Arja Halkoaho
Background in social and health care systems research, with a particular focus on workforce issues, care work, and innovation in care provision. Demonstrated expertise in conducting systematic literature reviews, especially on topics related to social and health care, workforce dynamics, and innovation in care. Experience with multicultural and international perspectives in care work, including familiarity with comparative research and the ability to contextualize findings from different countries and cultural backgrounds.
TAMPEREEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY
The invited researcher will contribute to the Academy of Finland–funded project “The Future of Care Work: Easing the Care Crisis through Innovations from Below and Above” The Future of Care Work project investigates: Why the social and health care sector is experiencing a severe workforce shortage and high turnover among care workers. How bottom-up innovations driven by citizens and employees, as well as top-down innovations initiated by organizations and policymakers, could help alleviate the care work crisis. The societal impacts of such innovations have been only marginally explored in the care sector. Our multidisciplinary approach,including adult education, nursing science, social sciences, computer science, and public health, and the organization of a national innovation competition in the care sector, provide opportunities to build innovation capacity and scale up local experiments into broader solutions for the care system. This requires studying the dynamics, impacts, and ethical sustainability of innovations in both formal and informal care systems, as well as learning from effective innovations in other countries. Research topics and focus during the research stay: Systematic literature review on care work and innovations from a multicultural perspective: The researcher will conduct a comprehensive review of international literature on workforce shortages, turnover, and innovative solutions in social and health care, with special attention to multicultural and comparative aspects.
Robust, multidisciplinary research environment (adult education, nursing science, social sciences, computer science, and public health). Experienced in both qualitative and quantitative methods and is actively engaged in national and international collaboration. Access to advanced research infrastructure at a leading Finnish university, including digital resources, data management systems, and support for literature reviews and comparative research. The opportunity to contribute to a high-impact, multidisciplinary project; to deepen expertise in care work innovations from a multicultural perspective; and to build networks with Finnish and international scholars.
1-2 months
Year 2026, Preferably starting already in February 2026.