Theme for strategic research in 2023 decided

The Finnish Government has decided that Just Green Transition will be the theme of strategic research programmes to be launched in 2023. The cross-cutting priority in the programmes is resilience.

The Strategic Research Council (SRC) is an independent body established within the Academy of Finland tasked with providing funding for long-term excellent research that is aimed at finding solutions to the major challenges facing Finnish society. In addition, strategic research strengthens the renewal and competitiveness of business and industry and supports the development of working life and the public sector. 

SRC Chair Anu Kaukovirta says that the SRC is preparing to open two six-year research programmes on the new theme. 

“We find ourselves in the midst of a green transformation. Long-term and multidisciplinary research projects that link different disciplines and perspectives in an unprejudiced manner can build a far-reaching knowledge base for accelerating the green transformation and promoting its fairness. This applies to both the energy transition, resource issues and societal solutions required by the green transformation,” Kaukovirta says. 

Strategic research funding is intended for extensive, multidisciplinary research consortia that carry out research with an emphasis on active interaction and engagement with knowledge users. Strategic research strengthens societal problem-solving capacity and improves the knowledge base of decision-making. From the projects to be funded, the SRC expects active interaction between knowledge producers and knowledge users, covering the entire life cycle of the research, in order to disseminate high-quality research to knowledge users across society. 

The call text and guidelines will be published in early November (TBC) on the Academy of Finland’s website. The first call stage will be open until early January 2023.