Aki Koivula
akjeko@utu.fi +358 29 450 3073 +358 50 436 7381 Assistentinkatu 7 Turku Office: 456 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8453-0863 |
Areas of expertise
Political trust, Political attitudes, Political Participation, Political Parties, Digital interaction and participation; Social networks; Social Trust; Media consumption; Longitudinal and Experimental Survey methodology
Political trust, Political attitudes, Political Participation, Political Parties, Digital interaction and participation; Social networks; Social Trust; Media consumption; Longitudinal and Experimental Survey methodology
Research community or research topic
INVESTHub
INVESTHub
Biography
I am a docent in Economic Sociology at the University of Turku and a docent in Political Science at the Tampere University.
I am currently working as a Senior Researcher at the INVEST Flagship, where I lead a research group focused on implementing the INVEST Longitudinal Survey on Well-Being.
From 2020 to 2023, I led the KRIME research group, which examined the social impacts of the pandemic. I am also actively involved in several domestic and international research networks. I currently serve as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Finnish Journal of Social Research.
Before joining INVEST, I served several years in different teaching positions, being also as head of the Economic Sociology Unit for two years.
Research
My research focuses on citizens' well-being and their engagement with state institutions within the context of societal change. In particular, I have studied the drivers and consequences of political trust, as well as the impact of digital technology on human behaviour and interaction. I have published extensively in leading academic journals, including the European Political Science Review, Sociology, Social Science & Medicine, and New Media & Society.
Teaching
- INWS0014 Social Inequality
Publications 
1 of 8
- Changes in Subjective Well-Being and its Mechanisms during Times of Crises in Finland (2025)
- Social Indicators Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world (2025)
- Nature Climate Change
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - How is political trust associated with economic and environmental policy prioritization? A longitudinal analysis between 2017 and 2022 (2025)
- AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - INVEST Pitkittäistutkimus hyvinvoinnista 2024 -kyselyn tutkimusseloste (2025) Davies, Essi; Hägglund, Anna Erika; Koivula, Aki; Laaninen, Markus; Heiskala, Laura; Karhula, Aleksi
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Kriisien keskellä turvallisuuden perusta löytyy ihmisten hyvinvoinnista (2025)
- INVEST blog
(E1 Popularised blog post) - Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries – the TISP dataset (2025)
- Scientific Data
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Public Communication about Science in 68 Countries: Global Evidence on How People Encounter and Engage with Information about Science (2025)
- Science Communication
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Taking back publishing ownership for academia through diamond Open Access (2025)
- Finnish journal of social research
(B1 Other refereed article (e.g., editorial, letter, comment) in a scientific journal) - Technological identity and basic psychological needs in the use of new technologies: A two-wave cross-national survey study (2025)
- International Journal of Information Management
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries (2025)
- Nature Human Behaviour
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Varieties of Economic Elites? Preliminary Results From the World Elite Database (WED) (2025)
- British Journal of Sociology
(B1 Non-refereed article in a scientific journal) - Appearance and Social Inequalities: Physical Attractiveness as a Part of Occupation-Congruent Appearance (2024)
- Sociology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Cognitive authorities of COVID-19 information: educational differences and outcomes of trust in health experts and social media influencers in Finland (2024)
- Information Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Construction of the Economic Elite Population for Finland (2024) Kuusela, Hanna; Koiranen, Ilkka; Koivula, Aki
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Did the Pandemic Increase Social Media–Induced Appearance Pressures? (2024)
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Digital Democracy, Digital Dangers: Tracing Cybercrime Victimization in Finnish Online Political Discourse (2024)
- Communications in Computer and Information Science
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Digital relatedness: A longitudinal study on social resources and the use of smart technology (2024)
- New Media and Society
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Examining extra-parliamentary engagement: the impact of online and offline activities on in-party commitment amongst political party members in Finland (2024)
- International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Framing, emotions, and morality: Understanding media influence on moral attitudes towards the unvaccinated during COVID-19 (2024)
- Social Science Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - How do social class position and party preference influence support for fossil fuel taxation in Nordic countries? (2024)
- Social Science Journal
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
UTU Research Portal