Aija Lulle

Aija is the project leader for the project “Menopausing: Exploring diversity, awareness and activism” (2024-2028). Her interest in menopause emerged from years of dedicated research and fieldwork with middle-aged migrants. “I noticed a shift: after ten years of research and more or less regular contact with my key interlocutors, some of them, including men, suddenly began to bring up the topic of menopause in our conversations,” Aija explained. The rest, as they say, is history—two years of passionate research preparations, delving into both historical and contemporary sources, all seeking to explain menopause in often contradictory ways. Today, the future is here, embodied in our exceptional team—truly transdisciplinary, with brave hearts and minds, determined to confront gendered ageism and patriarchy, and to make a meaningful difference in our fractured world.

Contact: aija.lulle[at]uef.fi

Lukinmaa, P.; Ott, M.; & Lulle, A. (2025). Häpeästä kohti moninaisia vaihdevuosia. Politiikasta.fi.

Interview with Aija Lulle – Latvijas Radio 1 (in Latvian)

Radio interview with Aija Lulle. She talks about relevance of midlife and, of course, menopause research!

Lulle is talking about her book “Midlife Geographies. Changing Lifecourses across Generatsions, Spaces and Time” (2024, Bristol University Press). In the 21st century there are more middle-aged people than ever before. This generation is taking care for their children and parents at the same time, while also being active in the working life longer and longer. What consequences this all has?

Listen the interview by clicking: Interview (Link will take you away from this page)

Lulle, A. (2024): Midlife Geographies. Changing Lifecourses across Generations, Spaces and Time. Bristol University Press.

In the 21st century, global demographics are rapidly changing, with a higher population of middle-aged people than ever before. As the ‘sandwich’ generation, people in midlife often experience significant work and intergenerational caring responsibilities, yet they are the subject of relatively little research.

This short, accessible book redresses the balance in offering a geographical approach to how people embody and claim space in midlife while analysing the influences of gender, class and location. The author considers midlife in varying sociocultural and geographical contexts, viewed through the lens of the global neoliberal shift.

“Stunningly original and also deeply personal, Aija Lulle’s feminist-inspired exploration of the geographies of the midlife generation, interposed between youth and older-age, opens up new perspectives on global demography.” Russell King, University of Sussex

“This engaging and highly readable book provides important insights into midlife from citizens of the UK, Finland and Latvia.” Irene Hardill, Northumbria University

Link: Bristol University Press | Midlife Geographies – Changing Lifecourses across Generations, Spaces and Time, By Aija Lulle

Aija’s flash ethnographies and research insights

Joanna Maliszewska-Mazek and Anna Samsel standing with

Interview with Joanna Maliszewska-Mazek and Anna Samsel from Kulczyk Foundation: Menopause, Social Change, and Systemic Solutions in Poland

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Aija Lulle sat down with the Kulczyk Foundation in Poland to explore how menopause awareness is emerging from discussions of period poverty, and she discovered relevance of midwives – practical, experience based approaches to menopause care today.

Graph of researching menopause in Reddit and in Instagram

Agnese Bartolucci: ‘I care deeply about understanding social phenomena’. Information design and the role of a data scientist

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“I enjoy, and take pride in, helping others understand complex concepts by making them clearer through visualization. For a long time, I also described what I do as “making data beautiful,” and I still hope my work feels that way.”