Faculty of Social Sciences

The Faculty of Social Sciences brings together research on society and health in a new way, and its contribution helps to solve different welfare challenges. The Faculty’s internationally high level, multidisciplinary know-how ranges from understanding the long processes of social change to topical questions on the structure of society, institutions and everyday life.

The establishment of this new Faculty – one with wide-ranging know-how – will help answer some of the core challenges that our changing society will face in the coming decades. In the field of research on society and health, the Faculty produces topical and critical research that has independent value in answering social problems. While acknowledging that strong academic disciplines are the cornerstone of research, the Faculty’s new strengths are concentrated in areas of multidisciplinary focus that extend beyond traditional boundaries. The new Faculty’s strong research themes cover a wide range of fields:

• Social cognition and interaction (HIP-Lab)
• Gender and body
• Migration, multiculturalism
• Childhood, youth and family research (PERLA)
• Ageing and the health and functional ability of the older adults (GEREC)
• Working life, well-being at work and occupational health (WRC)
• Welfare services
• Causes of cancer, reducing the causes and effects of the disease
• Cultures of politics and governance (TaSTI)
• Science, technology and innovations (Emerging Technologies Lab, TaSTI)
• Violence, conflicts and peaceful change (TAPRI)
• Social theory
• Social history (HEX, Trivium)

Faculty of Social Sciences conducts topical and critical research on society and culture. The research is carried out in research centres and the following Faculty’s disciplines and their joint projects:

History, Philosophy and Literary Studies

• History
• Philosophy
• Literary Studies

Welfare Sciences

• Logopedics
• Psychology
• Social Work
• Vocology

Health Sciences

• Biostatistics
• Epidemiology
• Gerontology
• Global Health, Work, and Environment
• Health and Wellbeing Systems
• Health Promotion
• Nursing Science

Social Research

• Criminology and Criminal Policy
• Gender Studies
• Peace Research (TAPRI)
• Social Anthropology
• Social Policy
• Social Psychology
• Sociology
• Youth Work and Youth Research

Research Centres and Other Research Communities

Faculty of Social Sciences has several research centres funded by different external actors (foundations, organisations, the Academy of Finland, TEKES etc.).

Centre of Excellence

HEX - Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the History of Experiences. What can we know about the past experiences, and how do we transfer them into accurate knowledge and historically informed decisions? HEX looks for answers to these fundamental questions by rethinking historical experiences, historical explanations and historical knowledge, and their place in the current world.  HEX is nominated and funded by the Academy of Finland (Finnish National Research Council) 2018–2025. It is hosted  by the Faculty of Social Sciences (SOC), Tampere University.

Centre of Excellence in Research on Ageing and Care (CoEAgeCare) (2018–2025) coordinated by the University of Jyväskylä.

NORDWIT, the Nordic Centre of Excellence on women in technology-driven careers, was established in 2017. Funded by NordForsk, it is concerned with women’s careers in technology-driven research and innovation in and outside of academe.

Research Centres

Gerontology Research Center, GEREC is a collaborative effort in aging research jointly run by the University of Jyväskylä and the University of Tampere,

Narrare - Centre for Interdisciplinary Narrative Studies draws together the narrative studies conducted at the different schools of the University of Tampere. Furthermore, it functions as a platform for national and international collaboration in interdisciplinary narrative studies.

Prostate Cancer Research Center (PCRC)

Tampere Centre for Childhood, Youth and Family Research (PERLA) is a multidisciplinary venue of youth, childhood and family research.

Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI) is a multidisciplinary and international research centre whose mission is to conduct high quality research on the causes of war, on non-violent resolution of conflicts, and on conditions for peace.

Research Center for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI) conducts research into the functioning of research communities, innovation environments and science and innovation policies.

Tampere Centre for Classical, Medieval and Early Modern Studies (TRIVIUM) is a multidisciplinary venue for researches and teachers of premodern society and culture.

Work Research Centre (WRC) combines basic academic research and contractual research, which serves the actual needs of society. Research focuses on work organisations, their practices and networks, the labour market and labour policy, and welfare, social relations and gender in working life.

Research Communities

CAST
Emerging Technologies Lab
GHSP - Global Health and Social Policy
Folklife archives
Human Information Processing Laboratory (HIP-Lab)
Tampere Research Group for Cultural and Political Sociology (TCuPS)
Speech and Voice Research Laboratory

Research groups that are at work on cancer research at the faculty belong to our regional cancer center, Fican Mid, and to our local TAYS Cancer Centre.