Aki Koivula
akjeko@utu.fi +358 29 450 2093 +358 40 769 7798 Assistentinkatu 7 Turku Office: 488 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8453-0863 |
Political trust, Political attitudes, Political Participation, Political Parties, Digital interaction and participation; Social networks; Social Trust; Media consumption; Longitudinal and Experimental Survey methodology
I am a Docent in Economic Sociology at the University of Turku and a Docent in Political Science at Tampere University.
I currently work at the INVEST Research Flagship in several research and leadership roles. I am a Senior Research Fellow in the project Stratification and Equality of Opportunity in the Era of Novel Technologies (PI: Jani Erola) and head the research group responsible for the development and implementation of the INVEST Longitudinal Study on Well-Being (ILSW).
I am also the Principal Investigator of two research projects: Segregated Trust and Sleeping Suburbs: Intra-Urban Inequalities in Political Efficacy and Electoral Participation (SEGREGTRUST) and The Impact of Increasing Socioeconomic Residential Segregation on the Accumulation of Educational Disadvantages and People’s Life Courses (SOSE). These projects examine how socioeconomic segregation shape political engagement, attitudes, educational opportunities, well-being, and life-course outcomes.
In addition, I lead a work package in the Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research consortium, where my work focuses particularly on improving permit and data-access processes for register-based research.
From 2020 to 2024, I led the KRIME research group, which examined the social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particular focus on trust, crisis communication, and public responses to the pandemic. Before joining INVEST, I held several teaching and research positions and served for two years as Head of the Economic Sociology Unit at the University of Turku.
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, such as European Political Science Review, Sociology, Social Science & Medicine, and New Media & Society.
My current teaching profile centers on PhD supervision and the development of research proposals. I am responsible for INWS0018 Research Proposal Workshop. I supervise nine PhD researchers whose topics range from political attitudes to subjective well-being.
- The voice of distrust? The relationship between political trust, online political participation and voting (2022)
- Journal of Trust Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Undercurrents of echo chambers and flame wars: party political correlates of social media behavior (2022)
- Journal of Information Technology and Politics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Vastavuoroisuuden jälkeen – Bitcoin-kryptovaluutta ja virtuaalinen luottamusnormi markkinoilla (2022)
- Poliittinen talous
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - When trust is not enough. A longitudinal analysis of political trust and political competence during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland (2022)
- European Political Science Review
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Attitudes Toward Robots as Equipment and Coworkers and the Impact of Robot Autonomy Level (2021)
- International journal of social robotics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Cybercrime victimization and problematic social media use: Findings from a nationally representative panel study. (2021)
- American Journal of Criminal Justice
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Digiajan ensimmäinen pandemia: havaintoja ja tulkintoja Covid-19-kriisistä väestötason seuranta-aineiston perusteella. (2021) Koivula Aki, Räsänen Pekka, Salminen Niklas, Marttila Eetu, Koiranen Ilkka
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Does excessive social media use decrease subjective well-being? A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between problematic use, loneliness and life satisfaction (2021)
- Telematics and Informatics
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Occupation-congruent appearance: a measuremental approach (2021) Sarpila Outi, Koivula Aki, Kukkonen Iida
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Online dating applications and risk of youth victimization: A lifestyle exposure perspective (2021)
- Aggressive Behavior
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



