Finnish universities are helping employees to improve wellbeing and productivity and to be COVID-19 resilient, by using neuroscience expertise to better understand and manage brain health at work.

Stress, exhaustion, burnout... managing the demands of modern work life is hard. And it is especially hard during a pandemic.

That’s why a university-led project in Finland has created a ‘brain health barometer’ to help employees improve their wellbeing.

Sustainable Brain Health uses the latest neuroscience expertise to study brain health – especially the impact of stress associated with COVID-19 – in job roles with distinct professional demands, such as nursing, teaching and information technology. It aims to raise awareness of the different demands made on the brain at work and the impact these demands have on performance, and to assess whether new methods and technologies could counteract the detrimental effects of stress.

The results of these ESF-funded studies mean collaborators on the project – Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK), Tampere University, Tampere University Hospital and Oulu University of Applied Sciences – can equip employers and employees with tools to support sustainable brain health and increase self-management, which in turn should increase productivity.

“Sustainable Brain Health project creates a foundation for worklife evolution that brings brain wellbeing into focus,” Project Manager Mirva Kolonen explains.

Mikael von und zu Fraunberg, Director of Neurocenter Finland, has praised Sustainable Brain Health, saying, “I consider the project as innovative and very important in regard of our national and international goals with the Neurocenter Finland.”