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.
- Influencers and targets on social media: Investigating the impact of network homogeneity and group identification on online influence (2020)
- First Monday
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Miksi tieto on uusi digitaalinen jakolinja? (2020) Arvostustalous - kuinka arvostus rakennetaan ja rakentuu digiyhteiskunnassa Pekka Räsänen, Aki Koivula, Ilkka Koiranen
(A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book) - Online Gambling Activity in Finland 2006–2016 (2020)
- International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
(A4 Refereed article in a conference publication ) - Online information seeking patterns and social inequality in a digital economy. (2020)
- International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Online Relationships and Social Media Interaction in Youth Problem Gambling: A Four-Country Study (2020)
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Perceived Social Norm, Robot use Self-Efficacy and Attitudes Towards Robots (2020) Artificial Intelligence & Robotics in Service Interactions: Trends, Benefits, and Challenges Rita Latikka, Nina Savela, Aki Koivula, Atte Oksanen
(B3 Non-refereed article in a conference publication) - Politisoitunut luottamus ja jakautunut tieto : Suomalaisten puolueiden kannattajien näkemykset luottamuksesta ja informaatiosta totuuden jälkeisessä ajassa (2020) Saarinen Arttu, Koiranen Ilkka, Koivula Aki, Sivonen Jukka, Malinen Sanna
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Puoluekokoukset edustuksellisuuden peilintä – Tarkastelussa vihreät ja SDP. (2020)
- Politiikasta.fi
(E1 Popularised article) - Randomized picture rating tool for surveys: version 1.0 (2020) Outi Sarpila, Anna Grahn, Aki Koivula, Eero Stürmer, Teemu Tuovinen
(I2 ICT program or software application ) - Regulation and Trust: 3-Month Follow-up Study on COVID-19 Mortality in 25 European Countries (2020)
- JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



