The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Culture and Society chose 20 new Academy Research Fellows

The Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Culture and Society has granted funding to 20 new posts as Academy Research Fellow. In the case of funding for research posts as Academy Research Fellow, the Research Council’s most important funding criteria are the scientific quality of the research plan and the competence of the applicant. The Research Council’s aim with the Academy Research Fellow grants is to support mid-career researchers with talent and diverse networks. The Research Council paid special attention to applicants who in their research plans combine high quality with strong academic and societal impact and/or science renewal. The Council also emphasises mobility, especially international mobility, and experience in working in different research environments. These are essential in building a career in research and establishing a position as an independent researcher in an international research community.

The Council’s funding for Academy Research Fellows totals around 8,7 million euros. The funding covers five years. The success rate was 12%. 65 per cent of the funded Academy Research Fellows are women. Women accounted for approximately 52 per cent or the applicants.

“Once again the Research Council for Culture and Society received a vast number of applications for Academy Research Fellow and Postdoctoral Researcher funding which received excellent reviews. However, it was possible to fund only some of them. An Academy Research Fellow is an independent researcher who is expected to show original scientific thought and have strong international networks to qualify for professor-level positions. This year, the applications were reviewed in panels that had a wider scope and more multidisciplinary panelists than before. The Council considers the feedback it has received in the development of the funding decision process,” says Sami Pihlström, the chair of the Research Council for Culture and Society.  

Examples of funded Academy Research Fellows

Eerika Finell from the University of Tampere studies in her multidisciplinary project how indoor air problems affect the psychosocial well-being of pupils and the function of the school community. The research helps us understand and evaluate other effects than health problems that schools’ poor indoor air quality can cause. It increases our understanding of the long-lasting effects of indoor air problems in the children and young people who develop symptoms at school, and of the ways in which they can be supported.

Kaisa Vehkalahti from the University of Oulu researches the change in the lives of rural adolescents from the 1950s to 2020s and the significance of attaching oneself to a rural growth environment during a person’s life. The project combines the methods of qualitative longitudinal research and historical research, following young people from secondary education to early adulthood (years 19‒23). The changing life of rural young people is put in the historical context of the post-World War II era.

Petri Jylhä from Aalto University enquires into the variables which affect the expected yields and prices of stocks. The research aims to cast light on three questions concerning the predictability of stock yields. Firstly, the project casts a critical eye on the statistical methods used in literature. Secondly, it analyses which variables presented in literature are connected to the expected stock yield and which are not. Thirdly, it tries to understand why some variables predict stock yield.