Viivi Pentaikäinen ~ PhD Researcher, University of Helsinki
A good life for me is built with love, kindness and a sense of shared purposeful action for the good of all.
Helsinki, Finland
MSS, MSc MAPP & PhD Researcher at the University of Helsinki, CEO & Founder of Positive Education Ltd and BEEhappy Publishing Ltd
Key Passions: World peace ~ Societal justice ~ The well-being of all sentient beings
Key Strengths: Love ~ Compassion ~ Sisu
With nearly 20 years of experience in applied positive psychology, my team and I have dedicated ourselves to developing Positive Education. We apply the science of positive psychology to create flourishing schools with well-being education. My experience, grounded in the social sciences, has shown me that advancing society and its systems is best achieved through Transdisciplinary Collaboration. By adopting a mindset that transcends disciplines and cultural boundaries, we can address the world’s most pressing challenges for the sake of future generations.
As Michael Steger emphasizes in his insightful and deeply meaningful article, “Regenerative Positive Psychology” the field of positive psychology must evolve to address our time's profound psychological, social, political, and environmental crises. To truly make an impact, we must focus on sustaining and enhancing the life-sustaining systems essential for our collective well-being. This is where our shared endeavour, our jointly envisioned emerging field of Wellbeing Systems Science (WSS), comes into play. We hope that WSS can integrate individual, community, societal, and ecological dimensions to foster well-being at every level. We hope this holistic approach inspires hope and drives meaningful change for our future endeavours.
This systemic perspective is central to my ongoing research project, "Finland – Eudaitopia of the North? Unravelling the Foundations of a Flourishing Society", which investigates the underlying reasons behind Finland's consistently high rankings in global happiness, well-being, and quality of life surveys. My research examines how Finland, as a whole society, supports and enhances key capabilities essential for human flourishing and identifies the factors contributing to its high well-being rankings.
As we move forward, it is crucial for researchers and practitioners across disciplines—including social scientists, educators, psychologists, practitioners and policymakers—to collaborate in building frameworks that promote well-being at every level of society. By embracing a multi-system perspective and fostering transdisciplinary collaboration, we can create a flourishing world for future generations. I embark on this exciting journey with my core strengths of love, compassion, and the Finnish Sisu!