FIRE Visiting Fellow Li Calls for Greater International Collaboration in Register-Based Research

“I believe register-based research offers unique opportunities for advancing sociological research, particularly for understanding life-course processes and social inequalities, the next FIRE infrastructure Visiting Fellow”, postdoctoral researcher Mengxuan ”Suri” Li says. She starts her visit in the University of Helsinki in June.

The Finnish Infrastructure for Register-Based Research (FIRE) Visiting Fellow programme, launched earlier this spring, invites leading international scholars to visit Finland, collaborate with Finnish researchers, and explore Finland’s unique register data.

Finnish register data are new to Li.

“However, my current work uses large-scale longitudinal and administrative datasets, and I am very interested in understanding how Finnish register data can be used to study life-course processes and policy impacts at the population level.”

Mengxuan ”Suri” Li is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course.

“My research focuses on gender inequality, family dynamics, and life-course transitions, particularly how the transition to parenthood shapes parents’ time use and well-being”, Li tells.

She works with longitudinal and administrative data to study how social policies influence gendered inequalities in work, income, and mental health across countries. She applied to become a FIRE Visiting Fellow because Finland has one of the most advanced population register systems in the world.

“In my current research I have recently begun working with Australian administrative datasets, and I am keen to deepen my understanding of how register data are structured, linked, and used in research. Finland has a long tradition of register-based research, and the FIRE programme offers an excellent opportunity to learn from researchers with extensive experience in this area and to explore possibilities for comparative work”, Li tells.

During her visit, she hopes to learn more about the structure and possibilities of Finnish register data and to explore opportunities for collaboration with researchers at the University of Helsinki. She is hosted by Docent at the University of Helsinki Hanna Remes.

“I am particularly interested in examining how different parental leave policies and welfare systems shape long-term gender inequalities in income and parental well-being, particularly in comparative research between Finland and Australia.”

She says that register-based research offers unique opportunities for advancing sociological research, particularly for understanding life-course processes and social inequalities.

“Because register data often cover entire populations and follow individuals over long periods, they allow researchers to examine how policies and institutions shape people’s life trajectories with a level of detail that is difficult to achieve using surveys alone. Another important advantage is the ability to study relatively small or highly disadvantaged populations that are often underrepresented in survey data due to limited sample sizes”, she says.

Looking ahead, she hopes to see continued efforts to support secure data access, data linkage across different domains, and greater opportunities for international collaboration.

“These developments would further expand the potential of register-based research for understanding social inequality and population change.”