The Social Policy Association in Finland

The Social Policy Association in Finland was founded in the 1908. The Association arranges its annual National Meeting together with universities. The meeting is usually in the end of the October. It also organises seminars on current topics of social policy. It publishes a quarterly journal Janus (in Finnish, with English abstracts). The number of members fluctuates from 700 to 800.

The association has following the objectives:

· It aims to develop social policies.
· It aims to promote the discussion in the field of social policy.
· It acts as link between practicioners and research.

The Board is elected by the General Assembly of the Association as are the President and the Vice-president. The Secretary, Treasurer, and the Secretary on Membership Issues are appointed by the Board. The board’s members represent universities, various social policy institutions, and nongovernmental organisations.

The association collaborates with national and international organisations. The Association is a member of the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies. The ESPAnet is one important international partner. The ESPAnet annual conference was held at the University of Helsinki in 2008. The conference was part of the celebrations marking the anniversary of the Association.

The contact member on international affairs is Mikko Kautto (Centre for Pensions) who is also a member of the ESPAnet committee. The other members on The board of Assocation are:

The president, Susan Kuivalainen (University of Turku)
The vice president, Robert Hagfors, (The Social Insurance Institution of Finland)

Henna Hiilamo (The University of Helsinki, student)
Liisä Häikiö (The University of Tampere)
Kari Ilmonen (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health)
Sakari Kainulainen (Diaconia University of Applied Sciences)
Petri Kinnunen (The University of Lapland)
Sini Laitinen-Kuikka (The Centre for Pensions)
Jussi Merikallio (The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities)
Pasi Moisio (The National Institute for Health and Welfare)
Minna Luukkainen (The Service Foundation for Deaf)
Juha A. Pantzar (The Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health)
Keijo Rahkonen (The University of Helsinki)
Juho Saari (University of Eastern Finland)
Sakari Taipale (The University of Jyväskylä)

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