Research at THL

THL carries out research on the health and welfare of the population, social issues, and the functioning of the social and health sector service system. State-of-the-art research is a prerequisite for THL’s development and expert work and the quality of statistical activities.

Research is also one of THL’s statutory tasks and provides knowledge to support decision-making. Scientific research is carried out in both national and international collaboration.

RDI Programmes – from research to development and innovation

Research at THL is organized into three Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) programmes.

1. The Future of Health and Wellbeing

  • The programme produces knowledge on the population’s physical, mental and social wellbeing and health, health and wellbeing inequalities, and risk and protective factors affecting health and wellbeing.
  • Projects within the programme develop solutions to promote health and wellbeing. They create operational models and examine the implementation, impacts and cost-effectiveness of these models as well as policy and legislative measures.
  • The aim is to find effective solutions to promote population health and wellbeing, support work ability and functional capacity, and reduce health and wellbeing inequalities.

2. Equal and Effective Social and Health Services

  • The programme provides knowledge and solutions on the functioning, impacts and development needs of social and health services and the broader service system.
  • Projects aim to improve equality, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of services, promote competence development and the use of new technologies.
  • The programme examines operations, governance and financing at both service and system levels.
  • Projects produce information to support regional and national development and decision-making and to advance the objectives of the health and social services reform.

3. A Sustainable and Safe Society

  • The programme focuses on strengthening social sustainability and everyday safety. The perspective includes preparedness for social and health-related threats.
  • Projects examine inequality, inclusion, health and wellbeing impacts of environmental changes and adaptation, everyday safety and resilience, acute health threats (such as infectious disease epidemics and pandemics), social problems and their identification and prevention.
  • The programme studies the interplay between health threats and social problems, and the effects of policy and legislation on individual and societal safety.

All programmes also produce information on monitoring and the current state of health and wellbeing. They develop foresight by using scenarios and cross-sectoral cooperation. THL’s extensive data resources and artificial intelligence are increasingly utilized.

THL’s RDI activities are guided by the concept of planetary health. Planetary health is an approach that recognizes humans as part of nature. A sustainable society and human health can only be promoted by safeguarding the Earth’s carrying capacity.
Planetary health and wellbeing

THL’s three RDI programmes.

Research in Figures

THL currently runs nearly 200 RDI projects. More than 50 projects are funded by the EU, and about 25 projects are funded by the Academy of Finland and the Strategic Research Council.

Results of our research are published in international peer-reviewed journals as well as in THL’s own publication series and on our website. Approximately 900 peer-reviewed articles are published annually, of which over 700 appear in international journals.

Research and development projects
THL’s list of publications

Research professors

THL’s research professors represent scientific fields within our three research programmes. The common denominator is the health and social wellbeing of the Finnish population and their determinants.
Research professors

Research data

THL promotes open access to its knowledge resources. We currently manage 900 nationally and internationally valuable data resources.

We provide social and health care statistics, datasets and open data for decision-making, research and development work.

Get to know the materials and services

Support for Research, Development and Innovation

THL adheres to high-quality project management practices and is committed to the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity as well as to promoting equality and non-discrimination.

The RDI support team and THL’s administrative, project, data and communication services create conditions for smooth RDI activities and provide support at all stages of projects.

Services support THL’s RDI management, programme activities and networking both nationally and internationally.

For more information on THL’s RDI activities and support, please contact: researchoffice(at)thl.fi.

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