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The is a wide range of individual and societal factors that influence active and healthy ageing.

“Aging is a process that begins at birth, but disparities in health and functioning at the population level become more pronounced from midlife onwards,” says von Bonsdorff. 

“It is important that the risk of decline in functioning is detected at an early stage, so that preventive measures can be offered to those who need them the most.”

The multidisciplinary research group led by von Bonsdorff conducts research on the impact of lifetime exposures, resilience, and social environment on the development of health, functioning, and frailty. The group uses extensive national and international research data as well as data from individual studies, such as the Boaktiv, active aging in senior homes study led by von Bonsdorff.

The research has societal impact. von Bonsdorff is involved in the development of a population-level electronic frailty index for Finland.In the development of the index, artificial intelligence is used to indentify various health deficits from electronic healthcare records.

“The frailty index provides a comprehensive view of health and functioning, which can be used to assess the need for treatment and its efficiency as well as in identifying individuals who are at risk of decline in health and functioning.”

Research-based expertise for an ageing society 

As the head of the discipline of gerontology and public health at the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, von Bonsdorff actively participates in the development of education at the faculty.

“Increasing longevity has a significant impact on society,” says von Bonsdorff. 

“It is therefore very important to translate our research knowledge into teaching and consequently provide society with the much-needed expertise in ageing.” 

Mikaela von Bonsdorff has published 125 peer-reviewed scientific publications. She works actively in various scientific posts and is the chair of the public health panel of the research funding body Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare. She is responsible for organising the Nordic Congress of Gerontology in Jyväskylä in 2027. von Bonsdorff’s research group conducts research at the University of Jyväskylä Gerontology Research Center and at the Folkhälsan Research Center in Helsinki where she leads the social gerontology group in the public health programme.

von Bonsdorff received her PhD in gerontology and public health from the Ģ��ֱ�� in 2009 on the same day that her twin sister Monika von Bonsdorff also received her PhD. Monika works as an Associate professor at the School of Business and Economics of the Ģ��ֱ��. They do research together on the effects of work ability and retirement on ageing.

Mikaela von Bonsdorff has worked at the Ģ��ֱ�� since 2005, as a visiting researcher with a Fulbright scholarship at the National Institute of Aging in Maryland, and as an Academy of Finland postdoctoral researcher at the Medical Research Council, Unit of Lifelong Health and Aging, UCL in London, as an Assistant professor at the Ģ��ֱ�� (tenure track) from 2019 and as a Professor from 2024. She received the title Docent in Gerontology in 2014 from the University of Helsinki.

Further information:

Professor Mikaela von Bonsdorff, the Ģ��ֱ��

mikaela.vonbonsdorff@jyu.fi, +358400342692

• JYU webpages of Mikaela von Bonsdorff: /fi/henkilot/mikaela-bonsdorff-von  

• Research group JYU: /fi/tutkimusryhmat/von-bonsdorff-terve-ja-aktiivinen-ikaantyminen

• Research group Folkhälsan Research Center:

• Google Scholar: 

• Twitter account: @vonbonsdorffx2