Virpi Marjaana Timonen

Description of research and teaching

For nearly three decades, I have oriented my scientific enquiry to societal responses to the megatrend of ageing. My work reflects critical interrogation of how welfare states, policymakers, professionals and family members socially construct and shape the experience of ageing in 21^st century welfare states.

I have developed novel approaches to many of the taken-for-granted assumptions and practices that diminish the role and agency of older adults in developed welfare states. Among my most notable contributions to theory and empirical research are the Model Ageing Theory (published as a monograph in 2016), the first global compilations of research on grandparenting (published in 2012 and 2020) and extensive work on long-term care systems illuminating the strategies that policymakers and practitioners deploy in search of responses to growing demand for services for older populations. My investigations of family practices between different generations have provided novel insights into how older adults contribute to the maintenance of family solidarity but also make choices that break with established roles. Collaborative work on intergenerational negotiation of childcare responsibilities illuminates family practices and deficiencies in social and employment policies in ageing societies.

Alongside my work on sociology and social policy of ageing, I am also producing conceptual and theoretical work on the fundamentals of social policy, as evidenced by a forthcoming (winter 2024) publication from Polity.  Social Policy: The Quest for Freedom, Equality and Justice reflects my command and application of the conceptual essence of social policy and socio-political theorizing.

I have generated highly cited methodological works on the Grounded Theory Method that have made this method more accessible for researchers across health and social sciences and beyond.

Much of my research has been co-authored with the large number of now independent and successful researchers that I have mentored at doctoral and postdoctoral level.

My work is widely cited – 7,400 citations and h-index of 45 on Google Scholar (September 2024). 

Having generated a highly cited body of work on social policies and intergenerational relationships, I am extending my established focus on ageing, life course, and generations to encompass environmental dimensions of human activity in relation to what I call legacies.

My work on human legacies in the 21st century, supported by an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (extending to 2028) is path breaking as it takes an innovative approach to the material and environmental effects that humans bequeath to younger and future generations. This work is ambitious as it involves theorizing across fields (environmental sociology, anthropology, political theory, to mention only some) and conducting empirical research in Europe, the United States and Asia (South Korea). Together with a team of researchers, I will pursue this research agenda for at least a decade, resulting in works that theorize the human material and socioenvironmental legacies in the 21^st century.

Supervision and teaching

I have supervised 17 PhDs to successful completion, and mentored and supervised 15 post-doctoral researchers in my own research teams and in collaborative projects.

I have taught diverse courses in Social Policy and Sociology (foundation and advanced level); including Comparative Welfare States; New Risks and Welfare States; Life Course and Evolving Welfare States; and Ageing Societies, in each case having designed and taken responsibility for full module delivery.

At postgraduate (and advanced undergraduate) level, I have taught qualitative research methods, and foundational social policy concepts and theory.

Curriculum vitae

Since completion of my doctorate at the University of Oxford in 2001, I have published over 150 research outputs on social policies, welfare states, intergenerational relations, ageing, care, technology and research methods (among other topics), including 4 sole-authored and one co-authored book, two edited volumes, 27+ book chapters and 79+ journal articles. Approximately 90% of my journal articles have been published in Q1 and Q2 journals (Scopus), and my work has gained 7,400+ citations and a h-index of 45+.

The journals I have published in span many disciplines, indicative of my ability and interest in working within and across disciplines - including, e.g. Gender & Society (Q1 - Scopus), Ageing & Society (Q1), Family Relations (Q1), Qualitative Health Research (Q1), Journal of Aging Studies (Q1), Social Politics (Q1), Technological Forecasting and Social Change (Q1), Research on Aging (Q1), Social Science & Medicine (Q1), Health and Social Care in the Community (Q1), Journal of Family Issues (Q1), Journal of Social Policy (Q1), Qualitative Research (Q1), European Journal of Ageing (Q1), International Journal of Qualitative Methods (Q1), British Journal of Sports Medicine (Q1), Health Services Research (Q1), among many others.

I have held PI or Co-PI roles in ca. 20 funded research initiatives, including over 15 research grants which have involved gaining and personally managing over EUR 5 million in research funding, as well as close collaboration in projects in excess of EUR 20 million.

A significant amount of my time has been devoted to management and leadership duties. I have a track-record of productive involvement in numerous cross-Faculty and multi-disciplinary initiatives.

I have served as the elected President of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Ageing (RC11) of the International Sociological Association (ISA), the largest global scholarly community of social gerontologists.