Helena Hirvonen

Helena Hirvonen is a Senior Lecturer (Doctor of Social Sciences with Docent title) at the University of Eastern Finland’s Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies. She specializes in Social and Public Policy, focusing on working life, welfare state dynamics, gender studies, and digitalisation in care sectors. Her research examines intersections between Lean management practices, biocapitalism, and care work ethics. She leads the EXMEN research project (Kone Foundation, 2022–2025) and the CareQuAI consortium (JPI/MYBL, 2025–2028), exploring hybrid masculinities in service economies and AI-driven care innovations.

Key publications include *Gender and Welfare Service Work in Biocapitalism: Lean in Action* (2023) and *Digital Transformations in Care for Older People* (2021), analyzing Lean’s sociomaterial impacts and digital agency in aging care. She has contributed to Routledge’s series on health sociology and co-edited volumes on interpersonal violence (2017).

Her work critiques managerialism in public services, emphasizing care workers’ agency and resistance. Current projects address client safety in elderly care, technology’s role in care communities, and the ethical dimensions of digital tools in aging populations.