I am professor of psychology and the deputy head of the INVEST flagship at the University of Turku, Finland. I have done research on school bullying and its evidence-based prevention for three decades. My team developed the KiVa® antibullying program, which is implemented in large scale in Finland and in 25 other countries. I  received the Finnish Science Award in 2017. In 2020, I was a recipient the European Research Council’s (ERC) Advanced Grant for a 5-year project to study the most challenging cases of bullying. In 2021, I received the William Thierry Prayer Award (European Association for Developmental Psychology) for excellence in research on human development, and in 2024 the ISSBD award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Research and Theory in Behavioral Development 

 I have > 250 publications including peer-reviewed empirical articles and reviews, book chapters, and books on the topics of children’s peer relations and school bullying. My current research interests include different approaches to tackle bullying and their effectiveness in the short and in the long term, the sustainability of the implementation of prevention programs, and mediating mechanisms of program effects. 

I have been involved in teaching in the areas of social development, peer relations, prevention and interevntion, and research skills. I have trained thousands of teachers in Finland and internationally on topics related to peer relations and bullying,