The EARA Lifetime Achievement Award is given to a highly esteemed European scholar whose contribution has had far-reaching implications and a significant impact on our understanding of development and behavior during adolescence.
Academy Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro was appointed Professor of Education at the University of Helsinki in 2018 and Academy Professor in 2021.
Salmela-Aro has had a distinguished academic career focused on psychology and education.
She earned her PhD in 1996 from the University of Helsinki, where her research explored personal projects and subjective well-being. From 1995 to 2001, she worked as a teacher and researcher at the University of Helsinki. She then completed post-doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute in Germany from 1999 to 2000.
Her career continued as Professor of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä from 2000 to 2017 and as Professor at the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in Learning and Motivation from 2006 to 2012. She worked as Research Director at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies from 2009 to 2012.
Salmela-Aro has had visiting professorships in several prestigious universities, including University College London (2015–2020), the University of California, Irvine (2015), and Michigan State University (2016–present). She is the President of the Division of Educational, Instructional, and School Psychology at the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP). She is the Education for the Future (EDUCA) flagship’s vice director.
Salmela-Aro has received numerous awards, stipends, and scientific acknowledgements during her academic career. She has supervised several PhD thesis and mentored over 25 post-doctoral researchers.
Faculty of Educational Sciences is very proud of the award that Academy Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro has received. “This recognition shows the importance and extent of her research. She has had an extensive impact on the quality of the research and scientific breakthroughs in our research” says Vice-Dean Professor Auli Toom.
Founded in 2004, the EARA Lifetime Achievement Award has recognized distinguished scholars ten times. Among the past recipients are Håkan Stattin, Wim Meeus, Rainer Silbereisen, John Coleman, Harke Borma, and Leo Hendry.