Research team

I am Mia Hakovirta and I’m the head of this project. I’m a social and public policy docent and I work as senior researcher in the Flagship of Invest. Before my academic career I worked as a social worker. My research topics are the questions of livelihood of families with children and especially child poverty, children’s shared care and family policy. These themes relate closely also to financial social work. 

My name is Katri Viitasalo. I work as a senior researcher in this project and as a university lecturer at the University of Helsinki. I’m a doctor of social science and legalized social worker. I defended my doctoral dissertation in 2018 and the dissertation focused on examining the financial capabilities among mothers and financial social work. I am interested in financial social work as holistic social work orientation, development of the orientation within Finnish social work field and in the education of financial social work.  

I am Anniina Kaittila. I work as a senior researcher on this project. I want to do research that supports the development of social work’s services in a way that the clients get support that is both good and based on research. In this research project I’m especially interested in developing a financial social work intervention and carrying out intervention research. As for my education, I am a doctor of social science and legalized social worker. 

I am Anu Raijas (Doctor of Philosophy, docent) and currently I work in the Bank of Finland as an financial literacy adviser. I have studied the structure and development of consumption, the financial decision making in families with children and with partners, the level of basic social security, young people’s financial literacy and becoming over burdened with debts and surviving it. In this project I work as a financial literacy expert.  

I am Henna Isoniemi. In this project, I work as a senior researcher and as a research social worker. I am a doctor of social science (social policy) and legalized social worker. I defended my doctoral dissertation in 2017, the topic of the dissertation was “European Country Clusters of Transition to Adulthood”. Prior to this project I have worked as an university lecturer and as a social worker.  

I am Meri Moisio and in this project I work as a project researcher and as a research social worker. I’m a master of social science and legalized social worker. Financial social work is familiar to me from my earlier work experience, for example when I worked as social worker in adult social work. In this project I will be working in close cooperation with the social workers at the field and the clients.  

I am Sanni Välimäki and in this project I work as a research assistant. I’m a bachelor of social science and I’m currently studying in social policy master’s program. I’m especially interested in family policy and the wellbeing of children and young people.