Baltic Sea Research Programme
Research funding organisations from the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have established a joint research programme to promote the protection of the Baltic Sea and to manage the risks to its marine environment. The research funding organisations from nine Baltic Sea nations are behind the BONUS Research Programme, which was launched at the beginning of 2009. The programme also receives funding from the European Commission. In Finland, the programme is funded by the Academy of Finland.
The countries participating in BONUS agree on the topics of research to be funded, direct funding into a joint funding pool and open joint calls. In the first call of the BONUS research programme, decisions were made to fund 16 research projects with a total of 22 million euros, with more than 100 participating research institutes and universities from the Baltic Sea countries. Finland is coordinating four of these projects. The funding share of the Academy of Finland is 4 million euros.
The multidisciplinary projects focus on issues such as the economic and social means of managing risks to the Baltic Sea environment. The projects are also expected to supplement our partially incomplete knowledge of the natural sciences with regard to protecting the Baltic Sea.
BONUS research projects coordinated by Finland:
1. Holocene Saline Water Inflow Changes into the Baltic Sea, Ecosystem Responses and Future Scenarios, Project coordinator: Aarno Kotilainen, Geological Survey Finland
2. Biological Effects of Anthropogenic Chemical Stress: Tools for Assessment of Ecosystem Health, Project coordinator: Kari K. Lehtonen, Finnish Environment Institute/Marine Centre
3. Integrated Baeysian Risk Analysis of Ecosystem Management – Gulf of Finland as Case Study, Project coordinator: Sakari Kuikka, University of Helsinki
4. Improving Societal Conditions for the Baltic Sea Protection, Project coordinator: Tapani Vaahtoranta, Finnish Institute of International Affairs; deputy: Nina Tynkkynen, University of Tampere
The overall funding for the programme amounts to some 100 million euros in 2010–2016.
Content updated 16 Apr 2010