Writtle University College and ARU have merged. Writtle’s full range of college, degree, postgraduate and short courses will still be delivered on the Writtle campus. See our guide to finding Writtle information on this site.

Maritta Törrönen

Head shot of Maritta Törrönen For media enquiries please contact the Press Team

Professor of Social Work

Faculty:
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Social Care
School:
School of Allied Health and Social Care
Location:
Chelmsford
Areas of Expertise:
Social Work and Social Policy
Research Supervision:
Yes

Maritta is interested in the ways people globally cope in their everyday life, gender- and age-related questions, with the help of social and health care systems. She is leading the project Reciprocal Encounters – Young People Leaving Care, funded by the EU during 2016-2018.

[email protected]

Follow Maritta on Twitter

Visit Maritta's blog

Background

Maritta Törrönen is Professor of Social Work at the University of Helsinki, Faculty of Social Sciences and Department of Social Research. Her main research interests concern theory of reciprocity, global welfare society, communities, power relationships, everyday life and well-being, which have points of reference with social work and social policy, childhood, child protection, family research and ethnic studies. 

Most recently, Maritta's research has been linked to international social work and proactive social work.

Spoken Languages

  • Finnish
  • Swedish
  • English

Research interests

  • Theory of reciprocity 
  • Welfare research 
  • Family research
  • Childhood and child welfare research
  • Youth research
  • Ethnic relations

See Maritta’s earlier project Reciprocal Relationships and Construction of Well-Being during Critical Periods of Everyday Life (RePro), funded by Academy of Finland. The project consisted of a co-operative international network and four subprojects focused on child welfare, care of the elderly, ethnic relations, and unemployment of young people.

Areas of research supervision

Maritta would be pleased to consider supervising doctoral students with the following research interests/topics:
  • Child welfare research 
  • Leaving care research.

Recent and current doctoral supervision as first supervisor:

  • Prof Törrönen has extensive experience in supervising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. She currently has 6 doctoral students under her supervision.

Completed doctoral theses:

  • University of Helsinki (UH), Department of Social Research, Vaiettu biseksuaalisuus, (2015);
  • University of Helsinki (UH), Department of Social Research, ‘Sosiaalisesti kontrolloitu, hauraasti autonominen’, (2015);
  • (UH) ‘Dialogi auttavissa verkkopalveluissa - Sosiaali - ja terveysjärjestöjen ammattilaisten kertomuksia kommunikaatiosta’;
  • (UH) ‘Street Children and Services: A Qualitative Study of Street Children in the Context of Service Delivery System in Bangladesh’;
  • (UH) ‘Kansalaisuus työyhteisön arjessa – Maahanmuuttajien kertomuksia työelämästä’;
  • (UH) ‘Monimuotoisuus ja esteettömyys-Näkövammaisten asiantuntijoiden työelämäkokemuksia’; (2009)
  • (UH) ‘Siirtonaisena Singaporessa’, (2006);
  • (UH) ‘Kohtaamisen kokemuksia epävarmuuden näyttämöllä-Kokemuksellinen ensitieto vammaisen lapsen syntyessä’, (2004);
  • (UH) ‘Asiakas kuntoutuksen yhteistyöryhmässä – Institutionaalisen kohtaamisen jännitteitä (2003).

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

  • Working as Marie Curie Individual European Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford, United Kingdom, back on 1st September 2018 in Finland