The Helsinki Hub on Emotions, Populism, and Polarisation (HEPPsinki) gathers a large cross-disciplinary research team of people engaged in several projects together to study emotions, populism and polarisation.
Life trajectories of wealth, health and well-being diverge. Multiculturalism and migration complicate civic life and solidarity. Neighborhoods become segregated. Digitalization and datafication open new opportunities but also intensify polarization. Making sense of social inequality is a constitutive task of social sciences and humanities. INEQ – Helsinki Inequality Initiative is a strategic, multidisciplinary research initiative of the University of Helsinki. This initiative brings together academics whose work enhances an in-depth understanding of causes and consequences of intersecting inequalities.
The Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health (
MaxHel goes beyond standard observational research by using exceptionally detailed linked family-based data, natural experimental designs, genetically-informed social epidemiological data, and advanced dynamic modelling techniques that enable us to unearth the pivotal social processes that generate health inequalities.
The need to better understand the root causes of health inequalities is more pertinent than ever. Social inequalities in health and mortality have grown and the unprecedented health and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic may hit the vulnerable the hardest, further exacerbating health gaps.
MaxHel is a joint research unit between the University of Helsinki, the Population Research Unit and the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR). It is based in Helsinki, Finland and Rostock, Germany.
The Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (HSSH) is a pioneer in large-scale research in human sciences. It promotes a new interdisciplinary research culture nationally and internationally.
HSSH is a joint unit of the Faculty of Humanities, Educational Sciences, Law, Theology and Social Sciences, as well as the Swedish School of Social Sciences and the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies.