INVESThub

Autumn semester has began nicely and the hub have already had many activities. Neşe Saruhan from Istanbul Gedik University visited us and presented her study in the first Brown Bag session and we are already looking forward to Francesco Pompedda’s presentation in early October.

Also, we already had two Workshop Tracks events as Anniina Kaittila’s group join us to introduce their just started project on financial social work intervention for families with complex financial difficulties. In addtion, FinnBrain presented us their study  how the trajectories/profiles of socio-emotional abilities, language, and self-regulation development from infancy to school age (until the age of 9 years) are related to psychological functioning, motivation, self-efficacy and learning  outcomes at 5th grade. The meetings were very succesful and as a result of diligent joint brainstormin, both the groups were very pleased to have new ideas to enhance their studies.

Would you like to join our activities? Please contact us and let’s talk more!

Time flies and this week we had already our second part of The Workshop Tracks concept which we started in January. This time we had a a follow-up meeting and we heard from FACTOR project how they survey experiment went and what kind of experiences the process offered the. We had a fruitful brainstrorming and came up with very useful ideas how tho conduct surveys in the future and how to avoid some possible pitfalls etc. In general, we are very happy about this concept it felt that it fulfilled our expectations well. And of course we are very grateful and delighted to our participants so far. To refer senior researcher Mikko Leino from FACTOR project:

“We found this concept of  Workshop Tracks a very useful to us for developing our research processes to be better. We got many good ideas from the comments and discussions, and we also implemented them in the field. Thank you”.

After the workshop we hed to cost to have have a strategy retreat with the INVESThub group. We planned our actions for the next semester and we are happy to annonunce that we will continue the Workshop Tracks. Actually, this time we would like to take from two to four projects to these tracks. Feel free to contact us if you would like to paricipate to this concept in the Autumn and have a support for your field experiments. Also, Brown Bag sessions will continue and they will be arranged every first Wednesday of the month, starting in september. Details about these events will be updated to their own sections below.

Coming up:

Brown Bag Session: 22nd of May, Publicum KH149 first floor at 11-12, Pauline Norris(University of Otago) will give us presentation about her researcher on interventions. information will be updated soon below in the Brown Bag section. We welcome everyone to join us!

INVESThub is hosting two parallel sessions in the INVEST Conference on 15-17 May! The sessions are hosted by INVESThub group and named Social Experiment I & II. Please find more information about the conference and programme here.

The above mentioned was updated in May 2024

Spring comes always fast! Here are some updates what’s going on in our INVESThub unit.

Brown Bag Sessions have been very interesting and nice events, thank you for all presenters at this point. And as a good news, we are arranging an extra session on 22nd of May. That time, Pauline Norris (University of Otago) will give us presentation about her researcher on interventions. information will be updated soon below in the Brown Bag section. We welcome everyone to join us!

The Workshop Tracks will continue with a follow up meeting on 6th of May and we will hear experiences from FACTOR group and how they completed their survey desing. More information will be updated below to the workshop’s section. If you would like to join this event, please feel free to contact us.

INVESThub is hosting two parallel sessions in the INVEST Conference on 15-17 May! The sessions are hosted by INVESThub group and named Social Experiment I & II. Please find more information about the conference and programme here.

Also, we will have an own strategy retreat in May and we are starting to plan our next activities. Let’s be in touch and have a good Spring time!

The above mentioned was updated in March 2024

INVESThub has a new member as Francesco Pompedda (Senior Researcher, PhD in Psychology, Licensed Psychologist, CPsychol, FHEA) hopped on board in the beginning of the year. He has expertise in designing and evaluating training programs in Investigative Interviews of Children. Welcome Francesco!

In the meantime, the hub’s spring has started nicely. The first pilot Workshop Track was very fruitful event and Brown Bag Sessions have been rolling nicely. Many activies are to come on Spring time so stay tuned for more information soon!

The above mentioned was updated in January 2024

Happy new year!

INVESThub starts its year with piloting new Workshop Tracks concept. First workshops will be held on 17th of January in which Sami Ahonen will be presenting his research group’s plans for their study: Framing climate policies through climate change mitigation, economic benefits and energy security – an experimental approach. Also, Anniina Kaittila will be presenting  her research group’s  plans for continuation of their research FinSoc which focuses on social work interventions. These both workshops open up a very interesting platform to approach and brainstorm practical matters of studies in their early stages. The second part of the workshops will be arranged in May, and that time we will have a follow up for these groups and hear how their studies have succeeded.

INVESThub will arrange atleast four Brownbag Sessions in the Spring. In these sessions, we will hear a very interesting presentations on soscial experiments and interventions from different fields of sciences. The details will be updated on this page below.

Updated 17.1.2024: Thank you so much to all participants for the first Workshop Tracks! Read more about this event below from the accordion “Workshop Tracks”. 

Updated on September 2023

Autumn 2023 will be very active for INVESThub. We are now contacting researchers and inviting them to visit our Brown Bag Sessions. The schedule for that will be released soon. Also, we will gather together in November to plan our upcoming Workshop Tracks. The basic idea is to search and offer a consultance for reaserch group which is doing research on social experiments and inteventions. Our aim is to arrange a series of workshops with this group during the year 2024. In these workshops, the aim is to support the group by sharing our expertise and to brainstorm ideas. The idea is to follow up the development of their work for the whole year. And as an exhange, this kind of action will naturally offer us possibilities to develop our own research activity.  Stay tuned for more!

We also decided to have an own visual look. Our brilliant Jonne Värikäs desingned us a logo which is built up from some of INVEST flagship’s elements mixed with some own elements. So, from now on, you can recognize us from the following figure:

Updated on June 2023

In early June 2023, INVESThub team gathered for a strategy seminar in Villa Paradise, located in a stunningly beatiful Noux. The aim of the seminar was to plan actions of the hub in the near future but also in long terms. The hub will bring more it’s expertise in teaching and naturally the research activity will be active. Also, searching for a new funding opportunities will be under the radar.  For other practices, we are going to launch a new concept of workshops. And last but not least, the Brown Bags Series will continue with exciting research presentations in the Fall 2023.  Stay tuned and see you soon!

Updated on Spring 2023

In early June 2023, INVESThub team gathered for a strategy seminar in Villa Paradise, located in a stunningly beatiful Noux. The aim of the seminar was to plan actions of the hub in the near future but also in long terms. The hub will bring more it’s expertise in teaching and naturally the research activity will be active. Also, searching for a new funding opportunities will be under the radar.  For other practices, we are going to launch a new concept of workshops. And last but not least, the Brown Bags Series will continue with exciting research presentations in the Fall 2023.  Stay tuned and see you soon!

In early June 2023, INVESThub team gathered for a strategy seminar in Villa Paradise, located in a stunningly beatiful Noux. The aim of the seminar was to plan actions of the hub in the near future but also in long terms. The hub will bring more it’s expertise in teaching and naturally the research activity will be active. Also, searching for a new funding opportunities will be under the radar.  For other practices, we are going to launch a new concept of workshops. And last but not least, the Brown Bags Series will continue with exciting research presentations in the Fall 2023.  Stay tuned and see you soon!

Updated on Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 will be very active and interresting in INVESThub. Kirsi Peltonen started as an Associate Professor and Docent Aki Koivula as a senor researcher. Also, recruiting an IT-specialist to support research is progressing. We will coninue our Brownbag Sessions to offer a nice forum to present and share ideas for social experiments. There will be nice presentations from different fields of science. As a new thing, the seminars will also be streamed. There are also other events coming up so stay tuned! To be mentioned, the Hub will also have an own parallel session in the next INVEST Scientific Seminar.

UPDATE 17th of March 2023

Warmest thanks to Nevena Kulic for great collaboration and seminar presentation!

Title of the speech:

“Awareness of gender and educational inequality and support for school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey experiment

UPDATE 24.4.2023.

Warmest thanks to Mikko Leino, Katariina Kulha and Maija Setälä for presenting a very interresting plans for the research in FACTOR project. They introduced us how to build a research desing for the study: Three ‘types’ of climate deliberation – a lab-in-the-field experiment. The discussion was very active and fruitful. It gave the group good  some ideas and advice for supporting the succesful compliation of the study!

INVESTHUB SCHEDULE FOR BROWNBAG SESSIONS AUTUMN 2025

• Marie Larose (University of Turku): Wednedsday 17 September 11.00-12.30, Educarium 4.floor, EDU441.
• Jani Erola (University of Turku) Wednesday 8 October 11.00-12.30, Publicum 1.floor, KH149
• Lauri Rapeli (Åbo Akademi, UTU), Wednesday 12 November 11.00-12.30, Publicum 1.floor, KH149

More information will be updated here closer to event.

Online participation via this link.

INVESTHUB SCHEDULE FOR BROWNBAG SESSIONS SPRING 2025

Next Session

• Wednesday 2 April 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149

Presenter: Lauri Sääksvuori, Docent, Reserarch Manager, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Title of the speech: Individual and geographical variation in economic preferences

Abstract:

This article explores individual and geographical variation in economic preferences. For this purpose, we introduce a novel dataset comprising incentivized preference measures and survey data from nearly 6,000 Finnish individuals aged from 15 to 30 years. We merge these data with respondents’ birth records, full medical histories, and a broad range of administrative records detailing educational and labor market outcomes for respondents and their family members. Using an extensive set of candidate variables included in the dataset, we characterize developmental and demographic correlates of preferences. At the individual level, the data reveal several robust relationships between individuals’ early health endowment and preferences. For example, we find that individuals’ competitiveness tends to vary by their birth weight, while time preferences are linked to exposure to smoking in utero. At the geographical level, the data connect regional variation in preferences with several measures of economic development and health. We show that selection into internal migration is a major driver of the geographical polarization of economic preferences

Link to full paper

Online connection to session: https://utu.zoom.us/my/bahamondeh

Upcoming Sessions

• Wednesday 9 April 11.00-13.00, Publicum, first floor KH149

Presenter: Laura Joensuu, University of Jyväskylä

Title: Can promoting healthy lifestyles mitigate rising healthcare costs? – A Special Focus on Physical Activity and Fitness, and Causal Inference Using Mendelian Randomization

Abstract:

Public health expenditure is one of the largest and fastest growing spending items for governments globally and a central political concern in many societies. Specifically in Finland, healthcare costs reached €27 billion in 2022, equivalent to 10.2% of Gross Domestic Product. The highest costs for healthcare are estimated to be caused by cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which could be prevented or delayed with healthy lifestyles. Based on observational studies, there is an established relationship between low levels of physical activity, increased sedentary behavior, poor fitness and onset of many NCDs. It is estimated that the direct healthcare costs attributable to physical inactivity are globally INT$53.8 billion, and without action 499 million preventable new major NCDs will occur by 2030 and cause INT$520 billion direct healthcare costs. Although the current literature provides a strong scientific rationale for the benefits of physical activity and fitness promotion with healthcare costs, there is little causal evidence. Previous evidence is based on observational studies, which may be subject to reverse causality where less active and fit individuals hold covert or prevalent disease states and therefore use more healthcare services. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are typically considered to provide the highest quality of evidence regarding causal relations. Mendelian randomization (MR) is often referred as nature’s own RCT. This elegant study design utilizes genetic instruments to investigate causal relationships between exposures and outcomes, especially in cases where traditional RCTs are unethical, or unfeasible to conduct. MR capitalizes on the random assortment of genetic variants during meiosis, which mimics the randomization of individuals into treatment and control groups in an RCT. Genetic variants have previously been shown to have valid associations with physical activity, sedentary time, and fitness. In this presentation, INVEST Fellow Dr. Joensuu will present her ongoing work on causal inference between physical activity, fitness and healthcare costs using MR.

Past sessions

Wednesday 5 February 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149

Presenter: Marie Larose, Senior Researcher, INVEST Research Flagship Centre

Title of the speech: Introduction to Propensity Scores; What they are, When to use them and Why they are useful.

Wednesday 5 March 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149

Presenter: Jenny Skrifvars, Postdoctoral Researcher, Åbo Akademi

Title of the speech: Developing and evaluating a training program in legal psychology for Finnish asylum officials

NEXT SESSIONS:

Wednesday 4th of December, 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149: Florencia Olivares Gonzalez

The sessions will also be on-line in Zoom: https://utu.zoom.us/my/bahamondeh

The Impact of Digital Skills Training on Unemployed Women: A Field Experiment in Catalonia

Authors: Aina Gallego (University of Barcelona) and Florencia Olivares (University Pompeu Fabra)

Presenter: Florencia Gallego (University Pompeu Fabra)

The technological revolution of recent decades, characterized by increasing digitalization, automation and the development of AI, has significantly changed labor markets and created a growing demand for new skills. In this context, digital literacy has become a basic requirement for most jobs. In Europe, for example, 85% of jobs now require at least basic skills. In response, the dominant policy strategy has been to promote the acquisition of digital skills through active labor market policies (ALMPs). Several of these initiatives have specifically targeted women, recognizing the existence of a digital gender gap, largely due to educational and occupational biases that double the barriers to upskilling. While these policies have gained popularity in Europe, their effectiveness remains largely under-researched.

Beyond the labor market, digital skills training policies are seen as critical to promoting the social and political inclusion of citizens. On the social front, a lack of basic digital skills increases the risk of social exclusion, affecting not only individuals’ economic prospects but also their subjective well-being; on the political front, gaps in the tools to keep up with technological change shape workers’ political attitudes in ways that could undermine democratic norms. As a result, governments have increasingly turned to social investment initiatives that aim to both promote social cohesion and prevent political disengagement and cynicism.

In light of these academic and practitioner discussions, this project takes an experimental approach to test several hypotheses on the intended and unintended consequences of the program in the economic, subjective and political domains. The study will focus on a current program funded by the European Next Generation Fund called “Reprograma’t amb l’ADA”, an ALMP run by the Public Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC) that trains unemployed women in digital skills. Through an encouragement design, participants in the treatment group will receive an economic incentive (€100) to complete at least 40 hours of digital skills training (equivalent to one course of the program). This approach will allow us to analyze the dynamics of self-selection into digital training and assess its potential impact on labor market outcomes, personal well-being, and political attitudes.

PAST SESSIONS AUTUMN 2024:

• Wednesday 4th of September, 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149: Neşe Saruhan

Title of the speech: Let my brain work as it does for us : Sustainable societies should provide equal opportunity for neurodiverse workforce

• Wednesday 2nd of October, 11.00-12.00, Publicum, first floor KH149: Francesco Pompedda

Title of the speech: Training in Investigative Interviews of children. Where were we, and where are we heading?

Special session: Wednesday 6th of November, 11.15-12.30, Publicum, first floor KH149: Roope Grönroos &  Moona Heiskari

Roope Grönroos: Social comparison and belonging on social media
Moona Heiskari: Digital wellbeing: A longitudinal study on the social psychological role of new technologies in everyday life

22nd of May 11-13 , KH149 Publicum 1st. floor: Pauline Norris

Title: From research to policy change: a randomised controlled trial of prescription medicine copayments in New Zealand

Absctract:

Early in 2023 the results of our randomised controlled trial of prescription copayments were published in BMC Health Services Research. We found that exempting people from copayments led to fewer hospitalisations. In May, informed by our study, the New Zealand government decided to eliminate prescription copayments for everyone in New Zealand. I will talk about the background to our study, give a short description of the study itself, and then discuss factors that led to its impact on policy.

Zoom: https://utu.zoom.us/my/bahamondeh

18^th of April 11-13, Lecture hall Pub5 Publicum 3rd floor: Kaisa Herne

NOTE! We have moved to “biring your own lunch” -system and registration is not needed anymore. The idea is to bring your own lunch and enjoy it together with colleagues (definitely better than just ‘ordinary’ lunch).  Welcome!

Also hybrid  in Zoom: https://utu.zoom.us/my/bahamondeh

Title of the speech: “Does the mode of deliberation influence opinion transformations and learning in a deliberative mini-public? An experimental comparison of online automated moderator, online human moderator and face-to-face citizen deliberations”

Abstract:

Does the mode of deliberation – face-to-face with human moderators, online with human moderators and online with automated moderating – influence opinion formation and learning in a deliberative mini-public? We study a mini-public called Citizens’ parliament which was organized according to the Deliberative poll® model. We expect that the mode of deliberation does not have significant effects on outcome variables because the main tenets of deliberative mini-publics (rules of discussion, briefing materials, hearing experts, moderated discussions) are held constant across the modes.

Participants (n=671) to the Citizens’ parliament were recruited through a random sample of the population (n=30000). Participants were randomly allocated into one of the three treatment conditions. In the Face-to-face condition, participants discussed face-to-face with human moderators (in Sokos Hotel Tripla, Helsinki). In Online human moderator, participants discussed in an online meeting (via Zoom) with human moderators. In Online automated moderator, participants discussed in an online platform with automated moderating.

All discussions took place in small groups of about ten people. The topics were based on four citizens’ initiatives, two of which were about drug use policies and two about fuel pricing and taxation. Apart from the meeting mode, the procedures were held constant. Participants received briefing materials and rules of discussion prior deliberations, and during deliberations they could pose questions to experts. Each participant completed four surveys, of which three were administered before deliberations (t1-t3) and one after (t4). Surveys included items on opinions on the discussed topics, democracy preferences, political trust and efficacy, affective polarization and political knowledge. A control group that fulfilled the same surveys was also formed. The aim of the control group was to measure potential public opinion changes during the time lag between pre and post surveys.

We hypothesize that: Participants’ opinions de-polarize and on average become more progressive (H1); Opinion changes are not different in the three modes of deliberation (H2); Participants’ issue knowledge increases in the course of deliberation (H3); Knowledge changes are not different in the three modes of deliberation (H4).

PAST EVENTS

January 18th at 11-13: Samuli Kangaslampi

Title of the speech: Psychedelic Research – Findings, Questions, Challenges

Abtract:

Psychedelics are back in science. They are being studied as psychiatric treatments, used as tools in neuroscientific and consciousness research, and the social and philosophical implications of their increasing use is actively. There is increasing media hype and entire psychedelic industries have even appeared.

In this talk, I briefly introduce the background to the current wave of research into psychedelics and then present some of my empirical and theoretical work related to psychedelic-induced mystical experiences, methodological issues in psychedelic research, and MDMA-assisted treatment of PTSD. I then describe some ideas and avenues for future research, and finally explore some of the practical, ethical, methodological, and philosophical questions and challenges involved in psychedelics as a rather unique and sometimes controversial research topic.

February 15th Publicum faculty meeting room KH149 first floor 11-13: Maija Jäske

Title of the speech: “How do the design features and the outcome affect public trust in an advisory mini-public: A survey experiment”

Abtract:

Deliberative mini-publics have become widely used and studied forms of citizen participation during the last few decades (OECD, 2020). They engage a randomly selected group of lay citizens in hearing experts, discussing in respectful environment and forming collective opinions to support decision-makers in politics and governance. Recent empirical studies have found that mini-publics can be trusted sources of information and instruments for policy-making among voters outside the deliberative forum as well (e.g. Knobloch et al. 2019; Suiter and Reidy 2020; Setälä et al. 2020). In this paper, we examine how information regarding the design features of an advisory mini-public and its policy recommendations affect the wider public’s legitimacy, especially trust, in the mini-public. Our population-based factorial survey experiment is based on an actual mini-public, organized in Finland in Spring 2021. Commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, the purpose of the Citizens’ Jury was to provide input to the preparation of the national Medium-Term Climate Change Policy Plan.

March 7th Publicum faculty meeting room KH149 first floor 11-13: Oskari Lahtinen

Title: Mindfulness – overhyped superpower?

Abstract

The replication crisis in psychology has not left mindfulness research untouched. Contrary to how it’s been advertised, mindfulness may not cure your psoriasis or treat your high blood pressure. However, short 8 week courses still appear to offer reductions in anxiety, depression, stress, and experiencing pain. Currently mindfulness instruction is typically delivered via a meditation app, which are used by hundreds of millions of people. Evidence indicates the apps offer similar benefits to face-to-face programs. This lecture looks at what mindfulness is, how it has been defined, how one practices it, what may be its clinical application, and what effects it has. The topic is approached via my own digital mindfulness intervention Tita.

Workshop Tracks schedule for Autumn 2025

Rosa Salmela: Research desing and plan
Wednesday 10 September, Publicum, first floor KH149

Linda Karlsson: Follow-up meeting for the study Effective vaccine communication strategies for healthcare professionals: Leveraging novel approaches.
Wednesday 24 September, Publicum, first floor KH149

Fiia Takio: Follow up meeting for the study Developmental trajectories behind learning and
mental health outcomes, 5th grade data collection
Wednesday 5 November, Publicum, first floor KH149

Next Workshop Tracks will be organized 22 January.

Presenters:

Linda Karlsson, Åbo Akademi:

Effective vaccine communication strategies for healthcare professionals: Leveraging novel approaches

Linus Andersson, University of Turku:

Preliminary title: The social contract under fertility decline

Would you like to join to Workshop Tracks? Please contact vemapa@utu.fi for more information.

Next Workshop Tracks will be organized in January 2025. Please contact vemapa@utu.fi if you would like to join the events.

Autumn 2024 events below.

Part I: Research designs and practices

Part I: Research designs and fielding the studies

• Tuesday 27th of August
  Anniina Kaittila: A financial social work intervention for families with complex financial difficulties – A randomised controlled trial
• Wednesday 11th of September
  Fiia Takio and the FinnBrain Group: How the trajectories/profiles of socio-emotional abilities, language, and self-regulation development from infancy to school age (until the age of 9 years) are related to psychological functioning, motivation, self-efficacy and learning  outcomes at 5th grade.
  

INVESThub will take part in the INVEST Conference: Uncertainty and Resilience in Changing Soscieties, 14–16 May 2025 Turku, Finland

More information will follow soon!