Satu Helske profile picture
Satu
Helske
Senior Research Fellow, INVEST Research Flagship Centre
Docent, Faculty of Social Sciences
PhD
PI, PREDLIFE consortium

Contact

+358 29 450 4105
+358 50 473 8462
Assistentinkatu 7
20500
Turku

Areas of expertise

inequality
COVID-19 and inequality
life course
work and family
fathers' parental leave, social statistics
longitudinal research
sequence analysis, event history analysis, Markovian models

Biography

I am a Docent in sociology (equivalent to Associate Professor or Reader) and hold a PhD in statistics. I work as a Senior Research Fellow in the Inequalities, Interventions and New Welfare State (INVEST) Flagship and in the Family Formation in Flux – Causes, Consequences and Possible Futures (FLUX) project. I am the leader of the consortium project Towards well-informed decisions: Predicting long-term effects of policy reforms on life trajectories (PREDLIFE), funded by the Research Council of Finland (2020–2024).

I completed my PhD in statistics at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, in 2016. Following my PhD I worked as a postdoctoral researcher first in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oxford and then in the Institute for Analytical Sociology at Linköping University.

Teaching

I teach statistical methods in social sciences.

In 2023–2024 I am a lecturer in the course Longitudinal and multilevel modelling I.

Research

I work at the crossroads of sociology and statistics, working on both methodological development as well as sociological problems. My main interests lie in multigenerational and life course research, changing employment and family dynamics over the life course, causes and consequences of (father's) parental leave, and longitudinal research methods, especially sequence analysis and related methods.

I am the primary investigator of a consortium project Towards well-informed decisions: Predicting long-term effects of policy reforms on life trajectories (PREDLIFE). The goal of our project is to understand how life paths unfold over time and how these trajectories are shaped by policy interventions and reforms. In the statistics subproject we are developing a methodological framework for modelling, predicting, and visualizing how policy interventions affect complex social processes. In the sociology subproject we use high-quality register data covering the full population of Finland to better understand the interplay of work and family over the life course and the impacts of parental leave policies on couples’ life trajectories. 

Publications

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Sequence analysis: Its past, present, and future (2022)

Social Science Research
Liao Tim F, Bolano Danilo, Brzinsky-Fay Christian, Cornwell Benjamin, Fasang Anette Eva, Helske Satu, Piccarreta Raffaella, Raab Marcel, Ritschard Gilbert, Struffolino Emanuela, Studer Matthias
(Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1))

COVID-19-tutkimuskatsaus 2/2022 (2022)

Sironen Tarja, Pimenoff Ville, Auranen Kari, Leino Tuija, Karvonen Sakari, Toivanen Otto, Ylöstalo Hanna, Vainikainen Mari-Pauliina, Mäkinen Saku, Arponen Anni, Heinikoski Saila, Laaksonen Salla-Maaria, Salo Ahti
(Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti taikka -selvitys (D4))

COVID-19-tutkimuskatsaus 4/2022 (2022)

Sironen Tarja, Pimenoff Ville, Auranen Kari, Leino Tuija, Karvonen Sakari, Toivanen Otto, Ylöstalo Hanna, Vainikainen Mari-Pauliina, Mäkinen Saku, Arponen Anni, Heinikoski Saila, Laaksonen Salla-Maaria, Salo Ahti
(Julkaistu kehittämis- tai tutkimusraportti taikka -selvitys (D4))