Finland scores high in ERC Advance Grants competition
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Advanced Grants to eight researchers working in Finland. Most of the funded researchers have a strong connection to previous research funding from the Research Council of Finland (RCF). They have secured RCF funding, for example, through the Academy Project, Academy Research Fellowship, Academy Professor and Centre of Excellence schemes as well as through the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
ERC Advanced Grants are awarded to experienced and highly distinguished researchers to develop exceptional and unconventional scientific initiatives. Advanced Grants may be awarded up to 2.5 million euros for a period of five years; 1–2 million euros can be made available in additional funding.
In this latest round, the applicant success rate was 9.6 per cent, and 319 researchers from across Europe secured funding. A record of 3,329 proposals was submitted, up 31 per cent from last year. According to ERC estimates, the Advance Grants awarded will create more than 3,000 jobs in the teams of the new grantees.
List of selected researchers working in Finland and their topics:
- Adam Foster (Aalto University): Atomically precise materials engineering through deep learning (ARCADE)
- Olesya Khanina (University of Helsinki): Uneven language change (UCHANGE)
- Ari-Pekka Mähönen (University of Helsinki): What makes trees woody (WOODIER)
- Taija Mäkinen (University of Helsinki): Reprogramming and Function of Lymphatic Endothelium in Inflammation (REFLAME)
- Jani Oksanen (Aalto University): Volumetric ThermoPhotonics (v-TPX)
- Matti Rissanen (University of Helsinki): EXpected secondary Aerosol ContenT – Molecular Level Secondary Aerosol Formation (EXACT)
- Jukka Suomela (Aalto University): Distributed Quantum Advantage, (DistQuant)
- Aleksi Vuorinen (University of Helsinki): The denser the better: perturbative thermal field theory meets neutron star (StellarQCD).
Mähönen, Oksanen, Rissanen and Vuorinen have received ERC funding in the past.
