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.
- Persistent university intentions: Social origin differences in stopping applying to university after educational rejection(s) (2023)
- Research in Social Stratification and MobilityLongitudinal and Life Course Studies
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Cyclic Educational Transitions and Social Inequality: Re-applications After Educational Rejections
(2022) Heiskala Laura, Kilpi-Jakonen Elina, Sirniö Outi, Erola jani
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - Utbildningsnivån i arv från föräldrarna till barnen bland finsk och svenskspråkiga finländareKahden korkeakoulun malli eriyttää oppilaita perhetaustan perusteella (2022)
- SFV-kalendernINVEST blog
(D1 Article in a professional journal) - Compensatory and Multiplicative Advantages: Social Origin, School Performance, and Stratified Higher Education Enrolment in Finland (2021)
- European Sociological Review
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Formal differentiation at upper secondary education in Finland: subject-level choices and stratified pathways to socio-economic status and unemployment (2021)
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Lifetrack Policy Brief / Finland (2021) Heiskala Laura, Erola Jani
(D4 Published development or research report or study ) - (2020)
(E1 Popularised article) - Koronakriisin vaikutukset lasten ja nuorten oppimiseen, koulutukseen ja hyvinvointiin pitkällä aikavälillä (2020)
- INVEST Policy brief (Politiikkasuositukset)
(E1 Popularised article) - Tracking and sorting in the Finnish educational system (2019) Laura Heiskala, Jani Erola
(D4 Published development or research report or study )
- SISU (jatko)01.10.2026 - 30.09.2029
- INVEST Research Flagship Centre
- SISU01.10.2023 - 30.09.2026
- INVEST Research Flagship Centre



