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 it helps produce information to support decision-making. Scientific research is carried out in both national and international cooperation.

RDI programmes – from research to development and innovation

The research conducted at THL falls under three RDI programmes:

• Future of health and wellbeing
  The programme focuses on promoting the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of the population. Projects under the programme address disease prevalence, health determinants and health and wellbeing inequalities and emphasise the importance of policy and legislative measures.
• Equal and effective social and health services
  The programme focuses on improving the equality, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of social welfare and health care in the service system. The RDI projects under the programme also examine the needs for change in the service system and the impacts of policy and legislation on the system.
• Sustainable and safe society
  The programme focuses on strengthening the sustainability of society and the everyday safety of people’s lives from the perspective of resilience and preparedness for health threats. The projects under the programme examine inequality and inclusion as well as the impacts of policy and legislation on the safety of individuals and society.

In addition, all the programmes produce information on the monitoring and current state of health and wellbeing. They develop foresight by utilising various scenarios and cross-sectoral collaboration. In the future, THL’s extensive information resources and artificial intelligence will also be better utilised.

THL’s RDI activities are guided by the planetary health thinking model. Planetary health and wellbeing is an approach which recognises that humans are part of nature as a whole. Sustainable society and human health can only be promoted by ensuring the carrying capacity of the planet.
Planetary health and wellbeing

Research in figures

THL has more than 200 ongoing RDI projects. THL has more than 60 projects funded by EU. More than 30 projects are funded by the Academy of Finland and the Strategic Research Council.

The research results  are published in international peer-reviewed journals and in THL’s own publication series and websites. Approximately 900 peer-reviewed articles are published annually, of which more than 700 are published in international journals.

Research and development projects
THL’s list of publications

Research professors

THL’s research professors represent disciplines falling under our three research programmes. The common denominator in all of these is the health and social welfare of Finns and their various components.

Research data

THL aims to promote the open use of its extensive data sources. We currently manage 900 nationally and internationally valuable data sources.

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

Get to know the materials and services

Support for research, development and innovation

In its operations, THL adheres to high-quality project management practices and is committed to the guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity and the promotion of equality and non-discrimination.

The RDI support team and THL’s administrative, project, data and communications services create preconditions for smooth RDI activities and provide support at different stages of projects.

The services support THL’s RDI management, RDI programme activities and networking in Finland and internationally.

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