Keyword: INVEST

Sustained investments in people’s well-being – combined with swift, targeted support when difficulties arise – are essential to strengthening social equality across Europe. This is the central conclusion of Mapineq – Mapping Inequalities Through the Life Course, a three-year research project spanning several European countries. At the project’s conclusion, the researchers compiled a comprehensive White Paper translating the findings into evidence-based recommendations for policymakers.

A research group from the Research Centre for Child Psychiatry at the University of Turku, Finland, has developed a universal digital intervention to help caregivers in Ukraine to support their children in distressing situations. The internet-based programme is available in Ukrainian and includes psychoeducational materials in text and video format. A pilot study is currently underway to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the programme for Ukrainian families.

A new systematic review of 172 studies including data from over 12 million adolescents across 166 countries reveals that while cross-national adolescent mental health research including low- and middle-income countries has expanded significantly, large gaps remain in global representation. 

In more gender-equal countries, girls tend to avoid natural and engineering sciences more than girls in countries with lower levels of gender equality, according to a doctoral dissertation by M.A. Marco Balducci at the University of Turku. Balducci argues that in more gender-equal societies, individual preferences may have an even stronger influence on educational choices than in less equal societies.

An international research collaboration used AI as research participants and discovered that knowledge-enhanced large language models are able to critically assess forensic expert testimonies.

INVEST Research Flagship Centre will continue as a permanent department in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Turku after 2026. The solution will allow for the development and expansion of INVEST also in the future.

The KiVa antibullying program has been launched in Colombia. All together representatives of over 140 schools took part in the launching event.

Call for applications – INVEST Research Flagship Centre offers support for researchers fled from Ukraine.

Researchers have developed a new interactive tool to view inequality indicators. It allows journalists, policymakers, researchers, and data scientists to visually explore and understand inequalities more precisely than ever.

Social relationships are formed unequally according to class background even in relatively egalitarian Finland, as shown in Minna Tuominen's doctoral research. Particularly trust, which is strongly linked to well-being, varies by social class, accumulating more among the highly educated and better-off classes. Especially vulnerable are those in lower education and income groups, as well as immigrants, who often rely on relatively fewer social relationships.