplinary setting to produce highly impactful research.

Research on wellbeing and health is conducted in all the faculties operating at the University of Jyväskylä. The departments and research units of these faculties offer a range of courses examining wellbeing from different perspectives. The range of expertise at the University covers all stages of human life as well as social environments and contexts, including family life, school and working life. Other central research themes include rehabilitative care and therapeutical practices.

How does JYU.Well operate?

As a networking hub, JYU.Well brings together researchers, scholars, educators, and students interested in wellbeing and health by organizing interdisciplinary public events.

JYU.Well actively strengthens research cooperation with the wellbeing services counties by developing a roadmap for cooperation with the wellbeing services county of Central Finland. The community supports the networking of various actors by organizing seminars, workshops and other events together with Central Finland Health and Wellbeing Ecosystem (KEHO). JYU.Well also offers an interdisciplinary peer mentoring programme for postdoctoral researchers to further prepare them for a fulfilling academic career, with new mentors and mentees sought every academic year.

Additionally, JYU.Well supports and produces multifaceted wellbeing training. The Multifaceted Wellbeing MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), launched in January 2024, provides an open and high quality online course for all those interested in the many different aspects of human wellbeing. The MOOC is presently only available in Finnish.

JYU.Well draws together expertise from across the University's six faculties into a distinct, yet complementary, research environment to facilitate active collaboration and common research agendas. Our community includes numerous research groups, experts, and postdoctoral researchers who specialize in our core research themes.

The activities to support the community are coordinated by a multdisciplinary scientific steering group, three chairpersons, a coordinator and senior advisor. Read more about the JYU.Well community via the link below.

JYU.Well community and contact information

The wellbeing research community JYU.Well celebrates its 4th birthday this year. JYU.Well was launched in the summer of 2021.

In this relatively short time, we have developed several new ways of working within our community, through which our multidisciplinary work for the visibility and impact of well-being research has been translated into action and benefits.

Read more and be surprised how JYU.Well has been working to develop a wide range of activities to support wellbeing research, communication and impact by highlighting ideas, people and research results! Read our brochure introducing our work that was done between years 2021 to 2024.

Read our JYU.Well in Action -brochure

Multidisciplinary wellbeing is a key part of JYU's strategy. As part of the university's profiling, JYU.Well brings together expertise in wellbeing from different disciplines to create a more holistic and impactful whole. JYU.Well produces socially impactful wellbeing research by analysing, developing, and disseminating new research-based interventions, administrative solutions and policy recommendations.

Current news on wellbeing

How municipalities implement the learning support reform – new study led by University of Jyväskylä

A research project led by the University of Jyväskylä is now investigating how the reform of learning support is taking shape in everyday school life across Finland.

Arto Hautala is JYU’s new professor of physiotherapy—the only one in Finland

On 1 November 2025, Arto Hautala took up his new post as professor of physiotherapy and rehabilation at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä. At present, this professorship is the only one in its field in Finland.

Youth Compass helps young people face life’s challenges – now available also in English!

The five-week long well-being program “Youth Compass,” designed for middle school students and those starting upper secondary education, is now freely available in Finnish, Swedish, and English. Feedback in all three languages is welcome!

More current news

JYU.Well Events

JYU.Well workshop: Dimensions of cross-cultural wellbeing

The workshop is about how people from different cultural backgrounds can understand their own wellbeing and learn practical methods to maintain it, regardless of the country they live in.

More upcoming events

Multidisciplinary wellbeing research

JYU.Well creates opportunities for interdisciplinary academic debate and ambitious collaboration between researchers as well as researchers and external operators.

Research search

At the University of Jyväskylä, we investigate human and community wellbeing in a multidisciplinary way by combining various perspectives and methods from all fields of knowledge. Physical, mental, and social wellbeing is examined in different contexts, including home environments, schools, care services, working life, leisure activities, sports, art, and culture. JYU.Well creates opportunities for interdisciplinary academic debate and ambitious collaboration between researchers as well as researchers and external operators.

Learn more about our research themes

The University of Jyväskylä conducts impactful, open and high-quality research in various, internationally highly ranked research areas on wellbeing, which cover all aspects of individual, community and societal wellbeing. As a research community, JYU.Well creates opportunities for researchers, educators, and other wellbeing operators to engage in productive and multidisciplinary collaborations. The work of the community and the development of wellbeing research at the university as a whole is supported by the JYU.Well profiling area (Multifaceted wellbeing), which has received funding from the Academy of Finland for 2023-2028.

Find out more about the University’s wellbeing research spearheads and the JYU.Well profiling area by clicking the link below.

JYU Research spearheads

JYU.Well aims to develop scientific understanding of wellbeing and its determinants by combining perspectives from different disciplines. Our postdoctoral researchers produce high quality research in collaboration with scholars from other fields and further expand interdisciplinary wellbeing research and activities. Find out more about our postdocs and their areas of research by following the links below.

Ville Heilala, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2025-

Eija Salonen, Faculty of Education and Psychology, 2024-2028

Soumen Atta, Faculty of Information Technology, 2024-2028

Kirsi Keskinen, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, 2024-2028

Kaisa Koivunen, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. 2022-2024

Anu Sirola, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2022-2024

Ana Gallego Alonso, Faculty of Education and Psychology, 2022-2024

Check out the latest publications on varying wellbeing themes published by members of the JYU.Well community:

Publications by community members

The peer-reviewed multidisciplinary book on wellbeing and current reports produced by the JYU.Well community during 2023 are openly available in Finnish.

Hyvinvointi koettuna, kuvattuna ja tulkittuna (transl. Wellbeing experienced, described and interpreted). JYU Studies 3.

Siirtymävaiheesta kohti toimivampia käytäntöjä : Kokemuksia Keski-Suomen hyvinvointialueen käynnistymisestä (transl. From transition towards more effective practices : Experiences from the reforms of the wellbeing services country of Central Finland). JYU Reports 26.

Yliopistokoulutuksen työelämäyhteistyö uudistuvassa sote-kentässä (transl. University education in cooperation with working life in the reforming social and health care field). JYU Reports 31.

JYU.Well aims to enhance scientific and educational collaboration and impact across disciplines and research spearheads in line with the university's strategy of ''wisdom and wellbeing for us all". Find out more about the current research impact projects by clicking on the link below.

Current research impact projects

Dissertation news and upcoming public examination events related to wellbeing research

5.12.2025 MA (Educ.) Sara Keronen (Faculty of Education and Psychology, Adult Education)

MA (Educ.) Sara Keronen defends her doctoral dissertation in adult education "Toward Collective Self-Determination in Workplace Learning - A Qualitative Study Based on a Central Hospital and on a Technology Organization".

5.12.2025 MA (Educ.) Julia Kuusiholma-Linnamäki (Faculty of Education and Psychology, Early Education)

MA (Educ.) Julia Kuusiholma-Linnamäki defends her doctoral dissertation in early education "Children’s Care Arrangements by Age Four and Contextual Factors in the Crosscurrents of Finland’s Childcare Policies".

5.12.2025 M.Sc. Ayaz Karimov (Faculty of Information Technology, Computing and education)

Ayaz Karimov defends their doctoral dissertation “Game-based learning for social inclusion: From evidence synthesis to scalable classroom implementation”.

More dissertation news and upcoming public examination events

Multidisciplinary wellbeing studies

In addition to conducting and developing wellbeing research, our community supports the teaching of wellbeing and its societal impact in all disciplines and faculties at the University of Jyväskylä. The university’s courses offer a variety of perspectives on wellbeing and encompass all aspects of individual, community and societal wellbeing.

Wellbeing microcontent library

JYU.Speak – public speaking support

Join the JYU.Well community!

We are an open community of scholars, students, and specialists interested in interdisciplinary collaboration and integrating diverse perspectives on wellbeing. We have a bilingual (Finnish-English) monthly newsletter. We also organize events and provide various networking possibilities.

All interested in our community are welcome to join our mailing list, which you can do by filling in the form linked below. Signing up for the mailing list will keep you informed about the events and other topical issues concerning wellbeing and health at the University. You can also use the same form to enroll yourself as an expert of wellbeing, which will bring visibility to your research and further your network.

Join our mailing list