Continued funding granted in SRC programmes YOUNG and SHIELD

On 16 June 2025, the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Research Council of Finland granted continued funding to nine consortia and two programme directors in the following SRC programmes:

• Children and Young People – Healthy, Thriving and Capable Makers of the Future (YOUNG, 2022–2028)
• Security and Trust in the Age of Algorithms (SHIELD, 2022–2028).

Marjo Kurki, Director of Development at Itla Children’s Foundation, will continue as Programme Director of the YOUNG programme, and Docent (Adjunct Professor) Karolina Snell from the University of Helsinki will continue as Programme Director of the SHIELD programme.

As a rule, the consortia funded under SRC programmes run for six years, but the funding is granted in two three-year periods. The funding for the second period is granted based on an application for continued funding and the information provided in an interim report.

The consortia that were granted continued funding were launched in October 2022 and now received funding until September 2028. For the second funding period, each consortium could apply for up to 70 per cent of the first period’s funding for work according to the original plan. The funding granted in the two programmes totalled 19.5 million euros, on average 2.1 million euros per consortium.

The SRC was pleased with the progress of the projects and the standard of the applications for continued funding. In the continued funding period, the SRC looks forward to the completion of the results of both the scientific and stakeholder work.