Laura Heiskala
VTT / D.Soc.Sc.
lamhei@utu.fi Office: 497 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2463-1697 |
equality; quantitative methods; register data; sustainability transformation; sufficiency
I work as a senior researcher at the INVEST Research Flagship Centre. I successfully defended my PhD thesis in December 2024, focusing on intergenerational inequality in higher education in Finland.
My current research focuses particularly on socially just sustainability transformation. I am part of the SISU consortium, which examines the role of sufficiency-based solutions in advancing a just sustainability transition. More information about the project is available at https://sisu-stn.fi/en/. In my postdoctoral research, funded by the Alfred Kordelin foundation, I explore how social mobility and equality of opportunity can be secured within planetary boundaries in a post-growth society. My research aims to identify societal pathways that integrate an open society and a welfare state with ecological sustainability. I am a research member of the Puistokatu 4 community.
In the academic year 2025–2026, I am involved in teaching the Panel Regression methods course in the Master’s Degree Programme in Inequalities, Interventions, and the New Welfare State.
- Economic Circumstances of Children Living in Higher and Lower-Educated Families and the Contribution of Household Structure: A Cross-Country Comparison with a Child’s Perspective (2025)
- Studies of Transition States and Societies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Inequalities in early childhood and families (2025) Erola, Jani; Heiskala, Laura; Karonen, Esa; Kilpi-Jakonen, Elina
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - 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 ) - Research Report on the first round of INVEST Longitudinal Study on Well-being (2025) Davies, Essi; Hägglund, Anna Erika; Koivula, Aki; Laaninen, Markus; Heiskala, Laura; Karhula, Aleksi
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Suomella on vielä matkaa mahdollisuuksien tasa-arvoon: korkeakoulutus eriytyy perhetaustan mukaan (2025)
- Ilmiö - sosiologinen media kaikille
(D1 Professional blog post) - The Compensatory Role of Diverse Workplaces: Parental Workplace Educational Composition and Children's Higher Education Enrolment (2025)
- British Journal of Sociology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Change in human capital of the immediate family (2024) Heiskala, Laura; Kailaheimo-Lönnqvist, Sanna; Karonen, Esa; Erola, Jani
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Economic circumstances of children living in higher and lower educated families and the contribution of household structure: Comparison of 11 European countries (2024) Heiskala, Laura; Tuominen, Minna; Erola, Jani; Kilpi Jakonen, Elina
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Opportunity, choice, and barriers: A Register-based study on social stratification in higher education in Finland (2024) Heiskala, Laura
(G5 Article dissertation ) - Educational tracking and social inequalities in long-term labor market outcomes: Six countries in comparison (2023)
- International Journal of Comparative Sociology
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)
- SISU (jatko)01.10.2026 - 30.09.2029
- INVEST Research Flagship Centre
- SISU01.10.2023 - 30.09.2026
- INVEST Research Flagship Centre



