Preventive Health Research Unit
We respond to growing health challenges with impactful research and development work.
Health and wellbeing services will become very different in the future compared to what we are used to today. The goal of research and development activities in health promotion is to identify future trends and guide us toward solutions that enable us to respond to future health and wellbeing challenges in a more impactful way.
- Sustainable Wellbeing Research units:
- Preventive health
- Juvenia
- Sustainable food services
- Renewing working life
Working for a Better Tomorrow
The purpose of research and development activities in health promotion is to produce solutions that enhance health and wellbeing, while also generating new wellbeing sector businesses, jobs, and service expertise in South Savo.
In the future, health and wellbeing services must be preventive and demonstrably effective so that society can respond more sustainably and effectively to growing public health challenges. That’s why our goal is to research and develop innovative ways to promote wellbeing and health from the perspectives of individuals, communities, and the environment. By utilising evidence-based knowledge and measurable data, we can successfully target services and actions to ensure we have sufficient resources to care for people’s wellbeing in the future as well.
We Promote Wellbeing by Taking High-Quality Research into Practice
Efforts to support a good life and planetary sustainability must be approached holistically – from the perspectives of individuals, communities, and the environment. We conduct health promotion research and development in a multidisciplinary work community that brings together broad expertise in the health and wellbeing sector. This enables us to explore and develop solutions to health and wellbeing challenges from multiple angles. Our research teams share a passionate drive to discover new practical tools for promoting health and wellbeing.
We produce innovative solutions to advance public health, develop services for health and wellbeing sector actors, and verify their effectiveness. Our research is multidisciplinary and impactful, and we continuously translate our findings into practice. We aim to discover concrete tools for promoting health and wellbeing in the future. This requires the courage to look ahead and up-to-date knowledge to guide actions and decision-making in ways that ensure the sustainability of health and wellbeing service resources.
Fieldwork: Multidisciplinary Service Development Expertise
As a health promotion development organisation, our core responsibility is to develop services that can meet the growing wellbeing challenges of the future, promote the wellbeing of people of all ages, and support wellbeing-oriented service production and entrepreneurship in collaboration with wellbeing sector organisations in South Savo.
We aim to prevent problems related to population aging and help the residents of South Savo live good and high-quality lives, while also strengthening the vitality and wellbeing of our region. That’s why we work closely with wellbeing sector companies, organisations, and other stakeholders in the region, helping them improve their services. Through service development, we can influence individual health and wellbeing both directly and indirectly, and act as a public health promoter by truly putting our work into practice.
A Winning Combination: Strong Local Insight and International Expertise
Research and development in health promotion involves close collaboration with various health and wellbeing sector actors at both local and national levels. In addition, we are a globally respected research and development organization with strong connections to research units around the world.
We are building a health and wellbeing ecosystem in South Savo, aiming for a cluster-based and increasingly international collaboration structure among sector organisations. We are also actively involved in developing the vitality of the Kalevankangas area in Mikkeli and contribute to the implementation of South Savo’s smart specialisation strategy, which focuses on advancing high-level wellbeing expertise in the region.
Our goal is to ensure that the region’s high-quality wellbeing services remain in demand in the future – even for export.
Laboratory Infrastructure and Capabilities
Active Life Lab
Active Life Lab
The research laboratory Active Life Lab, located at Saimaa Stadiumi in Mikkeli, is the beating heart of health promotion. At the core of
Savonlinna Functionality Laboratory
Savonlinna Functionality Laboratory
The Functionality Laboratory is a learning and research environment designed to assess, support, and promote individuals’ functional capacity across different areas of life. The laboratory offers diverse opportunities for training in physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and functional capacity assessment.
Our Research Teams
Our team focuses on addressing the challenges in social and healthcare. We are committed to finding innovative solutions for complex issues in the field. Our areas of interest include the organization of health and social care, practices of health and wellbeing promotion, and the advancement of evaluation and equity. We aim to understand both the structural and practical challenges of the systems, and to solve them in a sustainable manner.
Our goal is to develop more effective and accessible health promotion methods for people of different age groups and life stages, utilizing wearable technology and advanced data analytics. We put special emphasis on the potential of personalized healthcare, where behavioral changes can be tailored to individual needs, based on data and the surrounding environment.
Our team explores innovative health solutions by integrating nature into healthcare systems. We focus on planetary health, aiming to enhance wellbeing through nature-based interventions. Our research supports sustainable and effective practices that align human health with the natural environment and increase connection with nature.
Our team delves into the intricate connections between natural environments, healthy lifestyles, and human health. Through cutting-edge research, we explore how interventions such as real nature exposures, wooden interiors, VR nature experiences, and healthy lifestyles can have positive impacts on our overall psycho-physiological wellbeing.
Public and private health and wellbeing services shall not only be economically viable and sustainable, but also bring positive changes in the short and long term. Furthermore, modern wellbeing services have to tackle variable regional, national and international wellbeing challenges. The range of services shall consider all relevant stakeholders and the needs for prevention, prediction, personalization and participation.
Our team meets these requirements by investigating and developing data-driven, effective wellbeing services by implementing co-design, testbed and ecosystem activities. With this approach, we aim to enable more informed decision making and to create useful, user-centered, desirable and profitable solutions.
Join the Front-Runners of Wellbeing and Become Our Partner!
We have extensive experience in securing project funding and implementing diverse research and development projects in the wellbeing sector. We produce innovative, research-based solutions that promote wellbeing and enhance the impact of services provided by wellbeing sector actors.
With our strong expertise in research and development, we help wellbeing organizations in South Savo turn their development ideas into reality.
Contact us if you have a research or development idea in mind, or if you’re interested in exploring how your company could use the Hyviö app or our smart gym.
Together with our partners, we’re always one step ahead!
Find more about our research
GLOW
Ruoti – Regenerative Wellbeing and Tourism Services as a New Pull Factor for South Savo
Raised by the Forest – Nature as part of lifestyle guidance at maternity and child health clinics
LISÄ – Added value to the development of rural areas with nature-oriented services of high competence
FOODNUTRI – Climate smart FOOD and NUTrition Research Infrastructure
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