Tampere University Seminar : Successful society - Some building blocks from Finland

Join Dr Juho Saari, a tenured professor in social and health policy at Tampere University, as he shares his insights on SUCCESSFUL SOCIETY – Some building blocks from Finland.

This seminar is chaired by Professor Justin Fisher, Director of the Brunel Public Policy Unit. 

Juho Saari (b. 1967) is a tenured professor in social and health policy (2016-) and a Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences (2019-2024) at Tampere University, Finland. He also is a docent (adjunct professor) at the Universities of Helsinki, Turku and Jyväskylä, all in Finland.

Previously he has worked a professor (tenured) of welfare research and welfare sociology at the University of Eastern Finland (2007-2016), a part time tenured professor of welfare research at the University of Eastern Finland (2016-2018), a director of the Kuopio Welfare Research Centre (KWRC) (2009-2016), as well as a director of Research School for Well-being and Health Research (2012-2016).

Earlier he has worked as a senior and ministerial adviser at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, Finland (1996-2007) and as a member of Permanent Secretary’s Cabinet, where he was responsible on strategic initiatives, EU-affairs and research and development policies. Among others, has been a member of the Social Protection Committee of the EU, the secretary of PSs’ Boards, secretary, member, or chairman of some 60 working groups and committees, and the senior advisor of several ministers, prime ministers, and presidents of Finland among others.

He is the author, co-author or editor or co-editor of some 70 books and some 170 refereed articles on social policy and public economy, social innovations and RD-policies, altruism and justice, welfare and well-being, and European and global governance. In recent years he has edited or written monographs on the current welfare reforms, the impact of public debt on social expenditure, on the interplay between growth and inequality, social isolation and loneliness, well-being of homeless persons, and the well-being effects of social comparisons on the social situation of the least fortunate ones, among others. In total he has published 482 items.

In 2021, he was awarded with the title Social Scientist of the Year by the national academic union “Social Science Professionals” for an outstanding contribution to social science. Earlier he has been been awarded with the Väinö Voionmaa prize for an outstanding contribution to the society and with the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1st class). In 2016, he was shortlisted for an annual “A Finn of the Year” popular competition . His book Yksinäisten Suomi (Loneliness in Finland) was shortlisted for Science Book of the Year 2016 and Kanava Award for Best Science Book 2016 and Raskas perintö (Burdensome Legacy) for Science Book of the Year 2020.