2025 call for clinical research funded wide range of research projects – new call opens in March 2026
Since 2025, the Research Council of Finland (RCF) has annually allocated 10 million euros in additional R&D funding to boost clinical research. The aim of the call opened with the additional funds is to strengthen clinical research and to produce new research-based knowledge for social and health services, disease treatment, diagnostics, prevention, or commercial activities.
Achieving the goals set for the call requires cooperation between the different actors involved in the funded projects and interaction between researchers and knowledge users. Only research consortia consisting of two or more teams could apply for funding. The site of research of the consortium's principal investigator had to be a wellbeing services county (incl. the City of Helsinki and the HUS Group), and the consortia were encouraged to involve researchers from different research organisations.
The call attracted 81 applications, of which eleven were funded. The application success rate was 13.6 per cent. The funded consortia are of a high scientific quality and carry out research with wide impact. A total of 33 researchers are involved in the funded consortia, 45 per cent of whom are women. The four-year funding period started on 1 January 2026. A total funding budget earmarked for the call was 10.6 million euros.
Funding for broad range of significant research topics
The clinical research consortia funded last year typically involve three parties, and each consortium includes researchers from different organisations.
The largest number of applications was submitted by Helsinki University Hospital. They also secured the most funded applications. The university hospitals of Kuopio, Tampere, Oulu and Turku also submitted many applications and secured a lot of funding. In the consortia, researchers from university hospitals carry out joint research with university researchers. This is why researchers from the universities of Helsinki, Eastern Finland, Tampere, Oulu and Turku also succeeded in securing funding.
The funded research topics cover the following topics:
- glaucoma screening
- prevention of long-term adverse effects of corticosteroids
- efficacy and cost-effectiveness of treatments for depression and anxiety
- new treatments for Parkinson's disease
- efficacy of personalised cancer therapy
- early identification of sleep difficulties and comorbidities
- screening and prevention of type 1 diabetes and coeliac disease
- early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease
- AI-led bone marrow cell assessment in haematological diseases
- measurement of brain glymphatic function in intensive care
- gender differences in the development of the immune system in children with leukaemia.
More information on the funded consortia is available at research.fi.
Revamped and more extensive call for clinical research opens in March 2026
In a re-evaluation of its funding schemes, the RCF decided to combine the clinical research call and the clinical researcher call. The main objectives of both calls are retained in the combined call.
The aim of the 2026 call for clinical research is to strengthen clinical research and promote clinical research careers. The funding aims to increase cooperation between wellbeing services counties and other organisations and to produce new research knowledge for social and health care, disease treatment, diagnostics, prevention, or commercial activities. In addition, the funding aims to encourage doctors or other healthcare professionals working in clinical practice to carry out research on a part-time basis, including those in the early stages of their research careers.
Achieving the goals of the call requires cooperation, so the applying consortia must include at least three parties. To promote clinical research careers, one of the consortium parties should be a person engaged in part-time clinical work. A wide range of stakeholders have participated in defining the objectives of the call during 2025.
The redesigned call for clinical research is planned to be opened in 2026 and then every two years, with a total of 25 million euros available each round. The maximum funding for a single consortium is 1.7 million euros. Opening the call every two years and reserving a larger amount of money for it will reduce the work of both applicants and international reviewers.
More detailed information on the 2026 call will be published on our website on 25 February 2026. Applications are invited in our online services as of 25 March 2026, and the call closes on 29 April 2026. An information webinar on the call will be held on 11 March 2026 at 15.30–16.30 (no advance registration). Link to the Teams meeting.
