During the life of the Centre for Care, we have worked with several international partners to strengthen networks and collaborations outside of the UK. Long-standing links between researchers in the centre and colleagues in Finland have been developed and sustained. This has included through collaborating on articles and special issues of journals, and on research projects. The Transforming Care network, and associated biennial conference, has also been an important space for this ongoing relationship. Several Finnish colleagues attended the conference when we hosted it at The University of Sheffield in 2023, and last year, Centre for Care staff travelled to the conference, held at the University of Helsinki. I was fortunate enough to travel to Finland in May of this year, supported by Centre for Care capacity building funds.
A long-standing connection between Sheffield and academics in Finland has been through our former Director Professor Sue Yeandle’s work with Professor Teppo Kröger and colleagues at the University of Jyväskylä. Professor Kröger recently headed a research centre in Finland, the Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care, which shared some similarities with the Centre for Care in terms of scope and ambition. Jyväskylä was the first stop on my trip, and I gave a talk there for two principal audiences, the Interdisciplinary Doctoral School of Social Services (DocSoc360°), and the Care Research Network. The former is a doctoral education network established by seven Finnish universities and is part of an extensive national reform of doctoral education. The new Care Research Network brings together researchers studying care in its various forms from different organisations in Finland.
One of the organisers of the Care Research Network is Dr Lina Van Aerschot, and she was discussant for my talk, with Professor Kröger acting as chair. I presented on two projects, with the first my work alongside Professor Liam Foster on care worker organising and union activity in England. Here I discussed our recent article, published in the International Journal of Care and Caring. It considers paid care workers’ orientations towards organising and union activity alongside their broader motivations relating to the care work that they do. The second project was my own development of the term ‘care capital’, which I am currently refining and building from my PhD findings. This is an attempt to conceptualise the accumulation of care-related resources, experiences, and capabilities cultivated through caregiving. Both Dr Van Aerschot and Professor Kröger provided valuable feedback, and both have been key to the development of the concept of ‘care poverty’. The way this term has been adapted and applied has inspired my efforts to strengthen conceptualisation of care capital.
After a bit of relaxation in Helsinki – featuring liquorice ice cream and a run-in with a bird keen on my cinnamon pastry – I travelled to Joensuu, to visit colleagues at the University of Eastern Finland. I was hosted there by Dr Tiina Sihto, another well-established partner of the Centre for Care. Dr Sihto visited the centre in the spring of 2024, and delivered a workshop with PhD students and a seminar to the wider centre. She also met with colleagues at Sheffield Young Carers, and is now working on a pioneering research study of young carers in the Finnish context. Her recent co-editing of a special issue of the International Journal of Care and Caring features contributions from Centre for Care researchers, Ella Monkcom and Dr Chloe Alexander.
During a session with University of Eastern Finland colleagues, I heard about work going on there, including from Dr Sihto and Susanna Haverinen, a PhD student on the young carers project. I also presented on more of my work with Professor Foster in the Centre for Care. Firstly, I summarised our care worker organising and union activity project, including our research briefing and other journal articles. I then introduced our current research on pension and retirement planning and decision-making among paid care workers in England. There is much crossover with interests of colleagues at the University of Eastern Finland, including around issues of in-work poverty.
Back to the capital
I returned to Helsinki for a few days at the end of my trip, utilising the fantastic libraries there to crack on with work. I met with more colleagues, including Dr Emilia Leinonen, who visited the Centre for Care last year, and Dr Joni Jaakola, who currently collaborates with Centre for Care colleagues on the AI-driven platform care research project. Although it was a busy time in Finland, with travel and meetings, it did also provide some respite and calm. Finns are known for their aptitude with architecture and design, and these talents make great use of the country’s abundant (in summer months anyway!) light, and nature. The University of Jyväskylä’s campus features a number of buildings designed by the renowned Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto, and these are well worth seeing.
Thank you to the Centre for Care for funding this trip, and to colleagues for helping with planning and preparation. Thank you also to colleagues in Finland for the warm welcome and for engaging with my work. I am grateful for the organisation that went into arranging meetings and work sessions, particularly from Dr Salla Era and Dr Tiina Sihto. Kiitos!
About the author
In the Centre for Care, Duncan works with Dr Liam Foster in the Care Workforce Change research group. They are currently researching care workers’ organising activities, including their role in trade unions, campaign groups and community organising. This piece introduces the study.
