The European JPI MYBL research programme has granted EUR 1.28 million in funding to research carried out in Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The European JPI MYBL research programme has granted EUR 1.28 million in funding to research carried out in Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, focusing on the opportunities of platform work in solving labour shortages in the care sector. The project coordinated by the Department of Social Sciences of the University of Eastern Finland also involves the University of Sheffield and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
The European population is ageing rapidly, and new solutions are urgently needed to solve labour shortages and the mismatch between supply and demand of care services. The CareQuAI project studies innovative methods of providing care services in a platform economy, some of which are currently under development, as well as AI-driven solutions.
“The study focuses on how AI-driven platform care affects labour shortages and the quality of work, and consequently the quality of care provided to older people. Our goal is to determine whether it is possible to develop an equal and inclusive care service that would respond to the challenges of labour shortages and quality of work using platform economy,” says project coordinator Helena Hirvonen, University Lecturer at the University of Eastern Finland.
The project studies the technological possibilities of platform care in the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland. The study will be used to produce guidelines and recommendations that answer questions related to equality and inclusion. The project examines differences between the countries in the provision of platform care and produces European guidelines for equal and inclusive AI-driven platform work in long-term care services. Additionally, the project promotes policies, practices and operating environments that support decent work on AI-driven care platforms.
The More Years, Better Lives – The Potential and Challenges of Demographic Change (JPI MYBL) programme promotes the coordination of national and European research programmes and multidisciplinary cooperation. The programme involves participants from 17 different countries. The Research Council of Finland has been a member of MYBL since 2011 and finances the Finnish sub-projects of the MYBL consortia.
Further information:
University Lecturer, Doctor of Social Sciences, Helena Hirvonen University of Eastern Finland, Department of Social Sciences, tel. +358 50 306 4127, helena.m.hirvonen(at)uef.fi