The Department of Social Policy is a part of the Faculty of Social Sciences and carries out research on social welfare institutions and broader social and social policy issues as well as in the field of social working with various development projects. Postgraduate programmes cover social policy (jointly with sociology), urban studies and social work, and a professional licentiate programme in social work.

UH’s contribution to GOETE

In the project UH collaborates with the University of Turku on the field work in Finland. UH will produce the country report (WP 2) and carry out the qualitative research (W6 and 7). It will also be involved in the analysis and be a responsible core partner in the dissemination (WP 9). Ilse Julkunen will also be a member of the steering committee.

Previous experience relevant to the tasks

Research conducted in social welfare, public policy and social work: life style and life politics, environmental policy, urban studies, aging and health research, knowledge production for social work, professional development and expertise, child welfare and youth and marginalisation. Research on knowledge production and transforming professions towards reflexive expertise is currently the strongest research area. The welfare of children and youth research focuses on child development and child development professions, both legal and social issues, and attempts in gaining better understanding of children’s worlds and marginalised groups. Life histories and narratives have been used as methods in this field. In addition, evaluation research has been used to produce relevant knowledge for developing services to meet the needs of these people.

Team involved:

Picture of Ilse Julkunen

Ilse Julkunen

Professor for Social Work. Research fields: youth transitions, youth unemployment, activating research and evaluation methods.

Website

Department of Social Policy, University of Helsinki